Victoria's Secret reimagined fashion show 'movie' features artists from across the globe

The return of the Victoria's Secret's Fashion Show this fall will be a touch of the old show known for once famously crashing the internet while reflecting a transformed company that has moved away from rail-thin models to a more inclusive group.

There will be a big difference from the last time the show was held five years ago: It won't be live show.

Instead, Victoria's Secret says the show will be a movie built around 20 artists and creative women in four cities − Bogota, Columbia; London; Tokyo; and Lagos, Nigeria − along with, of course, highlighting Victoria's Secret designs. The show will be streamed internationally and debut in September.

"This film is the ultimate expression of the Victoria’s Secret brand transformation," Raúl Martinez, the company's executive vice president and head creative director, said in a statement. "It will be driven byfashion, glamour and entertainment with a nod to beloved iconography from the past but in a bold,redefined way."

The film will a segments from each of the four cities that will be produced by the women − filmmakers, fashion designers, artists, musicians and others who will take viewers on a journey through the behind-the-scenes craft and intimate stories they will be telling.

The women, dubbed by Victoria's Secret as VS20, come from the fashion, film, design, music and visual fields. They will come together to show their work alongside Victoria's Secret designs.

Victoria's Secret will produce a fifth chunk of the movie that will feature the brand's designs worn by models. The segment will include music and other performances similar to Victoria's Secret shows of the past.

Victoria's Secret will have a live event this fall when the movie premieres.

The movie marks the latest of what has been a dramatic shift since CEO and Chairman Leslie H. Wexner stepped away in 2020 and the company split from Bath & Body Works the following year.

The 1999 show's live webcast became famous as the event that "shut down the internet," drawing so many viewers that the website crashed. The audience dwindled in its final years and the show, along with the company, had been derided as out of touch with women and hypersexualized during the #MeToo movement. Wexner, in announcing a pause in the show in 2019, said the show and the company needed to be reinvigorated.

Today's Victoria's Secret is a far different brand than the one then that was fronted by models called Angels with an emphasis today on more diverse models and led by a nearly all-women board.

Victoria's Secret is calling the show the Victoria's Secret World Tour that affirms what it says is the commitment to champion women's voices, perspective and experiences. The retailer described the women to be featured in the movie as "emerging global trailblazers from a range of artistic disciplines, creating on their own terms."

“We are excited to introduce a completely reimagined version of the fashion show, while bringing backthe very best of entertainment and fashion our customers have been asking for," Chris Rupp, Victoria's Secret' chief customer officer, said in a statement. "We’re celebrating the iconic heritage of the brand through a new generation of artists, and we can’t wait to amplify their vision through our worldwide platform."

mawilliams@dispatch.com

@BizMarkWilliams

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Victoria's Secret fashion show to return in movie format this fall