Victoria's Secret is making history in China this year, with the grand opening of a China flagship store and its annual fashion show taking place in Shanghai for the first time ever.
The show is typically invitation-only, one seller on Taobao is advertising tickets for RMB90,000 (USD13,700), according to Sohu.
The seller claims to have six tickets that can be shipped from the US to China, but as Jing Daily reports, their authenticity cannot be verified. When asked for comment, Victoria's Secret told Sohu that no tickets are publicly available as the November 28 show is an invitation-only event.
Questions of authenticity aside, the insanely steep price of the tickets goes to show how excited Chinese consumers are about the fashion event.
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show got its start in 1995, with supermodels like Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bundchen, Miranda Kerr and Adriana Lima gracing its runways since then. Last year's show was a groundbreaking one, featuring and a record number of Chinese models (all four of them) appearing on the catwalk at the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
From left to right, Liu Wen, He Sui, Xi Mengyao and Ju Xiaowen at the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Paris.
In recent years, Victoria's Secret has faced backlash in the US for the show, with some Americans refusing to watch it due to perceived sexism, lack of diversity and cultural appropriation.
Americans are also not buying Victoria's Secret products as much anymore. According to Jing Daily, VS's parent company, L Brand, reported a loss of seven percent of net sales in May of this year. The brand’s net revenue also also plunged by 38 percent from the year before to USD941 million.
Victoria's Secret now turns to China for its booming and potentially lucrative market. The China National Textile Industry Council reports that the sales in the lingerie market in China reached RMB100 billion in 2016. Because of this, China is the perfect place to advertise Victoria's Secret's flagship store and products via the fashion show.
While many Chinese people are enthusiastic about the show, others are still feeling the sting of a past instance of racism by VS model Gigi Hadid. Chinese commentators took to Weibo and instagram, writing that she is "not welcome" in China.
Hadid has since apologized, but tensions are still high online.
This year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show has certainly generated a fair share of controversy, but only time will tell if it'll translate into an equal share of sales in China.
[Images via Kontrol Mag, Jing Daily]
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