An exec from the company confirmed the news.
- The annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is not happening this year, an exec from L Brands, the lingerie brand’s parent company, confirmed today.
- A company memo obtained by CNBC, which was first reported in May, stated that Victoria’s Secret is “rethinking” the iconic fashion show it hosts annually.
After months of reports and speculation, Victoria’s Secret has confirmed that it will not host its annual runway show this year. Stuart B. Burgdoerfer, executive vice president of Victoria’s Secret parent company, L Brands, spoke about the cancellation in a phone call with analysts, WWD reports.
“We think it’s important to evolve the marketing of Victoria’s Secret. There will be more to come as that continues to get evaluated,” he said.
“[The show] was a very important part of the brand building of this business and was an important aspect of the brand and a remarkable marketing achievement,” he added, per WWD. “And with that said, we’re figuring out how to advance the positioning of the brand and best communicate that to customers and that’s among the things that [Victoria’s Secret chief executive officer] John [Mehas] is focused on.”
The move comes months after the lingerie brand made noticeable changes to appear more inclusive following backlash, such as collaborating with Bluebella and featuring plus-size model Ali Tate Cutler in the campaign, and hiring its first openly-transgender model, Valentina Sampaio, for its athletic line, VS Pink.
It was first speculated in May that Victoria’s Secret could be cancelling its famous runway extravaganza CEO Leslie Wexner sent an internal memo saying he wanted to “rethink” the concept of the show, per WWD. Since then, multiple Victoria’s Secret models have publicly said that the catwalk spectacular was cancelled, but the company never confirmed the news until now.
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Source: HarpersBazaar.com
