To those outside of Australia, when someone tells you, that you ‘are flogging a dead horse’, it means you are engaging in an act of futility, and it’s time to try a new endeavour. And so, the Annual Victoria’s Secret Show was broadcast last Saturday night.
In the midst of a revenue death spiral, a withering public debate over its lack of diversity and the resignation of the brand’s CEO of lingerie, the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show was broadcast Sunday night with its usual array of long-legged models, bedazzled bras and celestial wings. The cast of models ranged from Adriana Lima, walking her final runway for the brand (soon to be put out to pasture), to newer faces such as Winnie Harlow and the usual Instagram suspects Kendall Jenner and both the Hadid’s.
But it was like the same rerun as the last dozen shows. In other words, it was so predictably boring, and would have made for an agonising hour of television if anyone had the stomach to sit through the full 60 minutes.
Far from it being a case of ‘when you are on a good thing, stick to it’, it was the opposite. The models were all still homogeneous in body type. They were still treated like show ponies. And the 60-minute TV special was ugh-fest of excruciating clichés and non-sexiness.
So, for everywhere outside of China, it is well known that VS is in the midst of a revenue death spiral, a withering public debate over its lack of diversity and the resignation of the brand’s CEO. You have to wonder how this albatross still thinks it’s going to fly again.
Probably the most notable item for the brand this year was the outrage after Ed Razek, the company’s head of marketing, said in an interview in Vogue that it would be off-brand to include plus-size or transgender models. Critics called for a boycott. They accused Razek of being out-of-touch and sexist. Razek apologised for his comments. But the casting didn’t change. In fact, nothing changed.
It takes an extraordinary amount of arrogance, laziness and sheer disregard to make a show as stultifying and lifeless as this latest Victoria’s Secret show. It may be that the company was so focused on defending its casting policy that it forgot that the whole argument becomes moot if the show is so boring that it’s unwatchable. But at least there is still China.
Let us know what you thought of this years VS fashion show in the comments below!
