“It’s the Power of the Wings”: Inside Adam Selman’s Victoria’s Secret Debut

Adam Selman and our editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg dated for a decade, which might explain his newfound sense of Zen: it was, after all, Mel’s mother Jane who turned him onto transcendental meditation. Six years post-breakup, they reunited last week to dish on Selman’s latest, possibly greatest, and arguably campiest project yet: the revival of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, once a male-gaze parade, now a forward-thinking celebration of the feminine form. “I do want to put my stamp on it,” Selman says. “I don’t want it to all be heritage.” A few days after the show, they got together in Greenwich Village to debate the merits of “performance panties,” reminisce on Rihanna’s 2012 VS backstage dramatics, and go through Selman’s glossy debut, wing by wing.—OLAMIDE OYENUSI

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MEL OTTENBERG: We’re talking about the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

ADAM SELMAN: We are, yes.

OTTENBERG: Which you’re the designer of—what’s your title?

SELMAN: Executive Creative Director.

OTTENBERG: Okay.

SELMAN: So I didn’t just do the clothes, I did the stage and the music and the whole shebang.

OTTENBERG: The show seemed like a success.

SELMAN: It was a big success.

OTTENBERG: Great. I want to talk about my favorite outfits. Was Adriana Lima’s outfit inspired by Showgirls?

SELMAN: So much of this was inspired by Showgirls.

OTTENBERG: Wait, Adam and I were boyfriends for 10 years.

SELMAN: 10 years.

OTTENBERG: And we’ve been broken up for six years. And, well, panties were a big part of our relationship. [Laughs]

SELMAN: Panties started and ended our relationship. I’m so happy we can laugh about that.

OTTENBERG: It’s so funny. But when we were a couple, we’d lie in bed talking about panties and then it was like, “Oh my god, all we can talk about is panties.” And then we were still going out for like seven more years.

SELMAN: Exactly.

OTTENBERG: Not that it was bad. It was great to be boyfriends.

SELMAN: It was a magical time.

OTTENBERG: But panties ruined it. We were always talking about performance panties, undergarments.

SELMAN: Undergarments.

OTTENBERG: Bras.

SELMAN: Solutions. 

OTTENBERG: Adam is a genius with solutions. But I do want to talk about the Victoria’s Secret fashion show.

SELMAN: For sure.

OTTENBERG: But first, a story. It was 2012 and I was Rihanna’s stylist and Adam was the designer we worked with all the time that helped me create her whole thing. She’s performing at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show and she’s wearing two looks. Adam made her “Dangerous Liaisons” look, the black outfit with the pearl glasses. From concept to finish it was just perfect. And then a French brand made her “Phresh Out the Runway” look that in the fitting was great, but then on camera during rehearsal on the day of, it was really bad.

SELMAN: You could see right up the little unitard.

OTTENBERG: It was a sick outfit. But the hot pant opening was not right for the stage and the coat really didn’t work.

SELMAN: So it was a full freak out backstage.

OTTENBERG: We had backups, but Rihanna was like, “This isn’t it. We need something else.” So Adam went to the fabric store, got the pink lace fabric, and made her second look in three hours, like, while she was doing “Diamonds.”

SELMAN: I was calling my team screaming, “Go get pink!” And they were like, “What color pink?” And we were like, “What?” We found a Sweet’N Low packet as the color reference. And then I ran to the studio, made the outfit, and then ran it back. 

OTTENBERG: I had a pink panty so we used that with the baggy pink lace tee, pink bra, and long sleeved pink tee tied around the waist that you made that day. I remember texting you like, “Dude, can you make the long sleeved t-shirt I can’t find it?” And you’re like, “Are you fucking kidding me?” But you did it and it was proper. We put that Lynn Ban vintage necklace on, and a suede Manolo Blahnik booty, and she went on stage and killed it.

SELMAN: That was history.

OTTENBERG: That was one of the best outfits I ever styled her in. Point is, you can really put on a fucking show and turn it like few can.

SELMAN: This year, I was so calm backstage. People were like, “Are you okay?” But it’s that kind of shit that really makes me calm because I’ve already done all the hard, freak-out stuff.

OTTENBERG: Right. You’ve been in show business for a long time.

SELMAN: Exactly.

OTTENBERG: And then also, you famously did the Rihanna naked dress.

SELMAN: Correct. We did that, motherfucker.

OTTENBERG: Well, you designed it and I forced it into being. That was a really famous dress, and the start of this first Victoria’s Secret show was very that. It’s very Showgirls meets Rihanna CFDA dress, meets space. Wait, let’s look at the looks. 

SELMAN: I want to talk about this for a second.

OTTENBERG: Oh yeah. Jasmine Tookes.

SELMAN: She did the first Adam Selman show, so I knew I wanted her in the show, and then I found out she was pregnant and I was like, “Oh my god, this is perfect.” It’s just such a great symbol of womanhood.

OTTENBERG: Irina Shayk was telling me yesterday that the fans love the contract girls. Can you explain what the era of contract girls is?

