I always end up watching the show, either as a rerun or youtube suggestion. There was a time, however, when I looked forward to it, I was younger and heavily into models but also the cringe-worthy moments were some 10% and not a good 95% of the show.
The decline in ratings is a generational thing that's affected all commercial networks in general but for a brand that pioneered live streaming for the closest thing to a fashion show way before anyone even thought of it or was comfortable with the idea, their current state is mostly a result of their desperate strategy in 2003 to be back on television after the 2001 uproar and a need to stay relevant in a format that simply does not allow what the show is about.
They need to either move to cable or go back to live streaming and deliver spectacular results in terms of quality and hype. Should they move to cable, I agree they have to go back to doing the show one week before it airs on tv, one month is way too long for our current times, by week two even talking about the Victoria's Secret show feels like old news.
Then they need to catch up with the times and understand (unlike someone mentioned above) that newer generations
do have an idea on sensuality and are in fact lot more open towards sexuality than one can give them credit for, you see it on instagram, on tumblr, on the way people present themselves on social media, p*rn images and sadly p*rn culture (never an ideal but well..) are even part of the most harmless blogs so being "racy" is not even frowned upon, racy (which is what the 2001 show was deemed as and reason why they had to migrate to ABC and not do a 2002 show) is only part of the vocabulary of the people that don't have the time to care for Victoria's Secret, not as viewers and certainly not as consumers.
Victoria's Secret was never Agent Provocateur or some French lingerie brand, they're American... practicality sometimes just takes over, price tag included, but they still managed to sell the fantasy that it was exclusive and slightly prohibited, and special. Their stores these days, much like their show, are 51% Pink, 49% everything else, and that everything else mostly consists of crazy padded cups, almost like Instagram manages their nipples are from hell policy. So they should revisit that and free themselves, and free women, design-wise, even Urban Outfitters has nicer and more modern-looking lingerie than Victoria's Secret these days...
They also need to drop the tacky pinks and glitter in their stores and overall look. Sure the occassional red lighting of older commercials promised a lot more sex than it was meant to but they could go back to a more high class approach to lingerie and the luxury of it all, through darker, more refined colors. The younger male viewers networks are worried about are actually more up to date with fashion and the world of luxury than older ones, they know more designers, models, photographers than guys in say, 2002, it's a hipster/millennial thing, the whole fratboy aesthetic and understanding of sexiness isn't that popular or sought after as they think.
And then of course the models.... once upon a time they looked like proper Bond girls, they were extraordinary looking... often beautiful, sometimes a little weird but they all had this commanding presence regardless of their age (they were as young or younger than many of their current models) and they looked as rare as you could find, foreign in the fact that they were lightyears away from looking next door or like someone you could find at your nearby bar. Their current models, all of them, look like either a cute or hot sales associates or basic sorority girls. All of their current angels combined can't make one third of Gisele or Laetitia Casta or even Ana Claudia Michels. I'm sure many of them could (esp. Candice) if only they wore actual lingerie and were allowed to be sexy in a natural and not goofy and "bubbly" way. They speak of women empowerment and sexual confidence and yet they've reduced their models to look like the bimbo stereotype that has to entertain the crowd as a way to distract and apologize should it ever be too much.
Despite the hidden potential of the current cast though, I do think they need to bring more one-of-a-kind models, that girl that closed the show sums up the current state of the company (no wonder she closed the show!), don't know who she is but she was anyone anywhere, not unlike Lily and Behati. Models are only the tip of the iceberg anyway, you can have Edita or Lara and the show is still a disaster. They need a revamp asap and go back to basics, bigger is better is looking futile right now.
(lol a whole essay on VS.. happy sunday everyone!
)
again imo.
