The 2019 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is officially cancelled, according to multiple sources.
On an earnings call on Thursday, L Brands CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer said the company was pulling back on more extravagant marketing methods, as reported by Fortune.
“We will be communicating to customers, but nothing similar in magnitude to the fashion show,” Burgdoerfer said to investors during the call.
Global News has reached out to L Brands for a comment, but did not hear back in time of publication.
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The company denies that the move is related to declining sales, but sales fell seven per cent in the latest quarter, according to the call.
The show, which broadcast annually on CBS and ABC for 20 years, was reportedly losing viewers each year as well.
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The 2018 Victoria Secret Fashion Show had a total viewing audience of 3.27 million, as reported by W Magazine. Viewership was down from 2017 when the show pulled in 4.98 million total viewers, according to the outlet. Business Insider reports the 2016 show had 6.7 million viewers.
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In May, L Brands CEO Les Wexner told employees the lingerie retailer was “rethinking” its annual show, CNBC reported.
Wexner said network television was no longer the “right fit” for the annual fashion show and that the company would focus on a “new kind” of show.
“Fashion is a business of change. We must evolve and change to grow,” he told employees in May.
Model Shanina Shaik, who has walked in several of the brand’s shows, told The Daily Telegraph in July that the show was cancelled.
“Unfortunately, the Victoria’s Secret show won’t be happening this year,” she said. “It’s something I’m not used to because every year around this time I’m training like an Angel.”
The company did not confirm Shaik’s statement at that time.
For two decades, the show was a staple for over-the-top and expensive, bedazzled lingerie. Models who walked the runway included everyone from Bella Hadid to Karlie Kloss to Gisele Bündchen. But over the years, the brand also faced criticism over the lack of diversity in body shapes, as well as accusations of racism.
In 2018, the brand’s chief marketing officer Ed Razek retired from his role after making inappropriate comments about plus-size and transgender models at the show.
“It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No,” Razek previously told Vogue. “No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special.”
More to come…
— with files from Arti Patel
Meghan.Collie@globalnews.ca
Laura.Hensley@globalnews.ca
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