Victoria’s Secret
With the holiday season comes a slew of TV specials, but none are stranger than the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
Sandwiched between September’s spring/summer fashion week and the autumn/winter fashion week in February, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show is a stand-alone event seemingly meant to promote the intimates brand. It’s an ambitious PR stunt that’s somehow been working for 20 years — but the fact remains that several things about the show just don’t make sense.
In the 1990s, the first Victoria’s Secret fashion shows took place in February, a little before Valentine’s Day — the only time of year expensive lingerie purchases seem vaguely plausible. Since 2001, the show has aired in November or December, but any connection between celebrating Christmas and wearing sexy bras and underwear seems like a stretch. In fact, the wintry theme makes the models look wildly underdressed.
And while the loungewear and lingerie Victoria’s Secret sells are plenty sexy for the runway, almost none of the models who’ve walked in the show’s history have worn anything that resembles the bras and underwear found in stores. Instead, the models wear the most impractical getups, including sheer bodysuits and sequin-covered corsets.
Each show even culminates in the reveal of that year’s “fantasy bra,” which always costs more than $1 million and often is adorned in Swarovski crystals and diamonds. Of course, each of the models also wears her signature Victoria’s Secret Angel wings, which are massive and ornate impediments at best and a cringe-inducing aesthetic at worst.
The runway show also is taped weeks in advance of its airing, so most buzzworthy moments are reported ahead of making it to TV, if they make it at all. Ariana Grande almost being smacked in the face by one model’s unwieldy wings at last year’s show made headlines but ultimately was cut from the broadcast.
While many aspects of the fashion show are laughable, shows past have been criticized for more severe issues. In 2012, model Karlie Kloss wore a floor-length Native American headdress, igniting a conversation about cultural appropriation. This year marks the first in which an African-American model with natural hair will walk the runway. And like much of the fashion industry, Victoria’s Secret fails to embrace different body types.
Perhaps a few changes to the fashion show’s format are all it needs to achieve cultural relevance. In the meantime, though, another airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas might be a better way to get in the holiday spirit.
