It’s official. Victoria’s Secret has cancelled its annual fashion show this year, which used to be a trendsetter in the industry, and a feast for both fashion and pop culture lovers. According to the CFO of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, Stuart Burgdoerfer, the company thinks that “it’s important to evolve the messaging” in order to resonate with the every-changing consumers. Instead of grand gestures and magnificent runways, the brand will now re-center its marketing and advertising strategies onto other channels such as social media.
Victoria’s Secret has been the largest lingerie retailer in the United States for decades. The brand provided an ultimate definition for a sexy woman in the modern age through its advertisements and a lavish runway fashion show featuring top models in underwear walking down the runway. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show launched in 1995 as a way to showcase the standardized sexiness and beauty of a woman, a defining pop culture event and a marketing stunt in the United States. Top models such as Gisele Bündchen, Tyra banks, Heidi Klum and Miranda Kerr were all famous “Angels” in the beginning of their modeling career, giving some of their best runway performances in its heyday. For decades, this extravagant spectacle has helped the retailer to create an impossible fantasy full of hot women in lingerie with delicate “wings” and pop stars performing in the back.
However, what was once a quite successful strategy start to show its problems. The brand’s executive board—nearly all of them are men—failed to cater to women’s practical needs, and erroneously understood the trends and values in this day. According to Lisa Hayes, program director of Drexel University’s fashion department and associate professor in Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, “they had completely 100% missed the mark on where everyone in the world is now”. The negligence took its toll on the company’s brand image and finances. The sales dropped 7n percent during the latest quarter in comparison with the same period last year, with its market share shrinking from 31.7% in 2013 to 24% in 2019. The ratings of the fashion show also declined in accordance, with only 3.3 million viewers—half the number in 2016.
Why is the message not working anymore? Two major reasons are identified for its failure. First of all, the fantasy looks dated after #MeToo, and Victoria’s Secret has picked the wrong target audience. For so long the company has been catering to the taste of man who like to see sexy models in their underwear. Yet they are not the ones buying the products; women are. The skinny models with enviable body curves carrying angel wings running down runways nearly naked seem to be conveying the wrong message about what is the beauty of women in this day and age.
Countless behind-the-scene articles on how models have diet, exercise and struggle to keep extremely thin serve as negative press for the company, for women are now sick of such excruciating way of living to fit the patriarchal stereotype of a perfect woman. Women start to realize this is not what they want; instead this is objectification and oppression imposed by males who are indulging themselves in such “pornified aesthetics”. What women care more, in stark contrast, is comfort. Women want to take control of their bodies, and feel confident and empowered.
Secondly, more and more competitor brands who understand what women are looking for in underwear are attracting more and more customers. Inclusive upstart brands such as Aerie, Third Love and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty has made wearing comfortable underwear possible for women. These brands also put forward the idea of self-confidence and diversity in aesthetics, marketing themselves as something inclusive and empowering to women. ThirdLove even claimed to be the “antithesis of Victoria’s Secret”. Apparently, it worked just fine.
Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty, in addition, also hosted a fashion show in 2018. It was also a huge spectacle, but it had included different races, body shapes and one-of-a-kind edginess. The brand still conveys sexy appeals, but it’s no longer for men; instead, it serves to empower women to realize their unique beauty. Bella Hadid said in an interview that she had “never felt powerful” waking in lingerie until she walked for Rihanna’s Fenty.
Of course, the brand has attempted to change its identity multiple times. They have put photos of a plus-size model in September in a campaign, but the usual comments on social media would always be “too little too late”, as if the brand is only trying to patronize its consumers. Although it still is the biggest lingerie retailer in the US, the future remains unclear.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-11-22/victorias-secret-kills-its-fashion-show
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/11/22/20978041/victorias-secret-fashion-show-canceled
https://www.thecut.com/2019/11/the-victorias-secret-fashion-show-has-been-canceled.html
https://www.eonline.com/news/1091134/inside-the-year-that-changed-victoria-s-secret-for-ever
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