Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2018

[Armani]

Not that we expected anything different, but yet again, VSFS ratings hit an all-time low, with 3.2 million viewers.

PR was poorer than ever this year, with seemingly the only notable PR being the nepo-models, the GMA announcements, the performers, and Empire State Building being lit.

credit: freak on bellazon
Viewers:

2013: 9.7 million viewers

2014: 9.2 million viewers

2015: 6.6 million viewers

2016: 6.5 million viewers

2017: 4.9 million viewers

2018: 3.2 million viewers

 

[Cute]

Yikes! I wonder what happened between 2014 and 2015? Is 2013-14 showing the power of Taylor Swift?
They had some pretty popular artist lineups aside from 2017-18 (they have a "headliner" but that's about it).

 

[billiejbob]

Just watched the whole thing. Dear lord...
I remember when I thought the 2010-2013 shows were bad and could never get worse...
My findings:

1. Power ballads do not work anymore. The only time a successful power ballad as made a segment sexy is Seal in 2005. One of the reasons for that was that he wasn't taking centre stage on the runway.

2. Having performances for every segment just took ALL the attention away from the models. I mean, c'mon! Look at the amazing remixes we've had in the past. They could have worked well with some of the segments but no, let's have some B-list singer sing instead.

3. The models all look so young and...millenial. I've said it before but the difference between these girls compared to the 2005/2006 girls (who were all around the same age including the Angels) just shows how amateurish these models are now. Their walks and poses are so far from sexy. They're awkward and childish as if they're doing their very first runway ever.

4. The Angels now are meh. None of the have any kind of xfactor except for maybe Candice. When she and Behati leave the whole Angel thing is doomed.

5. I bet VS would LOVE to sign up big names aka Kendall/Bella/Gigi as Angels but I bet they've been told by their agencies (and friends a la Karlie Kloss) to stay away from becoming an official Angel. I always admired Karlie for realising as she was an Angel what a disaster it can be for a model's reputation and brand. It used to be prestigious but now it's a bit cheap to be an Angel. No one cares anymore.

6. Some of the performers were clearly nervous and it really showed on screen...Shawn Mendes I'm looking at you. I'm sure he's a great singer but boy that was not his day.

7. Most of the Mary K section wasn't lingerie but actually legitimate items of clothing which looked ugly and so unsexy.

8. The editing cut away from models at the most random and inappropriate times. A model would be just about to hit the end of the runway and pose and then it would cut to backstage for half a second then back to the model finishing her poses...like it made NO sense.

9. There didn't seem to be any direction of the show. The whole empowerment segment at the start had good intentions and could have worked but it just didn't translate well at all in reality.

10. Lastly, and most importantly, they need to figure out a new formula. And fast. From the previous comments regarding viewership it seems like the whole VSFS has run out of steam. I feel like they could do it back at Cannes like they did in 2000 but instead of doing casting with brand new faces, invite back older and frankly better models. Make it classy again. Not millennial. It's turned into the commercial lingerie version of D&G.

End of rant.

 

[SLFC]

The empowerment section at the start was horrible as well. If they wanted to be so
'vive la revolution' they did a poor job at it. I think frankly. Victoria Secret is just being killed by the competition, It could be overspending I don't know, and the media doesn't seem have any interest into finding what the problem actually and just makes assumptions.

 

[Deleted member 130879]

Victoria Secret is just being killed by the competition, It could be overspending I don't know, and the media doesn't seem have any interest into finding what the problem actually and just makes assumptions.

Market studies have been made, they know very damn well what the problems (plural) are and competition only became a problem when they stopped caring about their costumers. On the other hand, it is risky for them to change now. They are going through a major crisis and any change to catch new viewers/costumers means risking losing their current audience. It might work but it can also fail.
Some of the problems would be easy to address: changing the design team, maturing their design, improving the items' quality, dropping the swarovski overload, understand that what women want is different from what men want (as in, stop with the open leg campaigns).
The competition started by their own fault. When you start dropping your standards, people will look elsewhere. Instagram is filled with high-quality new brands gathering loads of attention with their mature, comfortable yet sexy campaigns aimed at women. If Agent, that were "cult" and known for being way better than VS in terms of quality, went kaput due to their trashy management, I wouldn't be surprised if VS went down in 2 to 3 years.

