On Oct. 15, Victoria’s Secret performed its famous fashion show in New York City. The 45-minute show was streamed on Amazon Prime and incorporated an all-female performance lineup for the first time.
After its 2019 show, the fashion show was canceled due to concerns about the lack of diversity, bad ratings and criticism about the brand’s image. Due to its cancellation, the latest show was highly anticipated because of the five-year hiatus.
Victoria’s Secret has been striving to be more inclusive since 2019. In this show, the company featured diverse models in age, size and ethnicity. The performers were all females to celebrate women in all forms. Despite these efforts, the company has still gotten backlash about its inclusivity issues.
The brand said it would lose the “angel” image, but there were many models wearing wings on the runway. Victoria’s Secret promised there would be more plus-sized models and viewerswere disappointed with the lack of them.
These fashion shows face similar receptions to beauty pageants. Women in pageants have been redefining beauty standards and trying to get rules, such as being single and childless, out of the qualifications. Other issues have arisen with pageants and their young competitors which recently led to Miss USA and Miss Teen USA stepping down from the competitions.
Underlying issues with these types of events may cause a decline in pageants run this way. As millions of women compete in pageants every year, the opportunity to remerge with a rebrand like Victoria’s Secret can be lost.
Despite the backlash from fashion shows, Victoria’s Secret’s hiatus proved effective in gaining views. The show was among the biggest non-esports events livestreamed in 2024 with 2.67 million peak viewers.
The show also had some strong headliners such as the Hadid sisters and Carla Bruni, the former first lady of France. Victoria’s Secret brought back retired models like Tyra Banks and Kate Moss to gain interest. Singers like Cher, Tyla and BLACKPINK’s Lisa performed, inviting musical fans to the stream.
While there were a lot of people watching online, there were also a lot in person. The general public cannot go to New York Fashion Week without an invitation. Patrons must be celebrities, fashion editors, photographers, influencers, volunteers or any other type of modeling and fashion jobs to gain an invitation. NYFW tickets started at around $80, but tickets to the Victoria’s Secret fashion show were around$25,000.
Fashion shows have become less about the clothes and more about the production. There are live singers and an atmosphere unmatched from the viewers’ living room. Designers know this is their moment to captivate buyers and audiences, so the live shows are much more intricate than just walking clothes on a runway. Fashion Week is also a good way for these workers to network and meet new people, which will produce more creative fashion in the future.
Watching a fashion show online is becoming bigger and more accessible. It also takes away the time restriction live audiences have, as people can go back and view these shows any time they want. Online audiences have also started to be able to interact with avatars through 3D models, which allows them to be closer to the experience than if they were in person.
Fashion shows may be changing the viewing medium, but each show is essential to fashion brands. Directly after these shows, brands receive a large increase in sales by promoting awareness and strength for each designer. Each stage can tell a different story catered to its target audience, something not seen in online shopping.
These shows can also leadthe way for styles not publicly accepted yet. For example, men wore skirts for the first time on the runway and it is now not out of the ordinary to see that.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and other big beauty events are still struggling to gain respect from everyone. While the importance of fashion shows is not understated, each show is hoping to engage with new generations through inclusivity.
