What next for Victoria’s Secret?
Victoria’s Secret returned last week with angel wings, push-up bras and gymhoned bodies. But what does the world’s biggest fashion show mean for women now? Hannah Flint reports from New York
I’m standing backstage at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in New York amid a sea of pink. The world’s top models are in silky black dressing gowns and only-just-concealed push-up bras. All around me, an army of make-up artists and hairstylists tend to the Hadids, Kendall Jenner and Stella Maxwell as they prepare to walk in the biggest fashion event of the year.
For every model here (there are 60 walking today), this is the single most significant date in their calendar. If that sounds overblown, see Gigi Hadid, who has labelled Victoria’s Secret ‘forever and always the show of my dreams’, or Adriana Lima, who walked for the final time last week after 19 years, and who has described it as ‘the highlight of my life’.
Earlier this year, when Winnie Harlow announced she would be joining the cast for the first time, she posted a video on Instagram crying tears of joy. ‘ Thank you so much to my fans who have been pushing me forward to this point in my career,’ she
wrote. ‘I’m so blessed thank you Lord!!!’
But why is it such a big deal? ‘It’s a pinnacle in every single model’s career,’ says Winnie when we meet before the show. ‘ There’s not a model you can ask that doesn’t want VS. There have been so many legendary people before us, who we’ve looked up to. To be able to walk in their footsteps is legendary for our own career.’
Victoria’s Secret is now in its 23rd year, but this show feels particularly significant. It’s the first since its parent company, L Brands, reported an unexpected drop in Victoria’s Secret sales this summer, despite price cuts and a lengthy summer sale. The first since last year’s, in Shanghai, was beset by difficulties, including Gigi dropping out at the last minute after being denied a visa by the Chinese government (reportedly because of an Instagram post). And, of course, the first since the eruption of the #Metoo movement and a new wave of feminism.
Fans of Victoria’s Secret have long claimed that the show is a celebration of women taking charge of their own bodies. Indeed, earlier this year, former angel Karlie Kloss said, ‘ There’s something really powerful about a woman who owns her sexuality and is in charge.’ Yet those who criticise Victoria’s Secret say the body image promoted by the show, which sees the models endure punishing fitness regimes and diets, promotes an unhealthy message.
‘I think it’s super unfair when people say it’s not a celebration of women,’ says Leomie Anderson, the British model who is walking for the fourth time this year. ‘No one says that athletes competing in sport isn’t a celebration of their talent. This is our talent, and this is something that we have worked very hard for.’ Plus, she adds, it’s a ‘thousand per cent’ positive for women. ‘ You have women who are three-time mothers walking the show. You have women who have gone to university and you have me – an activist.’
Last week, the show, watched by more than a billion people around the world and which generates 220 billion hits on social media (70% of which are from women), was true to form: angel wings, tiny, sculpted bodies, elaborate lingerie. But for the show’s creative director, the British fashion industry heavyweight Sophia Neophitou-apostolou, accusations that it is anti-feminist miss the point entirely. ‘ The women and the themes of the collection always project powerful, strong and positive role models,’ she tells me. ‘It is a true sisterhood.’
Whether all of that trickles down to the women watching at home is less clear. When I ask Sophia about how Victoria’s Secret sits in a post-metoo world, my question is not answered. Yet it’s one the brand increasingly faces. This summer, as the company announced a decline in sales, there were dozens of feminist think pieces claiming the brand’s prestige had been chipped away by the #Metoo movement, as well as body positivity and the increasing desire among women to prioritise comfort over sexiness. (Conversely, retail analysts have pointed out the simple fact that many Victoria’s Secret shops are in US malls, where footfall is slowing.)
‘ There’s definitely a disjoint between what consumers want right now and the relevance of the brand,’ says Lorna Hennelly, beauty and fashion analyst at Euromonitor International. She cites the success of more ‘woke’ brands like Aerie, the underwear label by American Eagle, as proof customers are looking at more than merely the underwear. ‘ Their ad campaigns aren’t just about showing women with stretchmarks – they also use visibly disabled models,’ says Lorna. ‘It resonates with women who seek to feel comfortable in their own bodies.’
And yet, VS – for now, at least – remains the number one lingerie brand in the US. And the largely female audience at the show are totally, unquestionably, in awe of the 60 models in front of them. And those women – smiling, dancing and holding each other’s hands – find any suggestion that Victoria’s Secret isn’t empowering really rather baffling. As Winnie says, ‘Out of all the fashion shows I’ve ever done, this one has the least amount of clothes. And yet I’ve never been more comfortable in my entire life.
‘ The respect that you’re given as a woman, your body, your mind, is insane. I can’t understand the misunderstanding about this show.’