After years of controversy, the Victoria’s Secret, VS fashion show, is officially back. As mentioned by Ana Eksouzian-Cavadas, in 2019, the fashion show was discontinued because of lacking inclusivity allegations and transphobic views coming from former marketing chief officer, Ed Razek.
In the past decade, inclusivity has been growing in every way. The Victoria Secret fashion show seemed stereotypical with respect to body, face and height, to the point that people finally took notice.
According to Vogue India, reported by WWD, Stuart B. Burgdoerfer, the CFO and EVP of L Brands, noted that the show’s marketing strategy no longer aligned with Victoria’s Secret mission and what they wanted to communicate to the public. This led to the cancellation of the show which devastated some people and angered others.
In a similar way, in The New York Times, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and her co-workers referred to the two powerful men who presided over a culture of “misogyny, bullying and harassment.”
A spokeswoman for L Brands, the parent company of VS, argued that the company was “intensely focused” on making “significant strides.” Yet, definitions of beauty have changed over the years placing a great value on different body types.
Now that six years have passed, the show is on its comeback and it’s happening this fall. This was announced by Victoria Secret on their social media with a video of a text message for the VS angel squad stating that they are coming back.
They have shown some of the returning angels the public has always loved, such as Gigi Hadid, Candice Swanepoel and other iconic figures. The show has been marketed ever since. For example, a caption on their TikTok read, “What do our iconic wings symbolize? We can’t wait to take flight on the runway.”
Many are eager to see the new version of the show and how the chief executive officer, along with the brand organization members, will surprise their new and old audiences.
It will perhaps attract new youths who have never seen the show before. The outcome may serve as a lesson to learn in terms of brand advertising, marketing and much more.
Victoria Secret has been losing money ever since its rebrand as the public didn’t like it much. Now that the show is coming back, an increase in capital can be expected. Yet questions remain: Is it totally going back to its old glamorous supermodel ways? Or perhaps adapting to new values on body types? Or a combination of the two?
Perhaps the show will get more public attention as VS used to when the fashion shows were going on. It will likely be more adapted to new societal tendencies. In the end, the real question is, is it going to be the same as before? No one knows, but as Victoria Secret stated, “Pack your wings, we are back.”
Let us know your thoughts about the return of the show by tweeting us @VALLEYmag on X!
