How the return of the Victoria’s Secret fashion show could create “brand heat”

Last week, the retail industry was buzzing with the news that Victoria’s Secret’s fashion show is coming back. 

First introduced in 2004, the annual fashion show was put on hiatus in 2019 after the show reported its lowest-ever ratings in 2018. This coincided with a decline in revenues and several major store closures. 

Last year, the lingerie brand attempted to bring back some of the excitement that its fashion show once elicited with the Victoria’s Secret World Tour. 

As part of this, the retailer went to four cities and spotlighted five artists in each city. The artists created a handful of looks for The Tour, which were pulled together for a 90-minute film, which Victoria’s Secret described as “part documentary, part fashion fantasy”. 

While the film was certainly more inclusive than the original fashion show, showcasing BIPOC and queer models and artists across the size spectrum, it was criticised by some as being disjointed and preachy.

So, as Victoria’s Secret declared on its website, “We’ve read the comments and heard you. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is BACK and will reflect who we are today, plus everything you know and love — the glamour, runway, wings, musical entertainment, and more!”

But what exactly does the return of this fashion show indicate for the brand and its attempts at a comeback?

What is going on with Victoria’s Secret today?

Since Victoria’s Secret was spun off from L Brands into a separate company in 2021, the lingerie and apparel retailer has been attempting to rebrand itself to suit the tastes of a younger, more socially aware consumer base.

In previous years, the brand had lost touch with this demographic who were turned off by its outdated views of what it means to be “sexy” amid increasing competition from the likes of Parade and Savage x Fenty. 

As Victoria’s Secret’s chief diversity officer Lydia Smith told Inside Retail back in 2023, “In 2021, we split from L Brands, so when Victoria’s Secret and Co became its own company, with the brands Victoria’s Secret and Victoria’s Secret Pink under it, that’s really where the transformation began, both internally and externally.”

Several of these changes included the launch of The VS Collective, a group of successful women united by a desire to create positive change, and hiring a more diverse selection of models, including plus-size fashion icon Paloma Elsesser. 

However, the impact of these marketing shifts remains to be seen. 

In the company’s most recent full-year earnings, it reported a net income of $109 million in FY23 compared to $348 million in FY22. Net sales fell for the brand by 3 per cent to $6.2 billion and total comparable sales dropped by 9 per cent.

The brand also forecasted its 2024 fiscal year net sales to be about $6 billion, down by the “low single digits”.

As GlobalData’s managing director and retail analyst Neil Saunders previously told Inside Retail, this indicates that Victoria’s Secret is not getting back to growth any time soon despite the gradual improvement throughout the year. 

“This is partly understandable given the continued softness among consumers, but it also underlines how much work is left to do in the process of brand reinvention. The company may now be headed in the right direction, but is moving at a relatively slow pace,” Saunders commented.

What do retail experts think about the fashion show revival?

While Victoria’s Secret’s numbers haven’t been climbing as steadily as the brand may have hoped, Marie Driscoll, an expert on luxury retail and the founder and chief analyst at Driscoll Advisors, believes that the fashion show signals the brand is in a good position to grow. 

Driscoll noted that the company shows signs of recovery and that “sales and profits are better than original guidance”. She believes that Victoria’s Secret’s new marketing efforts mark the “story of a brand that lost its way (and connection to consumer sentiment) and is finding it again.” 

The retail expert explained that “while the merchandise sits at the high end of mass price points, it is an affordable luxury packed with emotion during a time when consumers are exercising restraint across a multitude of categories (and need a little indulgence). The Fashion Show is brand-enhancing and will be seen worldwide, creating brand heat in the US and internationally during the important holiday selling season. It has been ‘retailtainment’ at its finest.”

Even with the intimates market being pressured by macroeconomic factors, with intimates being non-discretionary consumables replaced three to four times a year, Driscoll believes that a strong, sexy brand-enhancing campaign may be just what Victoria’s Secret needs right now.

Similar to Driscoll, Liza Amlani, principal and co-founder of Retail Strategy Group, believes that the return of the lingerie company’s fashion show is a positive sign.

“Reviving the fashion show may be grasping at straws but I think this could be exactly the thing that puts VS back on the map. Customers are craving reasons to engage with a brand, online and offline. Victoria’s Secret could offer exactly this if they lure customers into the stores with activations, promotions, and interesting experiences. They could also get it very wrong but either way, they will get the customers talking. Low sales, low engagement, decrease in brand loyalty, etc,” Amlani said. “Time will tell.”

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