Why the return of Victoria’s Secret’s fashion show is a double-edged sword

After a six-year hiatus, Victoria’s Secret’s fashion show has returned to New York City as part of the brand’s attempt to reset its image and inspire a cultural comeback.

When the first runway show debuted in 1995, its pageantry seduced customers all around the world with models who were above supermodel status, they were angels. Fast forward to 2019, the fashion show was cancelled, both literally and socially. 

When Victoria’s Secret announced the return of its runway this year, it promised consumers a show that would “reflect who we are today, plus everything you know and love”.

“I think they were very much hoping that this would be an opportunity to get back to who they were before as if nothing had happened,” Lauren Kelly, strategy director at Interbrand, told Inside Retail.

The runway to relevance

Over the past six years, Victoria’s Secret has undergone an internal makeover, changing hands, leadership and strategy.

“In their minds, they’ve worked hard to incorporate changes requested by consumers; more size inclusivity, more age inclusivity, more focus on body ability through athletic partnerships, and they wanted their reward, recognition and to reclaim their place in the zeitgeist,” Kelly explained.

However, bringing back its infamous runway to ‘hard launch’ its rebrand was a double-edged sword because as the brand reached for relevance and inclusivity many fans made it apparent they felt it was “not the same”.

“The runway show itself is still a stroke of genius, something that changed the game in the ’90s,” stated Kelly.

“But it’s the actual brand that is the issue. The runway is vulnerable, there’s nowhere for a brand to hide up there, and so whilst it’s now delivering for brands like Fenty X Savage, when there are fundamental issues in your brand it shows in this forum,” she added.

It’s not a coincidence that Rihanna’s lingerie brand Fenty X Savage’s fashion show debuted the same year as Victoria’s Secret’s final fashion show.

Savage X Fenty was a cultural reset with its authentic commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“Savage was built as the unashamed antithesis of exclusion; it’s inclusive, it’s got an attitude, its DNA is as perfectly built for the 2020s as VS was to the ’90s,” Kelly elaborated. 

“Fenty was built from inclusivity and truth, it wasn’t publicly dragged into it via focus groups. Consumers are smart, and we know when it’s real and when it’s pandering,” she added.

Brand DNA is forever 

Australian intimate apparel brand Nala was co-founded by Chloe de Winter who at one point in her youth coveted the Victoria’s Secret fashion show but eventually founded a brand that in many ways is the polar opposite.

“It’s great to see a bit more diversity in the Victoria’s Secret show, it’s a start! It shows the industry is moving in the right direction,” De Winter told Inside Retail.

Equality and inclusivity are built into Nala’s brand DNA with underwear sizing that ranges from XXS to 6XL.

“It’s a big challenge for legacy brands to shift their image in an authentic way, but it’s good to see they’re trying – I will leave it up to other people to judge on whether it hits the mark or not,” said De Winter.

According to Madé Lapuerta, the analyst and creator behind the Instagram account Data But Make It Fashion, Victoria’s Secret has increased 13 per cent in popularity since making its runway comeback.

“The only thing is, especially considering all the backlash VS received before cancelling the show five years ago, I expected more body diversity on the runway. Only around 11 per cent of looks were worn by plus-size models,” Lapuerta wrote on Instagram.

For Kelly, no stand-alone branding exercise, like the 2024 Victoria’s Secret runway show, can return the brand to its previous level of cultural relevance.

“This is a brand so perfectly formulated for the nineties and noughties; maximalism, sex appeal, aspiration to the point of the inability to ever reach it,” said Kelly.

“It’s the shadow of having a brand that is an icon, when these ideals wane, so too does our perception of the brand,” she added.

However, despite its slipping status and outdated branding, Victoria’s Secret had global net sales amounting to approximately US$6.2 billion in 2023, according to Statistica.

“VS does have a discreet and incredibly loyal core group of consumers,” Kelly concluded. 

“I’d be focussing on these women, collaborating with them, curating collections for them, rewarding and engaging them – and instead of pursuing mass growth and relevance, I’d accept going deeper and narrower with the fans.”

The post Why the return of Victoria’s Secret’s fashion show is a double-edged sword appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.