Nowadays, if I want sexy/racy lingerie I'll look at what Playful Promises has to offer or even La Perla and Bordelle (if I want real high quality). No need for VS PINK's side business. And PINK alone won't keep VS afloat.

 

[SLFC]

Market studies have been made, they know very damn well what the problems (plural) are and competition only became a problem when they stopped caring about their costumers. On the other hand, it is risky for them to change now. They are going through a major crisis and any change to catch new viewers/costumers means risking losing their current audience. It might work but it can also fail.
Some of the problems would be easy to address: changing the design team, maturing their design, improving the items' quality, dropping the swarovski overload, understand that what women want is different from what men want (as in, stop with the open leg campaigns).
The competition started by their own fault. When you start dropping your standards, people will look elsewhere. Instagram is filled with high-quality new brands gathering loads of attention with their mature, comfortable yet sexy campaigns aimed at women. If Agent, that were "cult" and known for being way better than VS in terms of quality, went kaput due to their trashy management, I wouldn't be surprised if VS went down in 2 to 3 years.

Nowadays, if I want sexy/racy lingerie I'll look at what Playful Promises has to offer or even La Perla and Bordelle (if I want real high quality). No need for VS PINK's side business. And PINK alone won't keep VS afloat.

Not to mention VS is low quality, they have poor service, and they don't give much choice.

 

[Fotoholic24]

No one watch TV anymore, and that is a fact. Each performance on YouTube have, today, from 1.5 to 2 millions views. Let alone those uploads by non official channels, I saw the Rita Ora one on monday in a very low quality and was reaching 700k on views. Plus the social media trafic.

To my understand the whole show will be up to the VS website December 11, i dont even know why they did not do that 5 years ago. Quit TV and go online, now those numbers will be interesting!

 

[TommyGirl]

^ That is true, everything and everyone has gone on the streaming sites, so those numbers are so low these days partly for this reason, not only because VSFS is so much worse than it used to be. The audience is mostly elsewhere. When you look at any normal tv channels, there are not much more than reality tv and re-runs of the re-runs... And news. All the new, quality series and all in all interesting programs (documentaries etc) go to Netflix, HBO, and other paid streaming services. Then maybe year or two later those series may run on free TV channels.

 

[dsamg]

The Economist | Going for bust Victoria’s Secret gets ready for a makeover

Interesting article on VS

 

[Armani]

Here's the preview version of the show in full. You can really distinguish the stronger and weaker walks... as well as the filler models... and the horrible vocals without playback... in this video:

 

[SLFC]

The vocals were not bad actually. Based off that video. It being an ABC broadcast was probably the dumbest decision. For one thing ABC for some reason doesnt broadcast ever above 720p, meaning it likely looked horrible on people who use 4K TVs.

The Economist | Going for bust Victoria’s Secret gets ready for a makeover

Interesting article on VS

It is interesting for another view but it ultimately doesnt say much and doesnt give a lot of info.

 

[SLFC]

And to put it in perspective as to how bad the editing in this show was. Here is a good example. Barbara Palvin's walk while pretty good and even the bad editing can't hide her beauty and confidence. The bad editing still frustratingly noticeable.

 

[CommanderTMugler]

Just saw the whole show...

The opening was kind of meh... the whole empowering thing was kind of forced though glad to see Taylor open, she looked gorgeous. The outfits were ok, Josephine got great wings. Behati actually looked radiant, didn't think I would miss her but she nailed it and was a pleasant surprise.

Golden Angels was actually decent, I'm really liking the set design this year. The yellow/golden lights really made the girl's make up look amazing, fresh faced and glowing.Candice looked amazing even with that shirt, plus that walk. Shanina, Gracce E. and Romee all were highlights. The girls Sofie and Lorena also caught my attention. Ugh dear lord, the Barbara P fans are just annoying with all the spam, VS should have just kept her back in 2012 and ended it there. The girl who was singing looks like the blonde from The Big Bang Theory but at least she highlights the difference between regular people and models. Also Drew Taggart looked and sounded great, was surprised again. The blazer, shirt and hair combo worked on him and the segment. Plus his decent belted note.

