Victoria’s Secret is bringing back its fashion show and wants to make it bigger and more inclusive than ever before.
While the exact date and location of the fashion show have not yet been announced, the two show producers, who are longtime Victoria’s Secret executives, are optimistic that it will be something viewers have never seen before.
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In a joint interview on Tuesday, Janie Schaffer, Chief Design and Creative Officer, and Sarah Sylvester, Executive Vice President of Marketing, discussed what they have planned for the show’s long-awaited return and how it will differ from past shows.
“We’ve come a long way as a company over the last three years and we’ve really transformed. We’re really happy with where we are as a brand and feel super confident,” Schaffer said. “This is really a celebration of everything we’ve done. Trust me, we have such super fans that there’s an element of people saying, ‘You’re bringing it back exactly the way it was. Bring back the exact same models and don’t change a thing!'” she added.
But changes are coming.
“It’s going to be bigger and better than anyone has ever seen,” said Schaffer, who joined the company in 2008, left in 2012 and returned in 2020. The new show is intended to be a “celebration of how great the fashion show was … but through the lens of Victoria’s Secret today, rather than the lens of Victoria’s Secret of the past.”
The last Victoria’s Secret show, held in 2018, featured Victoria’s Secret Angels and musical performances by Shawn Mendes, Rita Ora, The Chainsmokers, Bebe Rexha, Halsey, Leela James, Kelsea Ballerini and The Struts. It was taped at Pier 94 in New York and later aired on ABC. It aired the same year that Rihanna launched Savage by Fenty with a brand built on inclusiveness.
Victoria’s Secret was part of L Brands at the time, and a 2020 New York Times exposé cited a “culture of misogyny, bullying and intimidation.” The brand’s annual television special was canceled in 2019, and Ed Razek, the fashion show’s longtime chief marketing officer, left after facing criticism for refusing to hire plus-size or transgender models.
In 2021, Victoria’s Secret became an independent publicly traded company, and in 2023, the brand returned to the small screen with “The Victoria’s Secret World Tour.” The documentary, which aired on Prime, spotlighted the VS20, a group of 20 global creatives who created custom looks for the brand’s runway models.
VS & Co. reported a net loss of $4 million in its most recent quarter, ended May 4, on revenue falling 3.4 percent year over year to $1.36 billion for the quarter.
Striving for inclusivity
According to Sylvester, Victoria’s Secret takes DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) into account in everything they do, from the runway to the rest of the company.
“That’s the most important part of our transformation over the last few years. We want to be a brand that all women can participate in, whether it’s watching the show, trying on your first bra with us, following us on social media. The fashion show will be the ultimate representation of that,” added Sylvester, a 19-year veteran of Victoria’s Secret.
“All women will be represented [on the runway]“It’s very important,” Schaffer said.
The range will also be available to purchase, with viewers able to purchase the holiday intimates collection directly, along with VS Sport, which will be shown on the runway.
“It’s just another way to make the brand more accessible and inclusive, and you can buy what you actually see on the runway,” Schaffer said.
TV and grand pianos
Sylvester declined to say whether the show will be televised or live online. “We’re looking at all of our options,” she said. “We’re excited to see how that plays out in new and more modern ways. We’re really focused on our customer and where they spend their time. We’re excited to see what that might mean this year. It might be television as it used to be, it might not be.”
Does this mean it can appear on the Internet? “We are exploring all of our options,” Sylvester said.
So far, Victoria’s Secret has confirmed that Taylor Hill, an American model and former Victoria’s Secret Angel, and Mayowa Nicholas, a Nigerian model, will be in the fashion show. Nicholas will be walking in the show for the first time. Hill will also appear in the fall ad campaign.
Schaffer recalls that when they posted on Instagram that the show would be returning this fall, “it was extraordinary.
“We had such an incredible response. I think it broke all of our records from Instagram to Tik Tok. 98 percent of the positive response was from people who were desperate for the show to come back, and we had over 10 billion impressions,” Schaffer said.
The wings will definitely make a comeback. “We love the metaphorical wings of strength to fragility, everything that encompasses a woman. For us, we embrace the wings. It will be full of beautiful wings,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer could not say exactly how many models will be participating. “It will be a huge number of models. I think we will break the record for the number of models that will walk the show. We also have a very large holiday collection. There are so many areas of our business that we want to represent,” she said.
“It’s going to be an all-singing, all-dancing affair. There’s going to be lots of entertainment, lots of models, lots of wings, lots of glamour. It’s going to be absolutely beautiful,” she said.
What’s on the catwalk
The brand works with stylists, art directors and artists to bring customers “surprises” — in lingerie and clothing, Schaffer said.
“It will feel like an extraordinary fashion show,” Schaffer said.
Sylvester added that they plan to present their new Sport collection, which will be shown on the runway, “in a fun, unexpected way.”
Victoria’s Secret previously had a successful Sport collection but discontinued it, Schaffer said. The company has now brought back VS Sport, which features technical fabrics viewed through a high-fashion lens.
“A fashion show is a great way to show Victoria’s Secret’s stance on sports,” Schaffer said. The range ranges from reflective outerwear for running to technical fabrics for leggings. “Our sports bras are unmatched. We already have the world’s best sports bra with our Featherweight Max. They’re lightweight but very strong. You can work out in them and wear them all day. It really allows us to bring our best category, bras, to the customer,” Schaffer said.
Victoria’s Secret launched the Featherweight Max bra last year and has now added a Featherweight front-closure bra. Another new product is coming this fall, as well as a major marketing campaign.
Sylvester said the fall campaign launches Thursday and was filmed in England. “We have a huge program where we want to be on your social feed, out of home, videos, just everywhere,” Sylvester said.
The female gaze
Sylvester and Schaffer have been with the company for a long time, but have never organized a fashion show, Sylvester said.
“We don’t come with a lot of preconceived notions of ‘you have to do this, you have to do that,’ which is really fun for us,” Sylvester said. She said they’ve been able to think outside the box with things that were previously limiting.
“It also brings a female perspective,” Schaffer said. “Which is extraordinary when you look at the business today, and the fact that Sarah and I worked on this show, and then you look at everyone involved in the show and everyone who designs the product, we’re all women. That’s such a fundamental change in the business,” she said. “Once you look at it through a woman’s eyes, it feels so completely different.”
Launch Gallery: Victoria’s Secret Gets Ready to Return to the Runway
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