The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is set to return after a four-year hiatus.
The show, which saw the likes of Gigi Hadid, Adriana Lima and Miranda Kerr walk the runway under the ‘Victoria’s Secret Angels’ title, was cancelled in 2019 after criticism arose around the brand’s lack of body and ethnic diversity.
According to Victoria’s Secret & Co’s Chief Financial Officer Timothy Johnson, who revealed the news during a company call last week, the controversial show will be returning as a ‘new version’.
“We’re going to continue to lean into the marketing spend to invest in the business, both at top-of-funnel and also to support the new version of our fashion show, which is to come later this year,” Johnson said.
The show, which ran for 23-years between 1995 and 2019 (with the exception of 2004), faced overwhelming backlash in its final years. In 2020, The New York Times accused the brand’s former chief officer Ed Razek of sexual harassment, bullying and creating culture of misogyny, before the brand officially dropped their infamous ‘Victoria’s Secret Angels’ titles in 2021.
A year later, Hulu released their exposé docuseries Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, which further examined the brand’s alleged history of misogyny and body-shaming.
But this time round, it is expected that things will be different.
While Johnson didn’t specify exactly what changes the brand will be making to the show, a spokesperson from Victoria’s Secret & Co told PEOPLE that the brand is committed to championing women and is “always innovating and ideating in all spheres of the business to continue to put our customer at the centre of all we do.”
“As we’ve previously shared, our new brand projection and mission will continue to be our guiding principle,” the spokesperson shared with the outlet.
“This will lead us into new spaces like reclaiming one of our best marketing and entertainment properties to date and turning it on its head to reflect who we are today. We’re excited to share more later this year.”
We’re guessing (and hoping) that this means we’re going to seeing the brand and the show embrace models of all different shapes, sizes and backgrounds.
This story originally appeared on ELLE Australia and is republished here with permission.
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