It seems to be an end of an era as it was announced this week that the annual Victoria Secret Fashion Show will not be returning. After 24 consecutive years of the show being one of the most anticipated annual fashion of the year it has now been cancelled, but is this a good thing for the future of Victoria Secret or the end of them?
When I was younger, to me the Victoria Secret Show was something I looked forward to. For me I loved the build-up to the show and looking at all the behind the scenes to it, I would constantly been checking their Youtube for the recent updates and sneak peeks of what the show would entail. I loved the idea and hype around the iconic ‘Fantasy Bra’ that would be made from the most exquisite jewels and diamonds and would cost millions. And every year one angel would be chosen and have the honour of walking down the runway in it looking and feeling a million dollars.
The creation of the ‘VS Angels’ reminds me of an American sorority. The casting directors would pick and choose carefully who they wanted to be next to join this ‘clique’. This iconic ‘clique’ included the likes of Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Gisele Bündchen, just to name a few. This exclusivity made me dream about making the cut someday. It seemed as though it wasn’t just a dream for normal people like me, but it was a dream for the world’s biggest models. I will remember when Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid were cast and ‘given their wings’, they made a post on Instagram with a caption about how much of an honour and dream it was for them. Now looking back, I think having these ‘VS Angels’ was a great marketing strategy as it made you want to be a part of it so badly, making you want to buy into it hoping it will make you feel like one of those angels.
However, now I’m older all I see is trim women without an inch of fat strutting about in mostly culturally inappropriate themed costumes. Their focus on weight is something that definitely worries me now. There are hundreds of videos on the internet of how to achieve the ‘Victoria Secret’ bikini body. There are even videos from the angels themselves by which they show how they ‘get in to shape’ for the show weeks, even months in advance. Now I do understand that if anyone was going to be in a lingerie fashion show they too would like to try and look the best they could, but these angels go to the extreme with ridiculously restricted diets and hard-core training. I don’t think this is the way in which we can help create and promote body positivity. And I’m not the only one who agrees with this, earlier this year Karlie Kloss, super model and former Victoria’s Secret Angel, stated: “The reason I decided to stop working with Victoria’s Secret was I didn’t feel it was an image that was truly reflective of who I am and the kind of message I want to send to young women around the world about what it means to be beautiful.” She told British Vogue that leaving the brand was “a pivotal moment in me stepping into my power as a feminist”.
The brand has also had many scandals throughout its 24-year run. In August, Victoria’s Secret’s chief marketing officer Ed Razek stepped down. In a much-criticised interview with Vogue in 2018, Razek said the brand would not cast transgender or plus-sized models “because the show is a fantasy”. At the same time his retirement was announced, Victoria’s Secret cast its first transgender model. This just shows how the brand has been trying hard to keep up with the evolving world, but being extremely unsuccessful as consumers like me can see right through it.
Do I think this is the permanent end of the VS fashion show? No, I don’t. but I do feel like they need to take the time out to re-evaluate today’s market and the new generation of consumers that it entails. I hope if it does return in the future, that they have changed but with true meaning and not just changed the type of model down the runway in order to be considered more accepting.
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