That’s Fashion, Sweetie: Skims meets Y2K Victoria’s Secret
On April 4, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear, loungewear and underwear company, Skims, debuted its latest campaign, “Icon.” While the campaign’s products already existed, what made Skims take the internet by storm was who it featured: an ultimate Y2K lingerie revival. The four faces of the campaign were retired Victoria Secret Angels Candice Swanepoel, Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks and Alessandra Ambrosio — and if you haven’t heard of them, you definitely know their faces.
Each of the models are famous for their long and respected modeling career, all walking for major designers in Victoria’s Secret’s debut days. But, what truly launched them into stardom was their title as Victoria’s Secret Angel’s— when the brand still had its annual fashion show in the early 2000s.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show started in 1995 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, and at first, it was just another fashion show. While it was more risque, considering the models strolled down the runway in only their lingerie, the show slowly gained more traction as theatrics transformed the VSFS from just another fashion show to one of the most anticipated events of the year.
The shows took over major cities including Cannes, France, in 2000, London, England, in 2014 and Shanghai, China, in 2017. Music also changed from sound systems to live performances and backup dancers with artists such as Seal, Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift, Rihanna and The Weeknd. Models who booked the show had their life changed shortly after, and those who booked consistently were promoted to the title of “Angel.” Angels, dawned with handcrafted wings made by artists, got to wear multiple looks and were official brand ambassadors for Victoria’s Secret.
The Angels even went on a tour in 2004 after Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction in the Super Bowl halftime show. Known as “nipplegate” or “Janetgate,” Jackson’s top broke and she accidentally flashed Timberlake, which led to public scrutiny of the brand and the security of their bras. Banks, Klum, Gisele Bundchen, Adriana Lima and Ambrosio traveled to NYC, Miami, Las Vegas and Los Angeles on their “Angels Across America Tour” to promote the brand for their 2005 show and salvage any bad press.
But what was most exclusive and greatly increased press, was that being an Angel meant a chance of wearing the “Fantasy Bra” in the show; a bra that was custom made for the model and made exclusively out of crystals and diamonds which ranged from 1 million dollars (for Claudia Schiffer in 1996 and Elsa Hosk in 2019) to 15 million dollars (made for Gisele Bundchen in 2000). While the Fantasy Bra was included in catalogs from 1996, it only started its runway debut with Klum’s 12.5 million dollar “Heavenly Star Bra” in 2001.
The show officially ended in 2018 after facing backlash for its numerous Photoshop errors, competition from other popular lingerie shops who were pushing a more modern agenda with body positivity and rejecting the male gaze at the forefront, as well as a stark decrease in viewership.
Since then, Victoria’s Secret has made major changes to their business, bringing in other brands such as For Love and Lemons and changing their approach from “sexy bombshell” to “inclusive” and “empowering” with the announcement of their “VS collective” ambassadors. The ambassadors included Olympic athletes Megan Rapinoe and Eileen Gu, actress Priyanka Chopra, trans model Valentina Sampaio and recently Sofia Jirau, their first model with down syndrome.
Although VS’ crown has fallen, it is undeniable that its golden era with its fashion shows greatly impacted the fashion world; photos of their exclusive airplane — the VSFS plane, which flew all the models to the show together — consumed Pinterest, the model’s street style and casting outfits were key in the early 2010 “effortless/less is more” trend and the re-emergence in beachy waves came with the dreamy and youthful hair and makeup created for the show.
It was incredibly smart of Kim to bring these icons back, just like what Donatella Versace did with Versace’s Spring 2018 collection and tribute to Gianni Versace, which saw a reunion of the ’90’s supermodels: Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Carla Bruni and Helena Christensen.
Considering Skims’ appeal to a younger demographic compared to Versace, Skims’ smartly took advantage of the allure of VS Angels. After all, what the ’90s supermodels were to millennials are what the VS Angels are to Gen Z.
While the campaign has already faced a bit of backlash — with a little too obvious photoshop on Banks’ body on Kim’s Instagram post — it will be interesting to see what the brand does next.
Will Skims new campaign spark the next era of the new Victoria’s Secret? Or, will this “Icon” campaign be a one and done? I, for one, am extremely excited to see what, and who, their next campaign will feature — bible.
Hadyn Phillips is a freshman writing about fashion in the 21st century, specifically spotlighting students and popular controversy. Her column, “That’s Fashion, Sweetie,” typically runs every other Monday.