Last month, Victoria’s Secret announced they will not be putting on a fashion show this year. At that time business annalists talk about why they decided to do this, but last year I figured it would be ending sooner rather than later. I did think they would hold out until next year to end the fashion show because it would mean the show would be on for over 15 years and end on the year 2020, a nice year number to end the show. Despite this, costs for the fashion show are very high and the relevance factor has gone away so ending it before any sort of anniversary number arrived was proof the company knew it would be, in my eyes, wasting time and money putting on the show. Since this would be the first year in over 15 years the fashion show will not be on the air, I wanted to talk about what I’ll miss from the fashion show, what I won’t miss, and why it’s important to talk about the end of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

What I’ll Miss

I need to admit, I was never a huge fan of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Sure, I shop at Victoria’s Secret, but I don’t like watching the fashion show. Despite this, I began watching the show in the early 2010’s in order to see certain performances. And that is what I’ll miss. Instead of models walking up and down the catwalk and nothing else, viewers enjoyed performances by their favorite performers. Some of those performers included Maroon 5, Lady Gaga. Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Fall Out Boy, Bruno Mars, Selena Gomez, Justin Beeber, and Taylor Swift, who performed while her super model friends walked down the catwalk. Seeing the live performances is something I will always miss.

What I Won’t Miss

The biggest thing I won’t miss is the literally, and ironically, the fashion. When I started watching the fashion show, I really didn’t care about the lingerie. In fact, I thought it was impractical and not very flattering to anyone’s body except the models on the catwalk. Although I’m tall enough to theoretically be a model (I’m 5 feet 9-ish inches), I’m not as thin as they are and my curves are in places where I know mass produced clothing cannot fit me perfectly without some sort of fitting. Because of this, I look at the looks on the runway as something I’ll never be able to wear or fit perfectly. So, I quickly lost interest in it and missed the point of why the fashion show ever existed in the first place. This problem would possibly be remedied by using models that had a variety of body types, but, since Victoria’s Secret never used models that didn’t fit into the plus size category of fashion, it’s one of the weak spots in the fashion show that was never fixed.

So, Why is the Fashion Show So Important?

No matter if you enjoyed the fashion show or not, it was an important part of youth culture for many years. It left a mark that will never be forgotten and introduced many young Millennial to lingerie and how it’s sex appeal is not only a way of attracting attention, but also for revolutionizing how the sometimes very boring fashion show can be more than a way to show a designer’s latest fashion collection. It could be exciting. It could be interesting to watch. And it showed the personalities of the models. Instead of withholding their emotions and personality, Victoria’s Secret would encourage their models to act like themselves, something fairly unheard of in fashion shows because it was more about advertising the clothes than the models. Even though the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was an annual tradition, it will leave a mark. Fenty x Savage copied the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show model for the fashion show on Amazon Prime, which received quite a lot of hype and praise when it premiered. Other fashion shows that are non lingerie related follow the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show model and added a mini concert to make the show more entertaining and engaging, as well as generating publicity for the collection.

Although part of me is sad the show is no more, I’m also glad. Although it seemed too formulaic, it was a formula that would work for many more years to come… if they changed some things about it including the addition of plus size models. It disappoints me that plus size models, who are in a size range that fits what normal American women wear, will never show what the Victoria’s Secret collection will look like on a normal sized body instead of a very thin body most women will never be the size of.

As for why I’m so sad, I’m upset Victoria’s Secret never used their platform to it’s full potential, which made it become irrelevant and created large gaps that other brand used to their advantage to create their own lingerie lines with inclusive sizes in mind. It had the momentum to do it, but they never acted on it. So, Victoria’s Secret is, according to business analysts, no longer in touch will what women need in lingerie and it is costing them business, which means a lavish fashion show is a waste of money that needs to be saved to keep their bottom line strong.

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!