CANNES, France -The last 48 hours have been busy ones for Victoria’s Secret girls.Tuesday evening, their arrival in Cannes was celebrated at a poolside cocktail party at the Martinez, the appropriately pink-themed grand hotel where the 24 models chosen to participate in today’s lavish Victoria’s Secret fashion show are parking their gear.
Several chased the Martinez cocktail event with a party given in honor of the boy band *NSYNC, while others found friends at private parties held at clubs or homes (Sean Penn reportedly had one at his house).
Yesterday, Victoria’s Secret’s six contract models – Stephanie Seymour, Laetitia Casta, Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Karen Mulder and Daniela Pestova – were sitting pretty on the roof of the Martinez by 11:45 a.m. for their first scheduled photo op, followed by a press conference with Miramax’s Harvey Weinstein and the co-founder of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR), Dr. Mathilde Krim.
Proceeds from the show, as well as many of the model’s fees, benefit AmFAR.
While Carmen Kass and Gisele Bundchen had still not arrived by late yesterday afternoon, the other 18 girls were up and at ’em by 1 p.m., posing for international paparazzi at the site of today’s fashion show, a deceptively named seaside building called the Palm Beach.
“When they said we were going to Palm Beach, I thought we were really going to the beach,” lamented pixie-ish model Trish Goff as she poured herself a post-photo cup of coffee from a catered luncheon spread. “I packed my sarong and everything.”
Alas, the afternoon was all about business.
Before formal rehearsals began, many of the models who didn’t manage to slip outside for a catnap were persuaded to talk to TV crews.
“You answer the same questions over and over, but that’s fine,” five-show vet Stephanie Seymour says of her press duties as one of Victoria’s contract models. “It’s for a good cause. But it just gets tiring.”
But fatigue isn’t enough to keep her from succumbing to the excitement of the show.
“It’s the glamour – well, right now there’s not a whole hell of a lot of it around,” she said, gesturing behind her at the throng of models, photographers, TV crews, makeup artists, p.r. agents, stylists and a few toy dogs vying vainly for attention.
“But really, when it comes down to it, this is an all-out, no-holds-barred event – like a great Las Vegas show.”
Seymour admits, however, that she’s not so crazy about the billowy signature wings Victoria’s Secret girls wear on the runway.
“You feel really dopey in them, like you have this enormous backpack on,” she says. “You don’t feel like an angel.”
German model Heidi Klum might disagree.
She looked perfectly angelic stepping out at the show’s rehearsal with the huge appendages sticking out from her shoulders.
As she walked the runway, dressed down in the unofficial models’ uniform of fitted, low-slung blue jeans, she smiled in the direction of her parents, who were seated in the front row, proudly videotaping the event.
Today’s Victoria’s Secret fashion show will be will be seen by a sellout seated crowd of 750 at the Palm Beach, and several million Web-watchers as it’s broadcast live on http://www.victoriassecret.com at 2:45 p.m. Eastern time.
Though The Post has promised not to leak details about the show itself, suffice it to say this is an absolute must-see.
Hundreds of people have worked for almost a year to make this show possible – and it really shows.