After a five-year hiatus, world-renowned lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret has announced that its legendary fashion show will be back tomorrow, October 15. However, it has also made it clear that it’s learnt from past mistakes.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was long one of the most followed runways in the world; in some ways cementing the status of top models like Gisele Bündchen and Adriana Lima. Nevertheless, towards the end of its run, the show had become mired in scandal, especially after it was revealed that the company’s CEO, Les Wexner, had ties with disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
To make things even worse, many fans and NGOs around the world continuously complained about the show’s lack of diversity, including in body shapes, as well as for its use of thousands of real feathers to make the famed angel wings—company employees admitted to using up to 620,000 feathers from ostriches, Chinese pheasants and chickens.
Now, the brand it set for a new chapter in its history, with the organisers promising that they have acted upon the advice of NGOs like Peta US, and the criticism they received over the years from fans.
In fact, Victoria’s Secret has pledged that the coveted angel wings at this year’s show, which will take place in New York, will be from handmade faux feathers. The models, meanswhile, will be more diverse in terms of age, body type, and race. Some models that have already been confirmed include Gigi Hadid and Tyra Banks.
The brand has also taken to social media to announce that ‘the mother of fashion’, the legendary singer and gay icon, Cher, will be headlining the fashion show. She will be joined by K-pop rapper Lisa, who is best known for being part of the Blackpink band, as well as South African singer Tyla.
Whether the brand will truly manage to marry the changes it has promised with the glamour of its golden years remains to be seen. Even so, the whole fashion world is buzzing with the news and we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us.