“Dancing on a fine line”: Victoria's Secret's return to the runway combines fantasy and reality

“The return of the VS show makes me cautious. Although I used to watch the shows, I'm not sure there's a place for them now. If the people are not presented in a modern and current way, the whole thing could feel like a gimmick,” Annan-Lewin continues. “It's not enough to simply include people (with larger bodies), because then those included have to be speakers, which doesn't seem fair – they didn't cause the societal divide. The message needs to be that bodies are functional and beautiful regardless of size, and we need to feel that empowerment clearly throughout the show.”

Can Victoria's Secret achieve this while delivering on the show's original promise: glitter, sparkle and fantasy? Schaffer thinks so. “Thanks to the transformation work we've done over the last three or four years, we've become much more accustomed to the customer that Victoria's Secret is for everyone,” she says. This includes hiring a new (mainly female) leadership team and board, replacing the Angels with the “VS Collective” (including former soccer player Megan Rapinoe, model Elsesser and tennis player Naomi Osaka), and new products (such as an adaptive lingerie line). . introduced in 2023). “We celebrate all women – age, size diversity – in every way. We committed to that in the product, we committed to that in the show,” says Schaffer.

“Victoria's Secret's outward embrace of inclusivity has merit,” says Chiwaya. “Victoria's Secret may no longer have the same stranglehold on setting the standard for what is 'sexy' – see: the cultural influence of the very physically diverse and very hot Savage x Fenty shows – but they do still influence,” she says. “There is a possibility that this may prompt other brands to view size inclusivity as something they need to keep up with – assuming VS actually shows a visible representation of plus sizes on the runway.”

Rethinking the role of the show

In addition to using a wider range of body shapes and sizes, VS also made a few other changes to the show in hopes of making it seem more relevant. Now the focus is on the product.

First, it will be repositioned away from the “untouchable fantasy” narrative: Consumers will be invited along for the ride with more behind-the-scenes content, and the pink carpet and show will be streamed live rather than edited and broadcast two weeks later. “People live so much more these days,” says Sylvester. Observers agree that being successful as a lingerie brand today requires a focus on community. This is proven by the success of Fenty and Skims, as well as smaller players like Cou Cou and Lemonade Dolls.