The annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show reportedly has been cancelled.
Model Shanina Shaik, who has walked in several Victoria’s Secret shows, recently told The Daily Telegraph the show won’t be happening this year.
“It’s something I’m not used to because every year around this time I’m training like an Angel,” she said.
L Brands founder and chairman Leslie Wexner, together with recently hired CEO John Mehas, said in an internal memo to staff in May that they recognised the brand needed to reconnect with its core customer base, and that it was “re-birthing the brand” through a strategic review, CBS News reported.
L Brands, the parent company of the lingerie brand, has raked in profits over the years boosted by its runway shows, but recent data showed viewership for the fashion event has dropped significantly.
In 2017, the show hit an all-time low of 5 million viewers, a 6.6 million decrease from the previous two years. Last year, it went down further to 3.3 million.
In May this year, Wexner said in the memo the catwalk show would likely not be televised.
“Going forward we don’t believe network television is the right fit,” said Wexner in the memo.
Some speculated at the time that the brand would livestream the show online or on social media, but Shaik’s comments have cast that in doubt.
Reports indicate the lingerie retailer is trying to arrest falling sales and counter competition from the likes of American Eagle Outfitters’ Aerie and Rihanna’s lingerie company Savage X Fenty.
“Fashion is a business of change,” Wexner said in the internal memo to staff passed on to CBS News. “We must evolve and change to grow.”
According to Wexner, they had been taking a fresh look at every aspect of their business, from merchandising, marketing and brand positioning, to their real estate portfolio, digital business and cost structure for the past few months.
“In 2019 and beyond, we’re focusing on developing exciting and dynamic content and a new kind of event — delivered to our customers on platforms that she’s glued to and in ways that will push the boundaries of fashion in the global digital age.”
The annual show was launched in 1995, debuting on network television in 2001. However last year’s audience on ABC was 3.27 million, the smallest to date and less than half the viewership of two years earlier.
L Brands posted net sales of $2.629 billion for the first quarter ending May 4, down from the $2.626 billion in the previous corresponding period. Comparable sales for the first quarter ending May 4 were flat compared to the previous corresponding quarter. First quarter comparable sales declined 5 per cent at the Victoria’s Secret segment and increased 13 per cent at Bath & Body Works.
