F  L  A  U  N  T

![Alt Text]() In the face of recent adversity in perhaps a more hostile and competitive environment that saw the share price of L Brands dropped by another 12% in the second quarter of 2018 and over 70% in the last three years principally on the persistent declining same comps sales and operating margins at its marquee lingerie brand, Victoria’s Secret hankered down at a midtown Manhattan pier transformed into a mirrored and video wall installation for the taping of its annual blockbuster show, this year scheduled for December 2nd on ABC at 10PM. Given the fact that business for any brand can go up and down like a pendulum, thus it is not conceivable that Victoria’s Secret can maintain its level of commerce without facing rough waters and greater competition on both fronts - brand image and brand products. In an era where a fashion brand is called out if its runway show lacked diversity, which in 2018 means not only race and size but also age ranges, the annual Victoria’s Secret show continued unabated with its total emphasis on the look of top models like the squadron of IMG girls walking this show including the Angels Candice Swamepoel, Elsa Hook, Jasmine Tookes, Taylor Hill, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Shanina Shaik and a brand new girl discovered from the super agency’s scouting Insta account Alannah Walton. The show’s intentional and strict adherence booking of only top models that fit a certain profile and body shape creates a specific brand identity since its debut in 1995, a house code that is easily recognizable and a formula for a successful merger of entertainment and commerce that has now also become a goldmine for attacks against such a limited view on inclusion. Angels and angels’ fancy wings are so associated with the Victoria’s Secret brand and this isn’t an accidental happenstance but a roadmap careful layout to build the lingerie megabrand. But now attacks come from both directions: on one side, there was for example the Savage x Fenty show at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a sort of see now-buy now show by the pop star Rihanna that went viral because of the mix of models that she had casted that looked more like a cross section of urban and suburban girls of all sizes and shapes or that the models wearing Savage reflect the potential and actual customers who would be purchasing the products. Social media had a heyday commending the all around singer for her breakthrough fashion show. On the other hand, Victoria’s Secret is facing headwinds from many upstart competitors, smaller new emerging brands like Lively, ThirdLove, Evelyn & Bobbie, Aerie, yet still far from becoming household names but gathering a community and their business model present a danger to VS’s market dominance. In the bigger picture scale of things, this pondering of the validity of Victoria’s Secret brand identity isn’t unique as discussions about brand heritage and relevance to consumers are taking place all across fashion from luxury behemoths to start-ups. How to evolve a brand’s known image built over the years so that the so called DNA or house codes can be a platform to spring forth new ways of story telling, which is now a crucial standard espoused by younger consumers? In a rapidly changing demographic and social-economic sphere as well as in consumer buying habits and taste, this has been a fundamental discourse across the entire spectrum of brands not just fashion – consumers want to buy products from brands whose values they also share. Against this backdrop of hostility, this 2018 show embarked on a #metoo theme song of Girl Power with an video montage of several of the angels like Lais Ribeiro touting what being chosen for the show mean to them personally and professionally. ‘I want to own that,’ said one model about her quest to become a VS show girl and how she wants to own her rights. Perhaps this was the brand’s answer to its critics and naysayers by having these supermodels taking ownership of their career in a forceful and positive manner. Just moments before, Keala Settle took to the stage to perform “This is Me’, her hit song from ‘The Greatest Showman.’ An announcement was made to remind the audience that what the spectators were about to see was nothing less than the ‘Superbowl of supermodels.’ While words on the video monitors reminded everyone that the audience for the show grew by 45% from 2016 to 2017 which now totaled over 1.6 billion viewers globally and that VS remains the top lingerie brand owning 35% of the market share. Then Taylor Hill opened the show in the first Glam Royal segment wearing patchwork tartan pleated miniskirt, a red bra, a pair of red feathers wings and thigh high leather string boots.The show was divided into seven sections – Golden Angels, Flights of Fancy, Team Pink, Floral Fantasy, Downtown Angels and Celestial Angels – each coupled with entertainers like Shawn Mendes, Bebe Rexha, Halsey, Rita Ora, and the English rock band the Struts to woo the crowd. The outfits in the show seemed to be less ostentatious, well a bit less ornamentations than in the past shows that I have seen. The Team Pink segment included more sporty and lounge wear clothes like silver shorts and small jacket tops, sweatshirts and hoodies and loungewear with the Pink logo and the Floral Fantasy pieces of flowers print leggings and parachute pants, easy cropped tee shirts and bodysuits, brief shorts and light tulle short dresses in collaboration with Mary Katrantzou. Even the seasonal Fantasy bra, which at some points cost upwards of ten millions dollars in diamonds, came back to earth in form of a bralette and chain designed by Atelier Swarovski and crafted with over 2,100 Swarovski Created Diamonds and Topaz. It is Elsa Hosk, who’s been an angel since 2015 who worn this year’s Fantasy Bra which now only worth a million dollar but with a caveat – customers can buy a version of this show bra the day after the taping. Rest assure there were plenty of fancy wings of all kinds intended to transform the models into angels on TV like the giant parachute attached to Gigi Hadid, the silver studded corset bra and underwear and black feather wings on Candice Swanepoel, who gave birth four months ago, in the Golden Angel section where she walked past the Chainsmokers and Kelsea Ballerina performing on opposite ends of the runway. For those who may want to mourn the end of this show too early ought to check out the ode to the eighteenth years that the model Adriana Lima, now 37 and mother of two daughters, has been walking each year that the brand devoted an entire section to her with a thank you sign as a backdrop. For her last appearance, Lima wore a silver embroidered top over a grey bra, grey slip and white peacock feather wings to the tune of ‘Praise You’ by Fatboy Slim. In between stage changes there were plenty of video reminders on the wall monitors to the longevity and vitality of the brand to possibly withstand both criticism and assure the correct products and sizing going forward at retail. As a reality check, I have visited several VS stores around NYC principally in Herald Square directly across Sixth Avenue from the mammoth Macy’s and in Soho on Broadway, out of the 1.100 stores nationwide to just observe who the customers may be. Surprisingly the shoppers were quite diverse from many racial backgrounds and also they were of many sizes and heights. Regardless of the aesthetics of the brand, at over 1100 retail locations nationwide bras are offered in the size range from 30A to 40DD told to me by a service representative at the store thus products do addressed the requisite size diversity of the consumers. That said, even with the top selling bra with the brand logo and an armory of products under the Very Sexy Infinity Edge umbrella to fortress its commercial dominance that’s in decline, the show at best seemed static as its formula remained unchanged since 1995, stuck in avoid while defending itself created turf. What is a way forward for a brand that has only known great commercial success stemming from the annual must see show each year in early December? More profoundly, it’s also a question of whether a brand should stick to its own DNA and aesthetic or evolve with the times to satisfy everyone. The answers aren’t particularly clear but one thing is certain – if Victoria’s Secret continues to uphold its ‘heritage’ then perhaps the brand can be a much smaller lingerie company competing with other brands in its own sphere instead of being everything to everyone. Regardless of the impact on the brand’s business, the annual show is sure to continue to attract wide audiences in for some fun and entertainment.

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Photos courtesy of Victoria's Secret