The lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret has just announced the return of its acclaimed fashion show, which was canceled in 2019 due to falling sales and low ratings for the brand’s most characteristic show. They have communicated this through a video broadcast on her Instagram account where supermodel Candice Swanepoel appears wearing a black t-shirt that reads in capital letters: “we are back.”
For now, the American brand has not given many details about the event, other than that it will take place next fall. “We read the comments and we listened to them. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is back and we’re going to reflect who we are now, plus what we know you love: the glamour, the shows, the wings, the musical shows and more. Stay tuned,” they added in a statement.
The last show took place in 2018, when the company was going through its worst moment. Victoria’s Secret had gone from attracting 12.4 million viewers in 2001 – its historical record – to decline to only 4.98 million in 2017. The audience continued to fall until reaching the figure of 3.27 million in 2018, the worst year in its history.
The low audience was one of the triggers for the cancellation, but not the only one. In recent years, the public began to criticize the lack of diversity of its models, sexualization and promoting an unrealistic and unattainable standard of beauty.
In 2018, the brand’s marketing director, Ed Razek, stated in a Vogue interview that transgender models should not be part of the event. A few months later he left the company through the back door. Victoria’s Secret founder Les Wexner was also closely linked to Jeffrey Epstein. Wexner reportedly gave Epstein a job as an advisor, but cut ties in 2007.
As a result of these controversies, the company’s sales plummeted. In 2018, the L Brands group, owner of Victoria’s Secret, had a drop of nearly 40%, becoming one of the great disappointments on Wall Street.
Now, after five years of hiatus and repositioning, the brand wants to be competitive again and attract all those fans who dreamed of dressing and parading with gigantic wings.
