New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) MetroCards are turning pink. To mark the return of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show after a five-year absence, the Big Apple’s transportation company is issuing fifty thousand commemorative MetroCards.
The cards, whose distributed started today, Oct. 10, will be available for a limited time only at five subway stations: 42 Street-Bryant Park, 34 Street- Penn Station, Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center, Queensboro Plaza, and Fordham Road.
This is not the first time the MTA has carried out such a tribute: in the past it has celebrated the TV series Law and Order, rap singer Ice Spice and others.
The U.S. lingerie brand’s annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returns on Tuesday, Oct. 15, live from New York on Amazon Live Channel at 6:30 p.m. local time. However, for the first time, the event will be broadcast worldwide via social media.
Also returning for the grand revival are past stars, models and ‘angels’ like Tyra Banks, Gigi Hadid, Alessandra Ambrosio, Lima and Candice Swanepoel. “It’s crazy stuff to be back on the Victoria’s Secret runway,” Banks said in a video shared by the brand on social media. ” I mean really crazy”, she added.
In 2001, a time when it reached its peak of popularity, the fashion show registered millions of viewers. Known for being a glitzy event with elaborate lingerie, often shown with large angel wings (hence the nickname Victoria’s Angels), worn by the world’s best models.
In 2019, the VS Fashion Show was cancelled for good following several controversies mainly due to the growing criticism of Ed Razek, the Chief Marketing Officer, of the brand from the emerging ‘Me Too’ movement, and fourth-wave feminism. CEO Les Wexner’s friendship with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein also generated outrage. Finally, the non-inclusive nature of the show with the absence of size diversity for all women, also led to its drop in relevance.
Subsequently, the brand’s focus was on marketing through digital platforms with the goal of restoring its reputation. Then, last May, Victoria’s Secret announced the return, with the promise that “the fashion show will reflect who we are today beyond glamour, wings, catwalk, music and spectacle”.
