Fashion Show, all Fashion

Angels in the Architecture Victoria’s Secret has arguably created the fashion show to stop all fashion shows. A standard in fashion circles, the runway show traditionally was primarily directed toward industry insiders who gathered to look at upcoming styles and lines. As the retail industry changed, the runway show evolved from its roots in the buying arena to focus on media and consumer attention. The bigger the brand personality, the more celebrities attend (and vice versa), and the greater the media coverage and brand exposure.

Victoria’s Secret, however, one ups all other fashion shows, hands down. Rather than turning the heads of industry insiders, it shamelessly courts fans by broadcasting an hour long skinfest that highlights the hottest, barely there fashions of the season. Originally developed as a live Internet event, the 2000 show in Cannes, France, broke all records for attracting eyeballs, to the point that volume eclipsed capacity and the webcast shut down. The subsequent publicity buzzed about the show itself, its high consumer draw, and the Web crash, eventually reaching an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide. From a revenue standpoint, it stimulated sales in May-a typically slow period for retail sales.

In 2002, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show jumped from computer screen to prime time television screen, reaching an even broader audience than the Internet alone could deliver. Broadcast in November, it also connected with people primed to shop for the holidays. Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and singer Mark McGrath and featured the runway show in addition to backstage sneak peeks at the models and the chaos of a fashion show. Add to that performances by pop salsa superstar Marc Anthony, Destiny’s Child (one of the best selling female groups in the world), and singersongwriter Phil Collins (who has sold over 100 million solo albums worldwide), and the hour long event was more variety show entertainment than fashion show. The event culminated with the “Dream Angels” runway pass, in which the Angels float in the air above the runway and one supermodel-who has literally competed for the right to wear the Angel wings-struts her stuff and stops the show.