Victoria’s Secret tries to mend past and present wrongs with a runway of wings, rhinestones and a touch of inclusivity featuring Cher, Kate Moss and Carla Bruni

To be precise, the Victoria’s Secret show wasn’t quite a return, but rather, a return to returning. On Tuesday evening, the most famous lingerie brand in the world — or at least, the holder of that title for a few decades — made a second attempt to return to its runway shows after calling them off in 2019. Last year, the brand attempted a grand comeback with an event broadcasted on Amazon that was, in essence, a disaster in terms of both public response (users of the platform gave it 1.7 stars out of 5), as well as that of the critics, in addition to sales and public relations. The best that could be said was that it was a poor-quality copy of Fenty, the successful, inclusive lingerie brand of the singer and business magnate Rihanna. And so, this year Vicky’s was attempting to make amends. The company employed three magic tricks in the hopes that customers could forget not only the collapse of profits a few years back, which led to the brand’s sale, but also the criticism of its beloved angels, of their sham of perfection, the misogyny and hyper-sexualization to which they catered, and even its founder’s connections with Jeffrey Epstein.

The first of the aforementioned gambits was a bet on past glory. Up-and-coming singers Lisa and Tyla were the first to emerge onstage, both dressed like the brand’s models. But the true pop moment was when 78-year-old Cher materialized at the end of the 40-minute performance to deliver a pair of her 1998 hits, Strong Enough and Believe. Aside from these appearances, the brand’s best-known faces were sent down the runway, supermodels well used to the Victoria’s Secret uniform of sky-high strappy heels and outlandish bra-underwear sets. The first of these was Gigi Hadid, who opened the catwalk dressed in pink, greeting the crowd in the style of her friend Taylor Swift. Hadid confirmed that the stadium-filling singer had given her a few tips for the occasion and that she was going to make a Taylor-style move on the runway.

But the moment of nostalgia the brand sought was best embodied by the presence of the brand’s classic beauties: Alessandra Ambrosio, Behati Prinsloo, Isabeli Fontana, Candice Swanepoel, Barbara Palvin, Doutzen Kroes and consecrated super-angels Irina Shayk and Adriana Lima. Amid the dazzle of the feathers and sequined bras, few may have remembered that Lima said goodbye to the brand in 2018, assuring that, “I will not take [off] my clothes anymore for [an] empty cause,” and, “I am tired of the impositions, we ‘as [women]’ can’t be continuing living in a world with such superficial values. It’s physically and mentally not healthy what society is imposing us to be, to behave, to look.”

It seemed all was forgotten when the show began, bringing with it surprises like Bella Hadid, who with the exception of the Saint Laurent show in September, hasn’t gotten on a catwalk in two years. Other celebrities over the age of 50 made exceptional appearances, from house classics like Tyra Banks, who walked for the brand in the mid 1990s (she was the closer this year), and Eva Herzigová, walking for the first time in 15 years. There were also notable Victoria’s Secret debuts, like that of Carla Bruni and a serious Kate Moss covered in black lace.

The brand’s second rabbit in the hat was inclusivity, albeit in a measured approach. There was a range of body types, but the concept was better represented when it came to the ages of models, as reflected in the convocation of fashion’s big names from across the eras. The overall sensation was that of a classic Victoria’s Secret show, with the quota of change present in all of today’s runways and that is obligatory for a production that has been criticized ad infinitum for its regular presentation of irregular bodies. Present this year were Paloma Elsesser and Ashley Graham, size 16, and there too was Alex Consani, a 21-year-old trans model who began her career when she was 12. Backstage, Consani said that it was a day to celebrate being powerful. At the end of the day, the most inclusive showing was that of Cher’s backup singers, around 20 women of all shapes, sizes, races, heights and ages.

On the pink carpet, livestreamed for the first time, two of the firm’s top executives, Sarah Sylvester, vice-president of marketing and Janie Schaffer, chief design officer, said that the runway show was “a celebration of clothes and women.” “The whole world is welcome, the casting was done based on their confidence and strength,” they said.

But beyond supermodels and a certain degree of inclusivity, ultimately the real reason for the Victoria’s Secret season is spectacle, a show for the sake of show. Famous faces popped amid the glitter (though this year, the million-dollar Fantasy Bra was curiously absent) and feathers, set design and summoning of trends, accompanied by a heightened expectations generated by weeks of social media hype. It all seemed like eagerness to purge past sins with shine. The event, which was held at 7 p.m., New York time, was streamed live and watched by two million viewers on YouTube and another 200,000 on Instagram. All the criticism, scandal — even the fact that the angels are no longer called angels after the brand discarded the moniker a few years ago — seemed far away.

Perhaps there was no set from The Weeknd, Taylor Swift or Beyoncé, as there had been in years past, and there were few familiar faces in the crowd aside from Queen Latifah and Cardi B. But it seemed that nostalgia and the desire for glitz superseded such testimonies as that of Gisele Bündchen, who spoke in her book about how she had felt uncomfortable walking in underwear, even alluding to having had suicidal thoughts at the height of her runway career. Or when, five years ago, one hundred models signed a letter expressing their worries for the security and well-being of models and young women who aspire to work for Victoria’s Secret. The show must go on, and we’ll have to wait until 2025 to see if the third comeback’s really the charm.

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