SELMAN: So VS has this long history of contract girls, and that’s what the Angels were known as. We don’t really use the word Angel in that context anymore, but we’ll use contract girls throughout the year for campaigns, store appearances, and stuff like that. This year it’s Adriana Lima, Angel Reese, Candice Swanepoel, Paloma Elsesser, and Devin Garcia. Abby Champion and Anok Yai also have contracts for the first time.

OTTENBERG: Anok looked really good.

SELMAN: Incredible. We also have Doutzen [Kroes], Alessandra [Ambrosio], Lily Aldridge, and Joan Smalls.

OTTENBERG: I like this Joan Smalls outfit, obviously.

SELMAN: That’s my favorite headpiece, actually.

OTTENBERG: She wore it really well.

SELMAN: Doutzen’s look was supposed to be long but last year she got stuck on the runway so in her fitting I just grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the skirt really short. Beads were flying everywhere. 

OTTENBERG: She’s so hot.

SELMAN: And then there’s Barbara Palvin.

OTTENBERG: Can you buy this bra?

SELMAN: You can buy this bra, and you can buy a version of this dress. I amplified it, obviously, and then we added a back piece. You can’t see it in the pictures, but it hung on her back and it looks almost like angel wings. It was beautiful.

OTTENBERG: I was watching Carrie last night, and this is a dream prom dress.

SELMAN: I love that you were watching Carrie last night. [Laughs] And then there’s Behati [Prinsloo] and Candice.

OTTENBERG: This show is fantasy, but it also makes you think that you should buy lingerie at Victoria’s Secret.

SELMAN: That is the goal. 

OTTENBERG: Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele obviously styled this. I worship Carlyne Cerf. Was she fun to work with?

SELMAN: Oh my god, she was the best to work with. She’s such a dream. We really, really got along. I felt like she was finishing my sentences and then the moments that I wanted to push her and be like, “I didn’t design it this way.” She’d be like, “No, no, no, it can’t be that. It’s vulgaire.” It was fun for her to be able to put her finishing touches on it. She was having the time of her life, which made me so happy.

OTTENBERG: Pat McGrath told me it was just an absolute joy backstage. 

SELMAN: It really was. Everybody’s having the best time.

OTTENBERG: Oh, I do like that nasty giant VS over the cookie area. What’s her name?

SELMAN: Angelina Kendall. Obsessed with her. 

OTTENBERG: Did she walk with this giant flower?

SELMAN: Yeah. She had like, a big scepter.

OTTENBERG: I really like that belt. Wait, can girls buy shit like this?

SELMAN: So you can buy this dress, but it’s all satin. It’s cool, right?

OTTENBERG: Yeah.

SELMAN: And you can buy that corset, as well.

OTTENBERG: Irina’s corset?

SELMAN: Irina’s corset, yeah.

OTTENBERG: I’m very into Abby Champion.

SELMAN: This was her first runway.

OTTENBERG: I can’t believe that. I thought she would’ve done it forever. Also, Precious looked so hot.

SELMAN: Yeah.

OTTENBERG: Anok’s outfit was so bananas. It’s really selling the lingerie.

 

SELMAN: I mean, that was probably my biggest task, right? To balance between the heightened fantasy of the show and selling the commercial looks.

OTTENBERG: Okay, my girl Quenlin [Blackwell].

SELMAN: Quenlin is just incredible.

OTTENBERG: Someone just sent me this tweet that was saying, “We can’t have influencers on the VS runway.” And I wrote back like, “No, no, no. I think there should be more.” 

SELMAN: I mean, people want the old VS, but it’s my job to move it forward. I think she’s a perfect example of moving it forward.

OTTENBERG: She’s just hot.

SELMAN: People were really upset about the double stacking of lingerie and a swimsuit with her. I was kind of into the outrage around it because people were paying that much attention.

OTTENBERG: I think making people mad is one of the joys of life. Lila [Moss], you can really recognize her from miles away. She’s coming into her thing.

SELMAN: Yeah. She’s the only one who could carry that outfit, which is cool.

OTTENBERG: And Bella Hadid, man, she’s a star.

SELMAN: She is. The red look was a trench coat that had a big cape in the back, and then we put a garter belt around the midsection, but it fell off during the runway, so it kind of just looks like a skirt cape, which is cool.

OTTENBERG: Oh, I loved it. That was hot.

SELMAN: She was a dream to work with. She was the last fitting that we did before the show, the night before. If she hated it, I would’ve been fucked, but she was so happy. Everything we put on her was a perfect fit. 

OTTENBERG: Incredible. Amelia Gray was one of the real scene-stealers of the show.

SELMAN: Yeah. She really blew my mind. It’s a very scandalous dress, but wow. What a dress. And then Karol G knocked it out of the park.

OTTENBERG: Oh, yeah. Karol G is a big star.

SELMAN: Huge. This performance also really is getting her attention in the American market, which is cool. She really wanted those wings, she started sobbing whenever she put them on. The power of the wings.

OTTENBERG: I really liked her drum dance solo thing. Oh, Emily Ratajkowski. I want to steal this photo. I won’t because I respect you and you need it. But just look at Emily.

