The Victoria's Secret fashion show is officially canceled
- Victoria's Secret is officially canceling its annual fashion show, the brand's parent company said Thursday.
- The show has aired annually around the holidays since 1995.
- L Brands said in May that it was thinking about making changes to the annual fashion show, but it didn't say whether it would be outright canceled.
The Victoria's Secret fashion show, which has aired annually around the holidays since 1995, is officially canceled this year.
The lingerie brand's parent company, L Brands, confirmed the fate of the iconic show in an earnings call on Thursday.
In response to a question about how the company planned to make up for the publicity that typically accompanied the show, Stuart Burgdoerfer, L Brands' chief financial officer, said it would "be communicating to customers, but nothing that I would say is similar in magnitude to the fashion show."
"Did we see specific material impact on short-term sales response to the airing of the fashion show? As a general matter, the answer to that question is no," Burgdoerfer said. "So if you're like, 'Oh my God, Stuart, are you freaked out about the day-after-the-fashion-show result and what's going to happen?' it did air at different times over the years, and we didn't see a material impact on the next few days' results."
The annual fashion show featuring top models — called "angels" — wearing lingerie has seen a severe decline in viewership over the past several years. Last year, 3.3 million people tuned in to watch the show, down from 9.7 million viewers in 2013.
A Victoria's Secret model, Shanina Shaik, said in July that the lingerie brand had canceled this year's fashion show. The company refused to comment on or confirm her remark at the time.
L Brands said in May that it was thinking about making changes to the annual fashion show, but it didn't say whether it would be outright canceled.
CEO Les Wexner said in a memo to employees that the company didn't think "network television is the right fit" for the show.
He said the company was rethinking "literally everything" about its business and focusing on "developing exciting and dynamic content and a new kind of event — delivered to our customers on platforms that she's glued to."
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