The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is returning Tuesday for the first time in five years after the 2019 show was canceled amid controversy and declining ratings.
The runway show became a classic in the 2000s as fans watched some of modeling's biggest names like Tyra Banks, Gisele Bündchen and Naomi Campbell walk down the runway adorned with angel wings in the company's signature lingerie.
But by the late 2010s, the brand and the show faced criticism from customers amid the Me Too movement, leading to the lowest viewership in history for the runway show in 2018.
After years of including more body-positive messaging and models in its campaigns, Victoria's Secret announced the return of the fashion show in May.
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“We’ve read the comments and heard you,” Victoria's Secret wrote in an Instagram post. “The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is BACK and will reflect who we are today, plus everything you know and love — the glamour, runway, wings, musical entertainment, and more! Stay tuned…it only gets more iconic from here.”
The angels are returning to the runway on Oct. 15, but why was the show canceled for five years? Here's what to know about the controversy surrounding the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at the end of the 2010s.
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When was the last Victoria's Secret Fashion Show?
The Victoria's Secret Fashion show began in 1995, and by 1998, models like Banks were walking down the runway in angel wings, according to WWD.
As the show's production value increased, it began broadcasting on national television and expanding internationally in the 2000s, leading models like Adriana Lima, Miranda Kerr, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and more to becoming household names.
Heidi Klum walked down the runway as her then-husband Seal performed in 2005, and as each year's iteration went on, the show appeared try to top itself with larger wings, more expensive lingerie and bigger performers.
Over the years, artists like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5 and more performed on the runway alongside the models strutting down the catwalk.
But by 2018, the show had the worst ratings in its history, NBC News reported, falling from more than 10 million viewers in 2010 to just over 3 million in 2018.
Victoria's Secret announced it would be canceling the show in November 2019 so it could “evolve the messaging of (the company),” Stuart Burgdoerfer, chief financial officer of Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands, said on an earnings call at the time, according to Fortune.
“We will be communicating to customers, but nothing similar in magnitude to the fashion show,” Burgdoerfer said.
What was controversial about the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show?
The announcement of the cancelation of the fashion show came as Victoria's Secret was facing a slew of controversies as a brand.
In 2018, Ed Razek, then-chief marketing officer for L Brands, faced backlash for saying in an interview with Vogue that he did not think "transsexuals" should be included in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
“Why not? Because the show is a fantasy,” he told Vogue. “It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is.”
Razek later apologized, calling his remarks “insensitive.”
“To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show,” he said in a statement posted on the Victoria’s Secret Twitter account, according to NBC News. “We’ve had transgender models come to the castings ... And like many others, they didn’t make it ... But it was never about gender.”
Razek announced he would be stepping down in August 2019, the same month the brand hired its first openly transgender model, Valentina Sampaio.
Les Wexner, former chief executive officer for L Brands, also stepped down from his position in 2021 following years of controversy for his alleged past ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial for federal sex trafficking charges.
According to CNBC, Wexner met Epstein in the mid-1980s through mutual friends.
“Being taken advantage of by someone who is ... so depraved is something I’m embarrassed I’m even close to,” Wexner said in September 2019, CNBC reported.
“We are all betrayed by friends,” he added. “At the end of the day, people have secret lives because ... they’re so good at hiding those secrets.”
L Brands called Epstein's alleged crimes "abhorrent" in July 2019, according to CNBC, adding that the company had cut ties with Epstein over a decade ago and does not believe he “was ever employed by nor served as an authorized representative of the company." It also said it had hired outside counsel to conduct a review.
In 2020, The New York Times published an investigation that reported an alleged culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment at the company, and included interviews with more than 30 current and former executives, employees, contractors and models.
A spokesperson for L Brands, the former parent company of Victoria’s Secret, told the Times in a statement it was “'intensely focused’ on corporate governance, workplace and compliance practices and that it had ‘made significant strides.’”
Victoria's Secret split from L Brands in 2021 and became a public company. Since then, the brand has overhauled its image in an attempt to reach more women, including more diverse, plus-size and body-positive models and messaging in its campaigns.
In 2023, the brand also launched a revamped version of a fashion show on Amazon Prime Video called "Victoria's Secret World Tour," featuring models like Gigi Hadid and Candice Swanepoel, and performers like Doja Cat and Sabrina Carpenter.
When is the 2024 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show?
The 2024 Victoria's Secret Fashion show is returning to New York City on Oct. 15 and will feature performances from its first all-women lineup: Cher, Grammy-winner Tyla and K-pop star Lisa.
While the full casting of models has not been revealed, two of the company's biggest stars are set to be returning: Banks and Hadid.
In an August Instagram post from Victoria's Secret, Hadid walked through New York's Plaza Hotel to pick up a golden invite from Banks.
"Sorry, couldn’t write a caption, we were too busy picking up our jaws off the floor at @tyrabanks and @gigihadid delivering VSFS invites," the brand wrote in the caption. "You understand."
The runway show will be available to stream starting at 7 p.m. on Oct. 15 on Amazon Live and Prime Video. Victoria's Secret will also be streaming the show on its Instagram, YouTube and TikTok accounts.
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