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Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show coming back with ‘glamour, runway, fun, wings,’ CEO says

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The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is coming back, and it will be much like it was years ago.

“The show will deliver precisely what our customers have been asking for, the glamour, runway, fashion, fun, wings, entertainment, all through a powerful modern lens reflecting who we are today,” Victoria’s Secret CEO Martin Waters told analysts Thursday on a conference call to discuss the company’s first-quarter financial results. “We’re thrilled to share this iconic property later this year.”

The retailer didn’t yet say when or where the show will be held.

The annual event was launched in 1995 and made its network TV debut in 2001.

The show featured elaborately costumed lingerie worn by the brand’s “Angels.”

The 1999 show’s live webcast became famous as the event that “shut down the internet,” drawing so many viewers that the website crashed. Apple founder Steve Jobs later called the 1999 webcast and ensuing crash as one of the 10 seminal events in the history of the internet.

The audience began to wane in the final years of the show as Victoria’s Secret and the fashion show had been derided as out of touch with women during the era of the #MeToo movement.

The last show was in 2018, and the retailer said in 2019 that the show would no longer be on television and that it needed to rethink the show.

Last year, Victoria’s Secret had a show that was focused on a movie built around 20 artists and creative women in four cities − Bogota, Columbia; London; Tokyo; and Lagos, Nigeria − along with, of course, highlighting Victoria’s Secret designs. The show was streamed internationally.

The movie marked the latest of what has been a dramatic shift since CEO and Chairman Leslie H. Wexner stepped away in 2020 and the company split from Bath & Body Works the following year.

Victoria’s Secret announced its plan for the return of the show on Instagram and TikTok last month. The retailer said the show will kick off its holiday sales campaign.

“It’s going to be all about glamour, going to be feature runway, it’s going to be fashion, it’s going to be fun, wings, entertainment, but through the modern lens of who we are today,” Waters said. “So, not exactly a repeat of who we used to be, but picking up on the moments that people enjoyed most about our Fashion Show historically.”

Waters said the show will be a focus on Victoria’s Secret merchandise.

“It needs to focus our merchandise, not other people’s,” he said. “It needs to be fun, it needs to be less ethereal than we’ve been before, needs to be commercial, mainstream, and a great celebratory kickoff to the holiday season filled with joy.”

mawilliams@dispatch.com

@BizMarkWilliams

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