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Victoria's Secret Fashion Show | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | Fashion show |
Frequency | Annually |
Years active | 24[a] |
Inaugurated | August 1, 1995 |
Founder | Edward Razek |
Organized by | Victoria's Secret |
Website | www |
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is an annual promotional event sponsored by and featuring Victoria's Secret, a brand of lingerie. From 1995 to 2018, Victoria's Secret used the show to market its goods in high-profile settings. Models under contract to the company, known as Victoria's Secret Angels, were key participants at the event. The fashion show was cancelled in 2019, the same year its organizer, Edward Razek, resigned under public pressure.[1] It made a comeback and was rebranded in 2023 as a Prime Video special titled, "The Tour '23”.
The fashion show, at its peak viewership in 2001, had millions tuning in to watch and was known to be a lavish event with elaborate costumed lingerie, music by leading entertainers, and set design with changing themes.[2][3] With dozens of the world's top fashion models selected to perform in it each year, the fashion show attracted celebrities, entertainers, and regularly featured special performers and acts.
American network television broadcast the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show during prime time. The first few shows in the 1990s were held in the days preceding Valentine's Day, linking the brand to the holiday's romantic theme. In 1999 and 2000, the show was webcast. Beginning in 2001, the event was shifted to take place ahead of the Christmas and holiday season. The show made its network television broadcast debut on ABC in 2001, with subsequent years (2002–2017) broadcast on CBS; the event returned to ABC for the final 2018 edition. The event was frequently held in New York City at the Plaza Hotel or the 69th Regiment Armory, in addition to special host cities including Miami, Los Angeles, Cannes, Paris, London, and Shanghai.
Cancellation, officially announced in November 2019 amid declining ratings and sales and growing criticism of Razek, was influenced by both the reckoning of the Me Too movement, fourth-wave feminism, and the association of L Brands' CEO Les Wexner with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Due to the immense amount of criticism, Victoria's Secret Fashion Show reconsidered its marketing strategy, which ultimately contributed to the end of the runway shows. The brand's focus changed to digital-platform marketing with the aim of restoring its reputation.[4] Critics of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show considered it objectifying, lacking in diversity of body sizes,[5] and repeatedly inclined towards offensive cultural appropriation with its designs.[3]
In 2024, Victoria's Secret announced a return of the show by posting an Instagram Reel featuring Tyra Banks.[6]
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