Victoria’s Secret put its angel wings back on — hitting the catwalk again after a six-year hiatus.
The return was loud and proud, with A-list celebrities, influencers and a multigenerational, all-female musical line-up of Cher, Tyla and Lisa turning out for the live event at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Grace Elizabeth, Taylor Hill and Tyra Banks, who last stepped out for Victoria’s Secret in 2005, all took their turn on the catwalk.
Streamed live on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Amazon Live, the show was heavy on both glamour and glitz and infused with a direct commercial purpose. The lingerie on the runway — minus the wings and theatrical bits — was available to buy immediately for the first time.
Victoria’s Secret is thinking differently and projecting more confidence as it works to get its business back into growth mode.
It’s telling that the brand was ready to both come full circle and define itself for the future — and do that balancing act via global livestream.
“It will always be about feeling sexy,” said Janie Schaffer, chief design and creative officer in an interview before the show. “We are Victoria’s Secret. But it’s sexy for everybody. We have 57 bra sizes. We go all the way up in bra sizes. We have a fully inclusive and beautiful collection of lingerie, and we really wanted to celebrate that on the runway.”
There were the famous angel wings and models, of course, but also, as Schaffer put it, “confident women of many different shapes and sizes.”
“Behind the scenes, it is such a different animal,” she said, pointing specifically to how the runway looks will be available for sale.
Previously, the show was edited, arranged and polished before it went out on terrestrial TV.
“This is about live, in the moment. Whatever happens, happens. Truly, an authentic journey,” Schaffer said. “Everybody can see it in real time.”
Victoria’s Secret created a sensation when it televised its 2001 runway, prompting 12.4 million viewers to put the remote control down.
But it was part of a va-va-voom approach to sexy that ultimately left the brand out of step with the cultural moment as the market evolved and younger, more diverse brands took hold.
Now, after some time in the wilderness, a corporate spinoff, sales and stock declines and, last month, the appointment of a new chief executive officer — former Savage x Fenty CEO Hillary Super — Victoria’s Secret took the leap back into prime time.
The brand is clearly looking for a boost from the show. Sales for the first half declined 2 percent to $2.8 billion, with net profits of $28.2 million. Sales for the whole year are slated to be down about 1 percent.
Before the show, the vibe backstage made clear that some things had changed.
Ashley Graham, Candice Swanepoel, Jasmine Tookes, Paloma Elsesser and Barbara Palvin
Nina Westervelt/WWD
Ashley Graham, who was preparing to walk in her first show for the brand, said: “This is about the representation and this is about Victoria’s Secret saying ‘Yes’ to everybody who has always felt bigger that they have not serviced. And that’s the biggest thing. I said yes to VS because I honestly wanted to make our body have awareness on the runway.”
“I’m so glad Victoria’s Secret has finally — they’ve got the memo,” Graham said. “They’re going into extended sizes, they’ve got curvy queens everywhere.”
Gigi Hadid said the increased focus on diversity was “necessary and required by the people that watch and love this show.”
“It’s important that there was a few years taken to, not only reconsider this project, but the brand just taking its steps,” she said. “Now, this is a show led by women that are in charge within this company and I think you can tell and you can feel it that we all just feel good being here.”
Alex Consani, the 21-year-old fashion student turned TikTok “It” girl, was also there preparing to walk the show.
“I’m trans, and I think it’s really important to have people like me on the runway being perceived as beautiful, and especially in a setting like this that’s always been very cis-oriented, it’s important to be bringing in a lot of different types of people and I’m just grateful that I was thought of, you know in that community,” she said.
While many of the trappings of the show were the same, the emphasis was different. And Victoria’s Secret was betting that viewers would see some of what they loved from past shows and be drawn in by the more-modern take.
Sarah Sylvester, who is executive vice president of marketing and orchestrated the show’s return with Schaffer, said the brand is paying more attention to the people actually wearing the lingerie.
“Putting the customer at the center of everything we do was a huge shifting point for us,” Sylvester said.
And she said the customer was “loud” about wanting the full show back. “We can’t argue with that.”
Shoppers will also be able grab a bit of the glam right away.
“The fashion show is our holiday collection, and the holiday collection is our fashion show,” she said. “That connectivity back is just a good, smart business move, but also we love how that makes it so much more accessible and inclusive for women to be a part of it.”
Likewise, people will be able to view the show on their terms across key social platforms.
“Letting customers watch where they want, when they want, whether that’s live or the next day — we’re really excited about how we’re making the content more accessible,” she said.
On TikTok in particular, Sylvester said the brand’s seen its followers double over the last couple months. “The content that’s more unpolished and more behind the scenes than ever before by the team on the ground is performing three times as better as our normal content,” she said.
— With contributions from Alex Badia and Noor Lobad
