Tonight, we have a date with a troupe of gorgeous, leggy glamazons — and the entire country is invited. Victoria’s Secret will air its swim special this evening, which the brand shot earlier this year in Puerto Rico. Models Joan Smalls, Alessandra Ambrosio, Lily Aldridge, Jasmine Tookes, Jac Jagaciak, Adriana Lima, Elsa Hosk and more will star in the lingerie brand’s latest telecast, which will include performances by Maroon 5 and Juanes.
The show promises to be nothing like the label’s annual fashion show. Yesterday, Elsa and Alessandra were on hand at the Victoria’s Secret Herald Square store to promote this season’s swim line, so we naturally had to get the deets on the TV special. “It’s different from the fashion show in that [the audience] gets to see the whole thing get ready,” Alessandra told us. This broadcast promises to take you inside the lives of the VS models while they’re on location for a shoot. These girls are professionals, and though they may make posing on the shore with waves crashing around them look effortless, getting the perfect shot ain’t so easy.
“I don’t think people realize when they see the shot in the catalog or in the stores how crazy it can be to get that shot to happen,” Elsa explained to us. “We’re in caves, we’re jumping off cliffs, we go under water, we come up and we’re without oxygen. It’s just craziness sometimes and you don’t see that in the photos. I think it is going to be really fun for people to see what leads up to getting that shot.”
But besides work, we get to see the girls at play, taking in the Puerto Rican culture for themselves. Elsa admits that while she was on the island, she was shocked to see how much she and her VS sistren were embraced by the locals. “I was just surprised to feel like they weren’t like, ‘Oh my God, here is this team, they’re not from here and they’re coming and taking over our island.’ It wasn’t like that at all,” she said. “They were just super happy and we shared food with them, they invited us to the bar, the girls were dancing and playing games with the old locals.”
Besides that, “[You’re] going to get to know our personalities,” Alessandra said of the broadcast, before mentioning a memory of playing beach volleyball on a private island in the day before settling in for a bonfire at night. Maroon 5 and Juanes joined the girls for a little fireside jam sesh. Sounds like super chill vibes.
Before we headed back to the office, we couldn’t help but ask for some tips from Alessandra and Elsa on how to nail a swimsuit shot. After all, swim season is coming and it was the perfect opportunity to get posing advice, straight from the professionals. The secret to a perfect swim selfie? “Always push your upper body forward, so you get more curve on your body,” Alessandra dished. It’s a tip we’ll definitely be trying out once it gets warm enough to wear a bikini around these parts.
The Victoria’s Secret Swim Special airs tonight on CBS at 10 p.m. EST.
