STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
For two decades, Victoria's Secret has sponsored a fashion show.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Iconic.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: The wings.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Successful.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Confident women.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Really powerful young women.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Tyra Banks. Heidi Klum.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Gisele Bundchen.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Adriana.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Helena Christensen.
INSKEEP: Now the event is no more. The retailer's parent company has canceled the show ahead of the holiday season, saying it's time to evolve.
SARAH SPELLINGS: This is the only fashion show that was a true TV spectacle, kind of like a major football game.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Sarah Spellings writes for The Cut. She says that the Victoria's Secret show was central to the company's brand.
SPELLINGS: If they continue to not have the show and the show never comes back, I think they have the risk of losing their position as the No. 1 aspirational intimate apparel brand for young women in America.
MARTIN: Critics said the show did a bad job of illustrating body diversity and that they were guilty of objectifying beauty. Spelling says response to the cancellation has been generally positive.
SPELLINGS: It's like, OK, this is a tradition that we no longer need to have.
INSKEEP: Although she says this does not automatically mean an end to the brand.
SPELLINGS: A lot of people wear and shop at Victoria's Secret. So this is a big blow to Victoria's Secret, but I'm wary of suggesting that it is a symbol of the demise of Victoria's Secret.
MARTIN: The cancellation comes just months after a blast of bad publicity. The parent company's CEO was criticized for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the money manager tied to the serial abuse of women and girls.
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