When lingerie brand Bluebella ranked the most influential lingerie models in the world, it captured a moment the industry has never quite repeated, the era when a single Instagram post could pay £50,000.
Lingerie modelling has always minted stars, but the late 2010s created something new: the lingerie influencer, whose power was measured not on runways but in engagement rates. The definitive snapshot of that era came from international lingerie brand Bluebella, which compiled its Queens of Lingerie ranking by weighing not just follower counts but the influence each model exerted through likes and engagement. The result remains a fascinating who’s-who, and a record of how the lingerie business learned to sell through personalities rather than campaigns.
The Top Ten Queens of Lingerie
- Candice Swanepoel, 11.8 million followers. The South African Victoria’s Secret veteran topped the list, reportedly commanding up to £50,000 per post.
- Alexis Ren, 11.7 million followers. The American model was just a whisker behind at only 21 years old.
- Ana Cheri, 11 million followers.
- Abigail Ratchford, 8.2 million followers.
- Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, 7.6 million followers. The highest-placed Brit, and the face of Rosie for Autograph at Marks & Spencer.
- Viki Odintcova, 4.5 million followers.
- Natalie Gauvreau, 2.8 million followers.
- Dita Von Teese, 2.1 million followers. At 45, the burlesque icon was the oldest on the list, and arguably its most enduring brand.
- Sofia Jamora, 1.4 million followers, the youngest star on the list.
- Nyané Lebajoa, 768,000 followers. The British model punched far above her follower count as a respected fashion designer in her own right.
Why engagement beat follower counts
Bluebella chief executive Emily Bendell explained the methodology at the time: “In the past two years, lingerie influencers have really blown up and are commanding huge fees for posts… What is most important is not their number of followers but the level of engagement they get with each post. That shows their real influence and is the key element in driving sales.”
What happened to the queens?
The careers diverged exactly as you’d expect from the list’s mix: the supermodels stayed supermodels, Dita Von Teese kept proving longevity is the ultimate flex, and several names parlayed lingerie influence into brands of their own. The era of the £50,000 lingerie post has since given way to a more crowded, more regulated influencer economy, but this ranking remains the high-water mark of the moment lingerie modelling and social media collided.
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