NEW YORK: The Victoria’s Secret fashion catwalk extravaganza, where supermodels like Naomi Campbell strut down the runway in Swarovski-crystal covered wings, thongs, and million-dollar fantasy bras, has been a major annual event for the company for more than 20 years.
After a four-year absence, the lingerie brand returned Wednesday night with a total makeover that included both a fashion show and a sneak peek at a documentary-style movie involving 20 international creatives. It honored people with a variety of body types.
Top models like Winnie Harlow, who has vitiligo, a skin condition, showed up wearing some of the designs. The event also showcased the creators’ looks on headless mannequins of all body types.
The Victoria’s Secret World Tour, to be aired globally on Amazon Prime Video on Sept. 26, marks the company’s biggest marketing investment in the past five years and its latest bid to reverse its supercharged sexy image that left it irrelevant to many women, leading to several years of sales declines.
Those efforts include revamping its marketing to highlight fuller-figure women in ads and store mannequins, and expanding into mastectomy bras and comfy sports bras. It’s also refreshening its stores with brighter lights and blush pink walls. And it replaced its supermodel “Angels” with a group of 10 diverse women who have advised the brand and promoted it on social media.
While the brand is still the largest lingerie label by sales in the U.S., its market share has eroded to 18.7% last year from 31.2% in 2017, hurt by smaller rivals like American Eagle’s Aerie and other online startups that were inclusive from the get-go and offered more comfort, according to market researcher Euromonitor International.
Last year, the Reynoldsburg, Ohio-based company bought online rival Adore me for $400 million in cash but Victoria’s Secret still delivered another quarter of sales drops for the period ended July 29. And it forecasts sales will continue to fall for the rest of the year.