SELMAN: How good is that? She crushed it so hard. She was so unbothered whenever she put it on. Whenever the models come in, there’s tears and laughter. But she just put it on and she’s like, “Okay, this is it.” She’s just so mellow.

OTTENBERG: She told me she did Pilates twice to prepare for the show.

SELMAN: [Laughs] She’s just a sensation. 

OTTENBERG: And Awar [Odhiang]’s outfit is cool. How long did it take to make a wing outfit like this? Did you sketch all these things?

SELMAN: Yeah, I sketched them.

OTTENBERG: So these were all your ideas?

SELMAN: A lot of the lingerie was given to me, and then I was like, “How do I build a look around it?” And this guy named Juan [Quiceno] that I’ve known forever and—

OTTENBERG: So you’re saying that Juan did all the sketches?

SELMAN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Juan did the sketches, and now I’m working with this person, her name is Marta [Di Donato], who takes them and makes them into digital renderings.

OTTENBERG: Oh, wow. And is everything for sale now?

SELMAN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The night of the show, they had flipped the website and it was like, “shop the show.”

OTTENBERG: And how is that going?

SELMAN: I think we had 11 million more people tuned in to it live than they did last year, so the numbers are through the roof. I do want to put my stamp on it. It’s also, “What does the era of Adam Selman and Victoria’s Secret look like?” I don’t want it to all be heritage. 

OTTENBERG: Yeah. What was the most expensive outfit?

SELMAN: I think the most expensive outfit was in the golden section, probably Adriana’s wings or Candice’s wings. Talk about heavy. And then Gigi’s coat, the pink one, all the fabric flowers were handmade in New York. It was enormously expensive.

OTTENBERG: Okay, so you were telling me that you picked all these different people for the performances because they’re different markets?

SELMAN: Yes. I really wanted to do a worldview, not just an American pop freak out. So I was strategic about who I chose. Madison [Beer] is incredible. She’s a young new pop star. She debuted “Bittersweet” at the show and I think this is the first time that someone’s debuted a song at the VS fashion show. Because it’s beyond a fashion show, right? It’s a real cultural event. And Twice is a huge K-pop group, and they wrote songs for Demon Hunters. And then Karol G is just a powerhouse. And then Missy Elliot was the perfect icon. People were kind of upset that the models didn’t walk during her thing, but I thought it was actually smart because it was just the Missy experience.

OTTENBERG: Missy got me really excited.

SELMAN: I mean, she brought the house down.

OTTENBERG: There’s something for everyone. Missy’s for me, but Twice is for someone else.

SELMAN: Madison is also really for you.

OTTENBERG: Madison is definitely for you.

SELMAN: I would also argue that Karol’s kind of for you.

OTTENBERG: I need to meet Karol. What other questions should I ask you? 

SELMAN: So, right before the show, we were supposed to go live at seven o’clock. And then I think 10 minutes before they were going to go live, the tech side lost comms and there was a huge freak out. They basically did the entire show without comms.

OTTENBERG: What does that mean?

SELMAN: They didn’t have any walkie talkies and headsets to be able to communicate with each other. So they were basically communicating with hand gestures throughout the show. That just really shows how world-class the production people from Bureau Betak are. They came to me and they’re like, “The choice is, do you want to do the show or not do the show?” Because it could have been a huge disaster and everything could have gotten fucked completely, as it’s live. But they pulled it off. It wasn’t as manic as I thought it was going to be. It was very calm, and all the models were dancing and having the best time and smiling and hugging each other. It was actually really beautiful.

OTTENBERG: So wait, do you think it should be live?

SELMAN: I mean, I go back and forth. But in 2025, everybody’s got a camera. Everybody’s got a live stream. What are you going to do? Take their phones? That would be foolish. The engagement is off the charts.

OTTENBERG: It’s insane. It’s giving Met Gala. How did you keep from going crazy when you were doing the show? It seems so psychotic.

SELMAN: It was psychotic, but I do think I have a really good support system around me, which is cool. And I meditate twice a day, thanks to Jane Ottenberg.

OTTENBERG: Oh, wow. My mom.

SELMAN: Yeah. Then I work out a lot.

OTTENBERG: What time do you work out?

SELMAN: I work out at 6:30 every day. I take Wednesday and Saturdays off.

OTTENBERG: What time does the alarm go off?

SELMAN: 5:20. And it takes me like 10 minutes to get up, then I have a coffee and get back into bed. I know you’re not supposed to do that, but I’m not a morning person.

OTTENBERG: And then you meditate for 20 minutes?

SELMAN: I do it for 17. That’s my sweet spot. I have a coach, who I’m obsessed with, and that’s been a huge help in manifesting and stuff. With Adam Selman the brand and working with Rihanna and  all the other things we did together I fulfilled all these dreams I had as a 16-year-old boy. But it’s been hard to understand what it all means after I’ve fulfilled those dreams. Now that I’m in this position I’m like, “Oh, let’s not fuck it up.”