Today, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is returning to air for the first time since 2018.
Former 'Angels' Tyra Banks, Gigi Hadid, Adriana Lima and Taylor Hill are all set to make their return to the runway, as well as a line-up of all-female performers, including Cher, Tyla and K-pop star Lisa. It's a night intended to catapult the brand back to its former glory. But much has changed in the years since the lingerie brand held their last live show.
While declining sales and poor ratings for their annual catwalk extravaganza certainly contributed to Victoria's Secret's six-year runway hiatus, the brand was also beginning to rub up against controversy with their ageing ideals of femininity.
Racist, sexist, ableist, and sizeist. An increasing lack of concern for diversity in their casting made the 'fantasy' Victoria's Secret were selling feel increasingly like an anachronism – a feature made more apparent when compared to Rihanna's Savage X Fenty shows that, coincidentally or not, began to air in 2018 – the same year VS held their last.
At the time, VS was a brand helmed by powerful men (not overlooking that former CEO Lex Wexner had long-standing business ties with Jeffrey Epstein), and exclusive toward women who did not fit their narrow-minded vision. "Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should... Because the show is a fantasy," former CMO of Victoria's Secret, Ed Razek, told Vogue hours before their last live show. (Razek later said his remarks were "insensitive", and resigned less than a year later.)
The brand also came under fire several times for culturally insensitive outfits displayed in their shows – from Karlie Kloss's infamous 2012 Native American feather headdress (a look that was eventually cut before the event hit television), to Elsa Hosk's 2017 Chinese dragon ensemble. Of course, there was also outrage over Victoria's Secret angels singing racial slurs backstage, and incidents of relegating black models to tribal skits, but somehow the brand seemed to continue, full-steam-ahead... that is, of course, until they didn't.
The lingerie juggernaut has done a lot in the last few years to try and turn around its image. It's hired a female CEO (Hillary Super, former executive at Savage X Fenty), made a $7 million investment in women-led businesses identified by Venture Capital firm Amplifyher Ventures, and swapped their 'angels' in advertisements for a group called the VS Collective, comprised of athletes, creatives and activists.
But strangely, there's still an appetite for the 'old VS' from fans. In a TikTok video from the brand announcing the show's 2024 return, comments ranged from "Bring back hot people!" to "Finally, i missed this vs with real vs angels". Narrow-minded ideals die hard, I guess.
Just last week, Vogue Business released a report on size inclusivity on Spring Summer 2025 runways across New York, London, Milan and Paris. Their data showed that, of nearly 9,000 looks presented at more than 200 shows during September's fashion month: "0.8 per cent were plus-size (US 14+), 4.3 per cent were mid-size (US 6-12) and 94.9 per cent were straight-size (US 0-4)".
But it hardly takes a statician to notice this trend. Amid an Ozempic boom, thinness is once again at the fore of fashion – making it an extremely conducive environment for a brand like VS to make a break for their old crown. That's not to say they won't have changed their tune about plus-size and trans models, or about side-stepping culturally insensitive costumes on the runway this time around, but it certainly makes their old formula, ironically, an appetising one.
Many of us grew up watching the VSFS, and can recall the starvation diets and obsessive training glamourised by VS models backstage. "What are you most looking forward to eating after the show?" was a commonly asked question. Headlines were made when Dylan Sprouse walked the afterparty carpet with a bag of Shake Shack burgers to deliver to his model girlfriend, Barbara Palvin. And while, in retrospect, the disordered eating and extremeness of the bodies on display feels impossible to overlook, most of us accepted when we were told that these women were "athletes" and that it was all just about some good-old-fashioned "hard work". Most of us doubled down to find out how Alessandra Ambrosio or Jourdan Dunn #trainlikeanangel.
And so, it's a complicated road back for VS. In the time that the VSFS was shelved, a suite of brands like Savage X Fenty, Parade, Aerie, and Skims have solidified their place in a new wave of lingerie brands built on the pillars of inclusivity and diversity. Sexy has taken on new meaning – and a new look. It will be interesting to see if VS still have real estate in the market, or if they'll simply be playing catch up.
From a public relations perspective, they're doing plenty of the right things – making donations, hiring women, adopting a more inclusive vision in their campaigns – but when all of these things are being done after the public has decried them, sales have fallen, and there's no way forward with with their dated ideals, it's hard for these actions not to feel... performative.
As the lights dim and the curtains rise on their runway return, it is undeniably an attempt to reclaim relevance in a world that has moved forward. While their efforts at inclusivity and female empowerment seem genuine on paper, the lingering question remains: is it too little, too late? Will they evolve and survive, or will this comeback mark the final chapter in a once unshakable empire? In an industry where representation is the new currency, the challenge for VS isn’t just catching up. It’s about proving they belong in a future that looks very different from their past.
