Almost six years after the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (“VSFS”) went on hiatus, the lingerie giant hints at its possible return. On Wednesday, the brand’s Instagram account shared a reel featuring former Victoria’s Secret Angel Candice Swanepoel announcing the return of the VSFS to the tune of music lyrics that say, “It’s a new look, and it’s looking real good.”
Candice Swanepoel has been a well-known ambassador for the brand since 2007. She began modelling for the brand’s pink line, aimed towards teenage girls. However, as the brand has moved away from its traditions, including ceasing to call its ambassadors Victoria’s Secret Angels (VS Angels), it could be left in the dust because its core audience no longer identifies with the updates.
Victoria’s Secret Controversy
Prior to cancelling the show, one of the biggest hurdles the brand failed to scale with precision was its culture surrounding women’s bodies. Traditionally, Victoria’s Secret primarily appeals to the male gaze, which sees women as objects to be owned and enjoyed for men’s pleasure. The rise of the Me Too movement, modern feminism, and social change brought about the rise of the female gaze. The female and male gaze differ due to both finding beauty and attraction in different things. For example, men may rank women’s beauty on their face values and what they find subjectively (coincidentally conventionally) attractive. Women are likelier to rank beauty based on personality, smile, and charm.
Ed Razek, former executive producer of the VSFS and Chief Marketing Officer (“CMO”) of Victoria’s Secret, was asked by Vogue magazine if the brand would ever open its doors to transgender models. He famously said the lingerie company’s annual shows were “a fantasy” and should not include them. Ed further commented on this statement following backlash: “We absolutely would cast a transgender model in our show. We’ve had transgender models come to castings… And like many others, they didn’t make it.”
Life Post the VSFS
Many of the top models who were spokeswomen for the brand have moved on and have since given their thoughts on their experience with Victoria’s Secret.
Former Victoria’s Secret angels and owners of Joja, Josephine Shriver and Jasmine Tookes, spoke to Victoria Garrick Browne on her Real Pod podcast in June 2023. Josephine said, “They [Victoria’s Secret] kinda had been the first one to take a step [in embracing diversity and inclusion]; they might’ve gotten too comfortable when everybody else woke up.” Jasmine said, “It definitely took them longer than they should’ve. Me and Lais who were considered the black girls and that was all there was for years and years.” Both models recognised that it was hard to entirely blame Victoria’s Secret because it was an industry-wide issue.
Additionally, both models, including Elsa Hosk and Grace Elizabeth, are now new mothers, so a return to Victoria’s Secret isn’t as clear-cut. However, mothers as lingerie models aren’t alarming. Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosia, Heidi Klum, Behati Prinsloo, and Karolina Kurkova were all mothers while simultaneously modelling the brand. It is important to note that at this time, however, different beauty standards dominated the market.
Australian model Bridget Malcolm shared her experience with the brand with 60 Minutes Australia in September 2021. Bridget can be seen in a self-portrait mode video recording saying that a top VS photographer once told her that if she lost weight, she would become an angel. Through it’s marketing, it does seem as though Victoria’s Secret has turned over a new leaf. With a new CMO, Martha Pease, the brand appears to focus on embracing models of different ethnicities, heights and skin tones. They even featured Grace Elizabeth in their marketing campaign when she was pregnant.
The Return of Victoria’s Secret
With a rocky past behind the team and six years to plan how they would return, fans will expect an overhaul from the brand. The use of their well-known spokesmodel Candice Swanepoel was an excellent choice for alerting old subscribers of the VSFS return to the limelight – but that doesn’t mean they’re out of the woods of suspicion. The use of Candice can demonstrate the Director’s stagnated approach to relaunching the branch in the hopes of bringing silver glitter back. Only time will tell.
As most streaming services are increasingly competing with live TV for broadcasting contracts, we can only wait and see how the model casting, musical performances, and corporate sponsors are chosen to welcome back the angels (?) and their wings.
