Victoria Secret Went to Therapy (We think)

By Parthivee Mukherji

Victoria’s Secret is back. But the angel wings, glitter explosions and the parade of identical bodies? They have evolved. What has risen in their place? A runway full of ambition, a show that was more than a revamp, and a brand that is trying to catch up with a world that changed its rules eons ago. 

The Victoria’s Secret Show was streamed on October 15th 2025, via Amazon. It was not just lace and lingerie this time. It was a transformation – a reinvention. A visibly pregnant supermodel, an Olympian, athletes, and runway legends returning. The message was clear. We heard you. We changed. But the change was messy. 

There was a time where Victoria’s Secret dominated the catwalk. The annual show was considered the ‘Super Bowl’ of fashion. However, the perfection they celebrated soon became their major flaw. The airbrushed supermodels, hyper-sexual poses – what was considered ‘the dream’ soon became tone-deaf. And by 2019, the show came to a halt. Executives left, audiences dwindled, and the brand slipped into obscurity. 

Now 2025 has marked the brand’s comeback – stitched together with apologies, growth, and a fresh script.

This year’s show did something that rarely happens. It brought stories onto the runway – opening up to inclusivity. Jasmine Tookes, a Black and a visibly pregnant model opened for the show this year. She was the first pregnant and only the second Black model to ever do so. Along with welcoming inclusivity, the show also brought back veterans like Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoel and others – not as the unattainable figures they were once portrayed as, but as bridges between the eras – the past and the present. 

The mood was different. No over-the-top theatrics -just ardent storytelling – wishing to bring in intimacy amidst the spectacle. 

Let’s give credit where it is due. They have managed to broaden horizons – bringing in different races, athletes, people of various body types, encouraging more lived experiences onto the runway rather than just performativity showcased for entertainment. 

But here’s the catch — putting diversity on the runway is easy. Making it mean something is harder. One critique is that the new wave still felt polished, still curated, still filtered. Another headline showcases – even as VS promises inclusivity, the aesthetics signal conservatism.

It begs the question: are we watching a brand evolve, or a brand adapt its veneer to survive?

Change is tough on a brand. Change on this brand? Tougher. Victoria’s Secret represents all that fashion seeks to shake itself off – ideations of beauty, overt sexualisation, of fantasy predicated on exclusion. And now it seeks a pivot. The trouble is clear – how does one increase their relevance without sounding like it’s their stated intention?

Can the brand crack the fashion-show formula all over again?

For us, here in Edinburgh’s lecture theatres, art studios, and all-night sketch classes, fashion is taught as identity, not illusion. It’s tools of expression, not tools of presentation. To watch Victoria’s Secret struggle with this line is both fascinating and a little pitiful. Because this isn’t just a brand trying to survive. It’s a case study in what happens when you wait too long to evolve. 

However, the effort was still worth making. As CR Fashion Book reports, the 2025 show “took viewers on a visual and emotional journey… reimagining the Victoria’s Secret world through a contemporary lens that merges glamour, confidence, and individuality.”

It didn’t always succeed. Some segments felt uneven. Some moment‑to‑moment choices seemed to reflect the tension of trying to honour the old while forcibly embracing the new. But the effort — publicly, messily — counts.

There’s something powerful about watching a giant admit it got it wrong. Not every brand gets a second runway. Victoria’s Secret stumbled, paused, and now it’s walking again — heels slightly wobbling, but eyes fixed forward. That’s worth watching. Because it’s a reminder – evolve now. Don’t wait until the world drags you there.

So, was the Victoria’s Secret show of 2025 a success? Maybe. Maybe not. Who can say definitely? It wholly depends on how you measure it. It didn’t redefine fashion. It didn’t wipe away the past. However, it is significant. It asked questions that fashion brands rarely do. It gave the place of reverence not only to perfection but also to vulnerability. It showed what the world of fashion could become, not only the shiny kind but also the self-aware one. From where we sit, from lecture theatres, from studios to late nights in design sessions, this is the fashion we ought to be hoping for. Fashion that will make headlines, yes, but also fashion that will make sense.

Credits: Getty Images