Some progress was made, but not nearly enough.
After a five-year hiatus and one failed rebrand, the long-anticipated comeback of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was streamed live from Brooklyn’s Duggal Greenhouse on October 15th. The theme of the night was aggressive girl power. With all-female performances from Lisa, Tyla, and Cher, Victoria’s Secret seemed to want to shift our focus away from pretty girls in pretty lingerie and towards this ephemeral idea of “female empowerment.”
“...we’ve transformed so much as a business. We felt that we wanted to celebrate our product…and we just wanted to celebrate women,” said Janie Schaffer, the brand’s Chief Design Officer, on the event’s Pink Carpet.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has always been aspirational — a glittering production of gorgeous models in gorgeous lingerie, selling the fantasy that you (yes, you, the average viewer) could look just like these stunning supermodels (but only if you buy Victoria’s Secret).
However, there was something noticeably different about the return of the show. While the brand brought back its OG angels like Adrianna Lima, Candice Swanepoel, Jasmine Tookes, Taylor Hill, and Tyra Banks— the show's styling was much more…. pared down this time around. Bouncy blowouts were replaced with slicked-back hair, and glowy, baby-pink makeup was absent in favor of neutral, matte faces. Despite VS’s attempt to revive the show to become the brand it once was, it seems its heyday has long passed. The brand will never be the same as in the early aughts — because the culture surrounding it has changed so much.
Unfortunately for Victoria’s Secret, its history is often synonymous with (the now much-reviled) early 2000s extreme diet culture. Many Victoria’s Secret angels (i.e. models hand-picked by the brand) have revealed that they fasted days before the show and engaged in unhealthy eating habits (read: starved themselves). Not to mention that the brand has been criticized for its lack of diverse models featured in its fashion shows and ad campaigns, further fueling the harsh and uncompromising Eurocentric beauty standards that ruled the early 2000s.
The brand attempted to correct this undesirable labeling by rebranding in 2021 to be more size and race-inclusive but completely lost the glamorous allure of the brand that was celebrated with thinner, and whiter, models.
People today expect more out of loungewear and intimates. They expect inclusivity and comfort alongside beauty and glamour – not despite it. Consumers seek a style that serves their lifestyle, not clothing that forces them to conform to a rigid sense of beauty. The brand’s inconsistent sizing has made it harder for women to find a bra that fits properly, and customers often complain of thin fabrics and poor construction of the garments, raising questions about brand quality.
It’s obvious that this year, Victoria’s Secret did not have its usual 12 million dollar budget for the fashion show. The downgrade was most noticeable in some of the small details the show is known for — the plain, warehouse-style runway (instead of the customary glittery catwalk), the lack of bedazzled bras, the boring slip dresses, and the sometimes downright tacky angel wings. The overall collection felt uninspired, with no clear creative direction. Perhaps the brand wanted to play it safe as it reentered the market with a fresh start, but it forgot that the glamorous and seductive appeal of past shows was what initially set the brand apart from its competitors.
At least on the inclusivity front, there was some improvement. Plus-size models like Ashley Graham and Paloma Elssener got to walk the runway, along with Alex Consani, the first-ever transgender model to walk for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
The return of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show marks a new era for the brand. If Victoria’s Secret aims to be a major lingerie and loungewear competitor in 2025, it must find a way to combine inclusivity and style. They need greater innovation in their loungewear (beyond simply following the trends), more creativity across the board, and more plus-size models featured on both the runway and in ad campaigns. In 2024, everyone can be a bombshell. Victoria’s Secret must realize that “body positivity” and bombshell glamour are not mutually exclusive. 🌀
Niya Doyle is a writer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work has been featured on Autostraddle and Editor & Publisher. She loves writing about all things beauty, and topics centering about black femme and queer identities. When she’s not writing she’s probably scrolling through Depop searching for the latest thrifted drops.