- Victoria’s Secret is bringing back its famous fashion show this year after a four-year hiatus.
- The lingerie retailer canceled the show in 2019 after criticism, a scandal and lagging sales.
- It has since undertaken a turnaround and rebranding to become more inclusive.
Victoria’s Secret is bringing back its famous fashion show after a four-year hiatus and an overhaul for the lingerie brand.
The company’s chief financial officer, Timothy Johnson, said Thursday that Victoria’s Secret plans to spend more on marketing in 2023, both to build brand awareness and to “support our new take on the fashion show, which is due coming later this year.” Retail Dive was the first to spot the new.
Victoria’s Secret has previously stated that the the show would eventually come back, but without ever setting a date. Johnson, who made the remarks during a quarterly earnings call, did not provide additional details on the show.
A spokesperson for Victoria’s Secret told Insider that the company is constantly innovating “in all areas of the business” and is committed to standing up for women.
“It will take us into new spaces like reclaiming one of our best marketing and entertainment properties to date and flipping it to reflect who we are today,” the spokesperson said. “We’re excited to share later this year.”
Victoria’s Secret began airing an annual fashion show from 1995. The show featured models like Tyra Banks, Gisele Bündchen and Gigi Hadid modeling the brand’s lingerie and the “fancy bra”, which featured real diamonds and gemstones. In recent years, the show has also included musical performances by Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez.
Viewers topped 9.7 million in 2013, but five years later had fallen to just 3.3 million people. That same year, Ed Razek, then chief marketing officer of Victoria’s Secret’s former parent company, sparked an uproar when he said in a interview with Vogue that he didn’t think the show should include plus size or transgender models because “the show is a fantasy”. Razek, who handpicked the models that walked the show, later apologized for his comments and eventually resigned.
Razek was not the only problem for the brand. Consumer tastes had begun to change, moving away from the push-up bras and sexpot style defined by Victoria’s Secret towards more comfortable bralettes and sports bras. The retailer was slow to recognize the change and lost ground to American Eagle’s underwear brand Aerie and upstart competitors like ThirdLove and Lively. In 2018, Victoria’s Secret’s market share had fallen to 24% – from 33% two years earlier – and customers have complained that the quality has dropped Also.
Additionally, fans and critics had begun to criticize the company’s fashion show and marketing more broadly – which only featured tall, thin and conventionally beautiful models – for being out of touch with typical consumers. . Meanwhile, Limited Brands founder Les Wexner had been linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The sign has since been working to redesign its image. He eliminated the angels in favor of a more diverse and inclusive range of role models and spokespersons, including soccer star Megan Rapinoe and actor and investor Priyanka Chopra. Changes helped increase sales.
“We believe we are two years into a five-year journey in turning our business around,” CEO Martin Water said during Thursday’s earnings call, “and we have a clear roadmap. to become the world’s leading fashion apparel retailer.”