The Angels are getting ready to come back.
Victoria’s Secret & Co. confirmed that its runway show would be returning this year with a teaser on Instagram that also encouraged shoppers to download the brand’s app to get additional details.
For years the show was a televised staple for fashion, drawing big-name models with big social reach to the runway each fall and plastering the brand everywhere with not just the famed Angel wings, but fantastical looks.
After a hiatus and some soul searching about just who the show was for and why the brand seemed so obsessed with pleasing the male gaze, Victoria’s Secret took back to the runway again in Brooklyn last October.
The glitz and the glam were definitely there — as were the models, including Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Grace Elizabeth, Taylor Hill and Tyra Banks, and wings aplenty. Cher, Tyla and Lisa were musical guests.
But the vibe was different.
The show’s return was orchestrated by women and the looks on display were not aspirational one-offs, but looks that would be in the brand’s stores.
Hillary Super, who became chief executive officer of the company shortly before the show last year, is clearly ready to carry on the tradition and use the event to stoke brand heat, building interest with consumers as the runway is readied.
The trick is going to be to use that brand heat to drive the business, which is still in turnaround mode and facing pressure from activist investors. Last month, Barington Capital chief James Mitarotonda slammed the company for revenue and stock declines, “operational and strategic shortcomings” and pushed for it to replace most of all of its board members.
Mitarotonda said the company should be “reestablishing merchandising discipline, launching bold, exciting and imaginative marketing campaigns, and, where appropriate, reintroducing successful legacy elements, such as the iconic Angels campaign.”
The Angels at least are due to hit the runway again.