The “angels” of Victoria’s Secret has fashion show in Paris, on November 30, 2016. – F. MORI/AP/SIPA

selfies are linked in a strong emanation of fragrance balmy a queue endless. “I came to see the most beautiful women in the world “, slides into a sense of false modesty, Claude, 62 years of age. Next, a young girl wrapped in her fur coat, grumbling. “But it is hyper monitored “. And she is not wrong.

This Wednesday evening, the area around the Champs-Elysées are under high protection (see box). And for good reason. The juggernaut of the panties,the famous lingerie brand american Victoria’s Secret, took up his quarters for the first time in Paris for her fashion show, in a Large Palace completely covered in the colors of the firm, the purple. Cost of the operation : between 12 and 15 million euros for mannequins decked wings of” angels “, of artists such as Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and The Weeknd, and as bouquet final, a unique model of bra trimmed 9.0000 precious stones and valued at $ 3 million. But why all this mess ?

The story of a man annoyed

In 1977 Roy Raymond, a student freshly graduated from Stanford in California is embarrassed to buy underwear for his wife. He then decides to set up a store intimate “where men feel comfortable buying lingerie” and most of all, he proposes to do via a mail order catalogue. In 1982, he sold the company. The new owner decides to put more value on the lingerie. Hundreds of stores open in the United States and the success was dazzling. Roy Raymond, him, committed suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate, and the parades of the brand become over the years, global events.

In 2016, so it is around Paris to host the mass and receive the models Gigi Hadid and her sister Bella, Kendall Jenner, Adriana Lima, Lily Aldridge and Alessandra Ambrosio. Why in France ? There is at present a small gift shop at the Paris-Orly airport, but ” we may think that they have ambitions to invest in the continent because apart from Great Britain, they are not present in Europe “, according to the AFP Yves Marin, a consultant with Wavestone. For Victoria’s secret, “there is a blow to play, this is a beautiful brand and funders of commercial research of new retailers” in