Victoria’s Secret fashion show is back. Has anything changed, even with Cher in it? And, what is really the point?

Lisa opening the Victoria’s Secret show with, what else, Rockstar

You can’t put the world’s most famous underwear show down. And Victoria’s Secret (VS) did not. They killed the event in 2019 after the last, a year earlier, and now they have resuscitated it. The comeback show—livestreamed, earlier this morning (our time)—had all the house codes, to use a fashion reference, of VS’s sexed-up marketing-by-runway-excess. They have created a formula, even when not winning in the last years of the show until they were scrapped, that is recognisable and enjoyed, and considered to be of “cultural” significance, even when it was not exactly reinventing the bra. VS shows deviated from the original format in 1995 of a smallish straightforward catwalk presentation at New York City’s Plaza Hotel and morphed into one that is massive—part pop concert, part cabaret, part mardi gras. And the latest reincarnation retains the old energy, the old narrative. As a pre-event trailer reminded/informed/tempted, “The runway, music, and wings are back.”

So too the brand’s “angels”, among them Adriana Lima making a return to the runway, described as “triumphant” since Ms Lima, her face now looking very sculpted, had not donned VS wings for more than six years, or since her “shocked” departure in 2018. The question many guests were asked on the event’s pink carpet was, “who are you most excited to see tonight?” The Victoria’s Secret show had made models, even those already recognised in the industry, household names. Famous attendees of the past were known to cheer at the runway girls like schoolboys seized by a testosterone rush, such as Adam Levine jumping to his feet in 2013 and screaming for his love interest, Behati Prinsloo. Surprising appearances on the runway this time—“50 models from 25 different countries”, as announced pre-show—included Kate Moss, Eva Herzigová, and former first lady of France Carla Bruni. Less surprising, Gigi and Bella Hadid, and, diva/fame-junkie Tyra Banks.

Tyla and her angle wings, singing in what could be the most low-key affair among the three acts

Orianthi, more covered than the models, performing I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll

The show opened to Lisa singing her hit song Rockstar. Dressed like one who does not reject underwear, she had, in fact, appeared to race down the streets of New York on a bike in a pre-recorded intro-segment, only to appear mid-stage performing a fake wheelie while waiting to start singing—or lip-syncing, we couldn’t say for sure. Lisa has juggled her role as pop star (let’s drop the K already) and a model for the brands she had endorsed (namely Celine, for whom she walked their runway, twice) rather well. This time, she was able to belt and rap, and strut her stuff (seriously sashay, in fact) on a runway as the models soon emerged. And she got to sing two songs. In the second, Moonlit Floor, she was awarded what could have been the equivalent of the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the angel wings. We could hear her fans in Thailand, barely greeting dawn, screaming their lungs out.

That’s a show format retained from the past, Until 2001, models walked to a recorded soundtrack, not live performances by major stars. That year, Mary J Blige and Andrea Bocelli sang. Through the years, other male vocalists had taken to the stage, including Phil Collins (2002), Sting (2003), Usher (2008). But this year, it was an all-woman line-up, and they were from outside Victoria’s Secret’s hometown of New York. We know Lisa is Thai, but there was also the South African singer/songwriter Tyla—suitably winged—purring Water and Push 2 Start and the Australian artiste Orianthi performing (she did not seem to be singing) with a guitar I love Rock ‘n’ Roll and Are You Going To Go My Way in a feathered jacket with massive leg-O-mutton sleeves. And then there was Cher, a Californian, who to New Yorkers, could be from another planet altogether. Cher closed the show with two tracks too: Strong Enough and Believe. She was togged in more clothes than usual (even more so for a lingerie presentation): a jacket with a bodice like a corset that laced in the front and glittery cargo pants-as-joggers. Disappointing, if you consider that she was one of the first stars to adopt the nude dress.

Cher, looking a tad overdressed, belting Strong Enough

The show, although 45 minutes long (more than twice the duration of a typical fashion show), did not feel drastically different from those of the past, although it did seem a little pared down in terms of the staging, or the exaggerated glamour of the past. The models were, as before, kitted to the hilt, although pyjama-pants oddly cropped up. The angel wings (and insect wings) still dominated and it was astounding that they could think of so many ways to make those appendages that grand. Gigi Hadid’s opening look saw her even activate something at her waist that allowed her wings to open up. Yet for some of the girls, theirs were more like cumbersome strap-ons. The extra pieces that gave the underwear (this year, no Fantasy Bras that could boast more than USD1 million asking price) added presence were, as before, more boudoir than bedroom. The clothes were the work of the newly appointed “atelier designer in residence” Joseph Altuzarra, who is reportedly putting out a VS ready-to-wear line next year.

Discount the wings and whatever add-ons there were, it became unclear if Victoria’s Secret really revamped their show, which at its cancellation drew criticisms for everything not appreciated before the COVID-19 pandemic, namely the objectification of women and the lack of inclusivity. But is a bunch women of various ages and body sizes in underclothes really not asking to be oogled at, even if the show was supposedly targeted at women? Sure, the VS comeback is somewhat timely, if you consider that the Dolce and Gabbana’s spring/summer 2025 show was practically an underwear extravaganza and Balenciaga’s was fascination with lingerie although they were essentially trompe l’oeil bodysuits. In a state of social disarray that is the present, many seeing models, whether slaying or sashaying on a runway in unthinking scantiness, are not really concerned anymore with who’s on display and how they are perceived. Did the Victoria’s Secret show need to change their format and style or just reflect what their consumers can accept or desire?

Adriana Lima still every bit the VA angel she was

Tyra Banks, looking every bit the diva teaching contestants of America’s Next Top Model how to walk

Outside the runway, some men were seen on the pink carpet (inside, close-ups of the front row showed only women huddled together in their negligee-finery), looking dapper and more dressed up than the women. When asked how he thought the VA event would be different from other fashion shows, actor Dylan Sprouse, whose wife Barbara Palvin walked the VA show, replied, “I don’t know… I’m just a stupid guy. I have no idea. I don’t know. I play a lot of video games a day. I’ve been repairing my fence.” Or sitting on it? Mr oh-I’m-too-much-of-a-man-to-know-these-things (even when my wife is a model) did not appear any more different than so many teen boys engrossed in their digital games until the boring weekday night required a VS show to become their onanistic joy.

The reported reasons Victoria’s Secret gave for scrapping their show in 2018 were “sluggish sales and diminishing audience”, but we knew better. The last show apparently had the lowest ratings in the history of their televised runway events. That last appearance was made during a time when most viewers could not deny what it really meant: just titillation. And, tired campiness that made RuPaul’s Drag Race—still running—look like high art. In the past, they have found themselves ensnared in controversies, including what Americans dreaded and still do: cultural appropriation. There was that Native American headdress in 2012, which Karlie Kloss, a VS show regular, wore. Four years later, that Chinese theme, which still brings to mind model Elsa Hosk’s dragon costume. When we saw it at the time, we were aghast, not because of the dragon (in Asia, we do not seriously loathe non-Asians using Asian motifs in their personal get-ups), but because it looked worse than what we’ll see during Chingay. The Victoria’s Secret show had to re-emerge looking unblemished, unscathed, uninspiring. As Cher sang in Strong Enough, “I don’t need your sympathy/There’s nothing you can say or do for me/And I don’t want a miracle/You’ll never change for no one.” Victoria’s Secret certainly did not.

Screen shots: Victoria’s Secret/YouTube