The annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show launched in 1997, was put on a hiatus in 2019, and is now coming back. The lingerie brand announced its return during its 2022 earnings call on Friday that it’s aiming to revamp its runway production, which was once one of the most anticipated (and watched) in the world.
“It used to be that you did VS and you became this superstar,” a Victoria’s Secret insider shared with Page Six in 2019. “The industry has just changed overall. I could see the Angels going away.”
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, a spokesperson also emphasized that the show will “reinforce our commitment to championing women’s voices and their unique perspectives.”
Although the brand has switched up its marketing strategy, its CEO admitted the revamp is still a work in progress.
“We believe we’re two years into a five-year journey in the turnaround of our business, and we have a clear roadmap to be the world’s leading fashion retailer of intimate apparel,” Victoria’s Secret CEO, Martin Waters, said on Friday’s earnings call.
“We’re going to continue to lean into the marketing spend to invest in the business… and also to support the new version of our fashion show, which is to come later this year,” said the brand’s CFO, Timothy Johnson.
The event – which once featured top models such as Candace Swanepoel, Alessandra Ambrosio, Tyra Banks, Gisele Bündchen, Heidi Klum, and Adriana Lima – was put on hiatus in November 2019 following VS’s declining sales, poor television ratings, and controversies surrounding the brand. Most notably, it was reported that the company’s CEO, Les Wexner, had close ties to Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. (A spokesperson for Mr. and Mrs. Wexner told the Washington Post in 2019 that they had severed all ties with Epstein in 2007 and condemned Epstein’s “abhorrent behavior in the strongest possible terms.”) In 2020, a New York Times article accused the former chief marketing officer of L Brands, Victoria’s Secret’s parent company, Edward Razek, of creating a “culture of misogyny, bullying, and harassment.” Razek responded to the New York Times that the claims were “categorically untrue, misconstrued or taken out of context.”
At the time of its hiatus, there was speculation about whether the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was still relevant or appropriate for the fashion times. In 2018, Razek was asked if the show needed an overhaul from its bombshells-only look, meaning if it would ever consider featuring a more diverse cast, including trans or plus-size models. He rejected the idea, telling Vogue, “I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is.”
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