The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Is Back: Did The Brand Uphold Its Inclusivity Promises?

In that People statement, the show was characterized as “a women-led articulation of this iconic property,” referring specifically to the efforts of Victoria’s Secret Chief Design and Creative Officer Janie Schaffer (who worked at the brand from 2008 to 2012, then returned in 2020) and Executive Vice President of Marketing Sarah Sylvester (who’s been at the company for almost two decades). In addition to Schaffer and Sylvester, the company also has a new woman CEO as of August, Hillary Super, who joined from Savage X Fenty. It’s hard to consume this new imagining of the runway without thinking of Rihanna’s game-changing lingerie label, which Victoria’s Secret is often compared to: The 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show took place at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the same place where Savage X Fenty staged a runway presentation in 2018; it streamed on Prime Video, where Savage X Fenty had; and the performers, including the models and dancers, represented a range of sizes, backgrounds, and ages. Of course, a lot of this is not so much borrowed as it’s now a standard way of operating in the industry — what the brand did was take that baseline and build upon it with the bits of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show lore that still works.