After a six-year break, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is finally coming back this fall, and people are curious to see how it’ll play out. I have been waiting for this day since its cancellation, but haven’t we all? I can’t be the only 21-year-old girl who remembers seeing a VS Angel for the first time in middle school. My dream was to walk that runway for most of my early teenage years. The show used to be a significant cultural event, blending high fashion with pop culture, but by 2018, it hit a wall. The lack of diversity and the promotion of narrow beauty standards rubbed its viewers the wrong way. With Victoria’s Secret trying to reinvent itself again, the question is: Has anything really changed? Or did their attempt to be more inclusive fall flat because they lost the glamour the show was known for?
For nearly 20 years, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was all about glamor and excess. It helped supermodels like Tyra Banks, Gisele Bündchen, and Adriana Lima become household names. The “Angels” were supposed to represent this idealized version of beauty—aspirational but not attainable for most people. As conversations about body image and inclusivity grew louder, though, Victoria’s Secret was on the receiving end of criticism. People were calling out the brand’s lack of body diversity and its failure to include transgender and non-binary models. This criticism was long overdue given that just three years before its cancellation, Maria Borges, a black model, was the first to rock her natural hair on the VS runway. By the time the show was canceled, the brand’s image was clearly unaligned with the representation the public hoped to see. As a long-time viewer, I can admit that I began getting frustrated when it was evident that VS was out of touch with society. Though, sometimes, that felt like the point of the show.
Victoria’s Secret has since tried to improve by launching the VS Collective, bringing in a more diverse group of women like soccer star Megan Rapinoe and actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas. This shift was supposed to move away from the “Angel” image to something more inclusive and empowering, but not everyone’s convinced. Some see it as just a PR stunt to make the brand relevant again rather than a fundamental change in the direction of inclusion. Others discovered they preferred the exclusive glitz and glamour over inclusivity and realness.
One of their rebranding efforts, “The Tour,” a documentary-style film released in 2023, was an example of this disconnect. It followed artists working with the Victoria’s Secret platform, but it didn’t make much of an impact. Despite streaming on Amazon Prime, it barely got any attention, and the public’s reaction was underwhelming.
Now, with the fashion show’s return, reactions are mixed. Some longtime fans like me are excited, hoping to see the return of the angels and some common ground between the show’s roots and modern times. Others remain cautious, given the brand’s past missteps in trying to modernize. Whether the show resonates with today’s more socially aware audience will depend on how well it balances its legacy with current expectations for inclusivity and representation.