The last time Victoria’s Secret had a fashion show was 2018.
For more than 20 years, the show had been an annual event, an extravaganza of babes in thongland, like “Barbie” through the lens of Paul Verhoeven.
Broadcast in more than 100 countries to millions of viewers, it got evermore absurdist until the #MeToo movement and social change finally brought
the curtain down along with the profits, leaving the company wrestling with just how out of step with women’s sense of self it had become.
The company retired the signature angels in their push-up bras and panties toting around ginormous 30-pound wings and replaced them with the VS Collective:
a group of 10 women of notable accomplishments and notably diverse body types. It announced that it wanted to be “the world’s leading advocate for women.”
And then, on Wednesday, Victoria’s Secret finally brought back the show. Sort of.
There was a powder pink carpet with a marquee outside the Manhattan Center on 34th Street in Manhattan, with Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Lourdes Leon,
Alix Earle and assorted models in skimpy outfits posing for paparazzi. There were gawkers outside wielding smartphones, and champagne inside, where all was bathed in a soft pink light.
There was Naomi Campbell in a gold chain-mail minidress and Gigi Hadid in sunshine jersey, elevated above the crowd on V.I.P.
balconies. There was Doechii, serenading the room and twerking in a lilac corset and matching thigh-high boots. There was even a glittering pair of wings. So far, so familiar.