(Photo Source: REUTERS/Mike Segar)
Victoria’s Secret Angels won’t be walking the runway this year
After months of speculation, representatives confirmed that the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show would be no more, at least for this year. L Brands, the parent company for the lingerie brand, confirmed that the brand plans to sit down and flush out the intent behind the show to really evolve the message and purpose before having the angels walk the runway again.
Facing many setbacks over the past few years, the 2018 annual show received record-breaking lows in viewership. Whether it was due to new competition from other brands (Rihanna’s collaboration with Fenty for their Savage x Fenty lingerie line pulled viewership and shoppers) or controversy surrounding the brands leadership board who spoke poorly about the transgender community and defended VS continued look of exclusivity, the show that is usually one of the most talked-about events in fashion flopped majorly.
But that’s not all. After a year of declining sales and decreasing shares, the brand made a failed attempt to hop on the “inclusivity” bandwagon in an effort to smooth over appearances with the public, opposed to actually wanting to create a campaign that would make more women feel included and accepted by the brand. We know it was a vain effort due to the casting of the models—in their fall campaign, they added in a plus-size model who has openly made derogatory comments to overweight people. The campaign was perceived as an imposter and just too little too late at an attempt of damage control and did not elicit the intended results.
A brand that has remained static in a time of change must now reconvene and recognize the demands of a shifting population if they want to maintain any sort of legitimacy and keep shoppers coming into stores. Canceling the show to further envision how it can be better seems like a good first step, but we’ll have to see what 2020 brings for the angels to fully decide.