Adriana's segment was nice, she got better outfits than in recent years, The wings were great though they never really knew how to style her for her body type. .

Flights of fancy was GREAT! Again loved the set design, the outfits were pure glamour. I think this is the best Martha has looked, the outfit and wings were great and she had a great walk. Also Halsey sounded AMAZING. Devon's wings were amazing, though I'm getting sick of her, she and Barbara F can both go, they've stayed a bit too long as fitting models.

Pink... meh a mess as always. That Rexa girl looks like Niki Minaj and I guess she helps us see the difference between normal people and models.

Floral... glad to see Shawn Mendes performing, cutie pie and the sing translates well live. They could have made that whole segment the Pink one and called it a day. Those parachute wings are the fugliest thing ever.

Downtown... a bit of a change from their normal segments, kind of open to it. A sports segment could be better executed. First time I've herd a Rita Ora song. They could have skipped the performer here as well.

Celestial... nice closing and great segment. Loved the band and song. Lais, dear lord, that body, the boobs... give that woman the tallest boots all the time, she can rock the heck out of them. Then Candice and that walk, she needed better wings. Then Taylor, Romee nailing her pose. Someone needs to stop Elsa from raising her panties too high up her hips and cootch. Kendall could at least look interested. The girl with the blue cape worked that cape like no other, kudos. I'm surprised none of the band members got hit with the pointed wings, they did a good job at staying in the back. The bass player looked cute and it's cool the drummer wore wings.The gold as well as the moon wings were cool. It was appropriate that Adriana closed the show. The closing editing went by too fast and too many shots.

 

[Littleathquakes]

They uploaded the full show on VS's youtube channel! This is a first.

So after watching it many times now, I kinda want them to change wing makers. A lot were all starting to look the same. Hard to actually differentiate the different segments.

Overall it wasn't a nightmare. I definitely don't like the all performers segments, pining for the days when VS would make great remixes again.

 

[Armani]

Appreciate that the whole show is on Youtube, but it took a week and a half after the show aired on TV, rather than immediately (which would result in higher engagement overall and might even contribute to the ratings), and a whole bunch of other uploaders beat them to it. The official video won’t get as much views as it would if they copyrighted all the other videos, had them taken down, and posted their own right after the show. (It’s prerecorded and already edited for television, so why’d it take so long?) PR, VS!

 

[KateTheGreatest]

Thank you for posting the video, Armani!

I quite enjoyed it, more than I thought I would.
Rita Ora is probably one of the most boring artists, I really don't see why she is as successful as she is. Could've also done without that Bebe Rexa or whatever her name is and her getting down on stage. What even was that?
Shawn Mendes was quite good, I thought he did well.
But yeah, often times it feels like the artists are trying to steal the spotlight from models which is BS because love or hate the models, it is still a fashion show not a concert.

Model wise I could've done with Jenner/Hadids. Alexina was over the top animated, I found her annoying. Some other ones were also over the top with singing and dancing backstage. I thought we'd see more of Behati and I loved seeing Sui He there as well.

I wish they'd get rid of Stella and Martha as angels, they are so dull. And if Devon doesn't walk again, I won't miss her either.

And Adriana was great, as usual

 

[SophiaVB]

All of the musical performances were so atrocious that it gave me secondhand embarrassment to watch.

None of the models are sexy or walk with confidence. I went back and watched a show from 2005 for comparison and while many of the girls are the same age, they scream sex and appear much more mature. I don't know what happened to models (even outside of the nepotism ones) where 22-year olds look 15.

I really do not think the whole inclusivity female empowerment competition angle is as much of an issue as the fact that VS is supposed to be SEX and it no longer translates. I went into one of the stores with my boyfriend a few weeks ago and literally could not find one piece of clothing that he thought was sexy. He said most of it looked cheap and was either too young or had obnoxious branding or glitter all over it.