By Jaclyn Peiser
Four years after Victoria’s Secret shuttered its annual runway show in a bid to “evolve,” the lingerie brand is bringing back a version of the star-studded spectacle later this year.
The high-profile shows, known for parading elaborately winged and scantily clad supermodels, had also drawn criticism for glorifying unrealistic body standards and their sparse diversity.
And industry experts warn that the “Angels” of the past will no longer fly.
“It’s one of those shining examples, when you look back at how brands were when it came to body inclusivity, of what not to do, that it’s a surprise that they would go back in that direction, unless they’ve got some big sea change planned,” said Kara Richardson Whitely, the chief executive of size inclusivity consulting company the Gorgeous Agency.
Word of a revival came up during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call last week when Chief Financial Officer Timothy Johnson referenced marketing for a “new version” of the fashion show later this year.
A Victoria’s Secret spokesperson did not respond to The Washington Post’s questions about specific changes.
In a statement, the person said the company is “always innovating and ideating in all spheres of the business” and will be “reclaiming one of our best marketing and entertainment properties to date and turning it on its head to reflect who we are today.”
Victoria’s Secret’s former parent, L Brands (they separated in 2021), cancelled the show in November 2019 as the brand’s image was in free fall.
The televised event that attracted 12 million viewers in 2001 had dropped to 3.3 million in 2018 as consumer interest waned in its narrow and exaggerated view of female sexuality.
Les Wexner, L Brand’s chief executive, had also come under scrutiny for his connection to Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier who managed Wexner’s money before being jailed on federal sex trafficking charges.
A New York Times investigation found that Epstein used his connection to Victoria’s Secret to pose as a model recruiter, inviting young women to his hotel room for auditions and assaulting them.
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in July 2019 from an apparent suicide. Wexner said he was unaware of Epstein’s alleged crimes and cut ties with him as soon as he found out about them.
The fashion show announcement comes as Victoria’s Secret faces steady declines in revenue and “weak performance across both stores and online,” Neil Saunders, managing director of the analytics company GlobalData, said in a statement.
Saunders said that fourth-quarter sales fell 7.1% year-on-year.
The brand also faces steeper competition from athleisure brands, while body-inclusive lingerie and undergarment companies, such as Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty, Aerie and Parade, have diminished its customer base.
Victoria’s Secret has made its own push toward body inclusivity, much like fellow mall staple Abercrombie, which had also been called out by critics for being exclusionary.
The lingerie company offers more sizes and uses diverse models on its websites, in stores and in marketing campaigns.
But unlike Abercrombie, Victoria’s Secret has failed to rehabilitate its perception, and this is clear in its earnings results, Saunders said.
“While we recognise and applaud management’s commitment and efforts to make Victoria’s Secret more inclusive and palatable, this still hasn’t filtered through to customer perception. Nor, in our view, will it for some time,” he added.
Opening up to larger-bodied people was a strategic and necessary move, said Fashion Institute of Technology professor Shawn Grain Carter.
Gen Z and millennial consumers want inclusivity, authenticity and sustainability in the brands they buy from.
“Are you saying that you’re inclusive in terms of body size? Are you inclusive in terms of generations? Are you inclusive in terms of ethnicity and nationality?” Grain Carter said. “All of this is relevant in terms of what matters to consumers, particularly contemporary consumers.”
There is also immense business opportunity with size inclusivity, with more than $40-billion of buying power in the plus-size market, Richardson Whitely noted.
But Victoria’s Secret has a steep road ahead. For years, the brand ignored and overtly excluded this demographic.
“They need to recognise that the plus-size market, especially, has deep pockets and long memories,” Richardson Whitely said.
“So when a company wants to provide larger sizes, it really needs to work on healing that customer journey so that the customers know they can trust the brand again.”
The fashion show is an opportunity for the brand to prove it is dedicated to this re-brand, Grain Carter said.
“Together, the customers will vote, and they will decide either you are understanding their lifestyle and you’re sincere about presenting the product as well as models who reference a lifestyle that they identify with, or, just guess what? It’s not going to work, and they will know very quickly because with social media, it’s amplified right away.“
