The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Is Being Reborn
The Victoria's Secret show, which features famous models such as Adriana Lima, Gisele Bündchen, Kendall Jenner, Gigi and Bella Hadid, and where the names at the top of modelling are called 'Angels', is getting ready to return after a four-year hiatus. The worldwide famous lingerie company announced its grand return with a world tour and a documentary.
Where were we?
The fashion show, which managed to become a phenomenon in the 2000s, lasted from 1995 to 2018 and succeeded in making many models famous as "angels". Of course, the reason for this great interest towards the live fashion shows of the brand was not only the favourite models in magnificent designer underwear but also the performances of the spouses of the artists accompanying the displays. However, during intense criticism against the use of highly skinny and primarily white models, the fashion show suffered a loss of ratings. After the company's top officials announced that it would not include trans or plus-size models, its cancellation was not a big surprise. Inevitably the rapid decline it experienced with the various issues, including scandals like former CEO Leslie Wexner's connection to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epsteinack and lack of inclusion on the runway debate, ended Victoria's Secret fashion show.
Recently, Victoria's Secret, which has been mainly focusing on women empowerment issues by working with different models to improve its body range and adding more women to its board of directors, continues taking steps to become the centre of attention again by clearing its reputation.
All we know about the Victoria's Secret World Tour
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, renewed to clear its name after a 4-year hiatus, is returning as expected to be bigger, bolder and more inclusive than ever at the end of 2023. Victoria's Secret CFO Timothy Johnson hinted at the focus points for the show's comeback, and while he stressed that, this time, they would not fail to highlight the unique qualities that women have, he hints that they can compromise their former glam by saying, "reinforce our commitment to championing women's voices and their unique perspectives". However, concerns remain about diversity and inclusivity issues as the show's comeback approaches, especially when compared to Rihanna's all-sizes, queer, trans and non-binary castings on 2018's Savage X Fenty show or the many other rivals like SKIMS and ThirdLove. So the question is whether or not the four-year break and breakthroughs, replacing the Angels with ambassadors and enhanced all the exclusion and discrimination they celebrated all those years.
We have a film, and it will drop in September
While The Victoria's Secret World Tour will take place as a live event, it will also showcase exclusive Victoria's Secret creations as a feature-length documentary, as well as showcases of designers, artists, dancers and musicians from around the world, as planned. The documentary will premiere this September and according to the press release announced, the show will be streaming internationally and also it will culminate in a lively fashion event coming fall.
“Obviously, there’s been a huge shift in representation, but I still think it’s rare to see women on the screen presented in a recognizable way, especially in the framework of fashion.’’ “I just want people to watch it and be like, wow, there are so many different ways that you can be a woman.” - Bowman, the director of the London portion of the documentary.
The most significant and crucial reinvention
The main difference between the old Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows and the World Tour of 2023 definitely will be related to the shift of the perspective from the male gaze to the "female lens".Considering all the reinventions and restructuring processes of the brand, we can see that women will no longer only be the objects of pleasure for the audience, but they will also be the subjects. Thus, we expect to watch a show that breaks the ground on what is "sexy" and celebrates various in female beauty. Also, we probably will see new faces rather than the original "angels", including Bella and Gigi Hadid, Candice Swanepoel, Adriana Lima and Gisele Bündchen.
But is the Victoria's Secret World Tour will still be sexy? As the Chief Creative Director of Victoria's Secret, Raúl Martinez argued, "Yes, absolutely," but with an addition. "We are looking at it through a female lens."
