After months of speculation, Victoria’s Secret executives confirmed that the 2019 fashion show is canceled. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show launched in 1995 and soon became synonymous with supermodels like Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen and Miranda Kerr hitting the runway in elaborate lingerie, wings and sleepwear designs year after year. It was first broadcasted on television in 2001 on ABC. The event was then broadcasted on CBS from 2002 to 2017, returning to ABC last year.
Stuart B. Burgdoerfer, chief financial officer and executive vice president of L Brands (the parent company of Victoria’s Secret) announced the news during a conference call with analysts on Thursday morning, as first reported by Women’s Wear Daily.
While Burgdoerfer says the brand will still be “communicating to customers,” he maintained that right now any immediate marketing plans are not “similar in magnitude to the fashion show.”
“But you can be sure we’ll be communicating with customers through lots of vehicles including social media and various, more current platforms,” he concluded.
Despite it’s longevity, the company has seen a steady decline in sales since 2016, and according to CNBC, the 2018 fashion show had the worst ratings in the history of the show’s broadcast.
“As timing over the years shifted over the years in terms of the airing the fashion show, did we see specific material impact in terms of a short-term sales response to the airing of the fashion show? As a general matter, the answer to that question is no,” Burgdoerfer said, according to Fortune.