The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is a typically star-studded annual event used by the company as a marketing tool for its lingerie and is known for the models (called “Victoria’s Secret Angels”) that walk the runway and wear the brand’s iconic wings.
This year’s show will take place in Brooklyn and will be hosted by Tyra Banks, who walked in nine shows as a Victoria’s Secret Angel before her retirement at the 2005 Victoria’s Secret show.
Cher will headline an all-female lineup of artists, which also includes the South African singer Tyla and Thai singer and rapper Lisa.
Valentina Sampaio, a Brazilian model hired in 2019 as the brand’s first openly transgender model, said on Instagram she will be in the show. Gigi Hadid, a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show veteran, will also walk the runway, the company confirmed. Brazilian model Adriana Lima, who spent two decades as a Victoria’s Secret model and walked in 18 of its fashion shows, will also walk the runway. Other models set to walk include Barbara Palvin, Jasmine Tookes, Ashley Graham, Candice Swanepoel and Behati Prinsloo.
The brand faced a string of controversies in the late 2010s, including growing criticism over its lack of inclusivity for all body types. Its much-criticized “Perfect Body” campaign included photoshoots with only thin models, sparking a petition that garnered more than 30,000 signatures. One of the brand’s highest-profile models, Karlie Kloss, left the company in 2015, which she later said was because she “didn’t feel it was an image that was truly reflective of who I am and the kind of message I want to send to young women around the world about what it means to be beautiful.” Another model, Robyn Lawley, led a boycott of the brand in 2018, alleging it tells women “only one kind of body” is beautiful. The brand faced a wave of renewed criticism in 2018 when Ed Razek, then the chief marketing officer for Victoria’s Secret’s then-parent company L Brands, told Vogue he doesn’t think the show should feature models who are “transsexuals,” stating: “Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special.” Razek apologized days later, stating: “To be clear, we would absolutely cast a transgender model for the show.” He stepped down in August 2019, days after Victoria’s Secret cast Sampaio, its first transgender model. The New York Times published an investigation in February 2020 alleging the company had a “culture of misogyny” characterized by “widespread bullying and harassment of employees and models,” alleging Razek was repeatedly subject to complaints of inappropriate conduct, including attempts to kiss models and touching one’s crotch. Razek said the allegations were “categorically untrue, misconstrued or taken out of context,” and the company said it is “committed to continuous improvement and complete accountability.” Former L Brands CEO, billionaire Les Wexner, apologized in 2019 for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, whom Wexner had employed to manage his finances until he severed ties in 2007.
Victoria’s Secret replaced its “Angel” title for supermodels in 2021 with a new concept called the “VS Collective,” a group initially composed of seven ambassadors formed to embrace diversity, including Sampaio, openly lesbian soccer player Megan Rapinoe, plus-size model Paloma Elsesser and actress Priyanka Chopra. Last year, instead of having a live fashion show, the company released a film on Amazon Prime Video titled “Victoria’s Secret: The Tour ’23” that it called “part documentary, part spectacular fashion event.” Critics noted the casting was more diverse for the special and included open discussion of topics like LGBTQ identities and bodily autonomy.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was held annually between 1995 and 2018, and began broadcasting on television in 2001. The 2001 broadcast on ABC was a ratings hit, attracting 12 million viewers, and the show sustained that success for more than a decade, drawing nearly 10 million viewers on CBS in 2013. But ratings soon took a dive, declining year after year to a new low of just over 3 million viewers in 2018, the last show before the hiatus.
