Exhibit 99.1

Contact:

Steven H. Benrubi

(949) 699-3947

THE WET SEAL, INC. ANNOUNCES

THIRD QUARTER FISCAL 2011 RESULTS

INTRODUCES FOURTH QUARTER 2011 GUIDANCE

FOOTHILL RANCH, CA, November 17, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The Wet Seal, Inc. (Nasdaq:WTSLA), a leading specialty retailer to young women, announced results for its fiscal third quarter ended October 29, 2011, and introduced guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011.

For the third quarter:

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Ms. Susan McGalla, chief executive officer of The Wet Seal, Inc., commented, “Building on positive momentum from the first half of the year, our Wet Seal business continued to be strong during the high traffic back-to-school shopping period through August and into early September. As we transitioned to fall, Wet Seal business became more challenging, as our sportswear and outerwear assortments for the season did not perform to our expectations.

“At Wet Seal this year, we also eliminated Halloween costumes and related merchandise, a historically low margin business for us, in order to maintain a brand-right fashion assortment in our stores. This was the right strategic decision for our long-term direction, but also challenged sales results in October.”

Ms. McGalla continued, “At Arden B, we built upon our strength in the dress and jewelry businesses in the quarter, though were disappointed with our performance in other apparel and accessory areas. We will carefully manage inventories in this business as we identify opportunities for improvement.

“Despite difficult sales trends in the latter part of the quarter, we generated merchandise margin improvement over the prior year quarter in both divisions, with better planned promotional cadence and overall assortment quality. We also ended the third quarter comfortable with our inventory levels as we enter the holiday season.”

Ms. McGalla concluded, “We transitioned to holiday floor sets for both brands in early to mid November and look forward to improved merchandise assortments to stabilize sales trends. We are mindful, though, that we continue to be up against a highly promotional calendar for ourselves in the prior year. We expect a mid-single digit comparable store sales decline in November followed by improvement in subsequent months of the quarter.”

Store Openings and Closings

The Company had six store openings and two store closings at Wet Seal and four store openings and no store closings at Arden B during the third quarter. At October 29, 2011, the Company operated 550 stores in 47 states and Puerto Rico, including 464 Wet Seal stores and 86 Arden B stores.

Capital Expenditures and Depreciation

During the third quarter, the Company incurred capital expenditures of $7.7 million, of which $7.2 million was for construction of new stores and remodels of existing stores. The Company recognized tenant improvement allowances of $2.5 million associated primarily with new store construction, resulting in net capital expenditures for the quarter of $5.2 million.

Depreciation in the third quarter totaled $4.9 million as compared to $4.3 million in the prior year third quarter.

Capital Transactions

Under a $56.7 million stock repurchase program previously approved by its Board of Directors, during the third quarter the Company repurchased 2,314,957 shares of its Class A common stock at a total cost of $10.6 million, which completed this program. Over the course of this program, the Company repurchased a total of 12,975,782 shares of its Class A common stock.

Income Taxes

The Company incurred a provision for income taxes of $2.4 million for the quarter, for an effective income tax rate of 39%, which is the expected effective rate for the fiscal year.

Due to its expected utilization of federal and state net operating loss (“NOL”) carry forwards during fiscal 2011, the Company anticipates cash payment for income taxes for the year will only be approximately 4.8% of pre-tax income, representing the portion of federal and state alternative minimum taxes that cannot be offset by NOLs. The difference between the effective income tax rate and the anticipated cash payment for income taxes is recorded as a non-cash provision for deferred incomes taxes.

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During the third quarter of fiscal 2010, the Company elected a tax method change, upon filing its 2009 federal tax return, which resulted in the reduction of deferred tax assets related to its charitable contribution carry-forwards of $0.5 million. This decrease was recorded as a non-cash deferred income tax charge and increased the effective tax rate for that quarter.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2011 Guidance

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, earnings are estimated in the range of $0.03 to $0.05 per diluted share. The guidance is based on the following major assumptions:

For all of fiscal 2011, the Company now expects to have 22 net Wet Seal store openings and three net Arden B store openings. The Company forecasts fiscal 2011 net capital expenditures will be approximately $21 million to $22 million, of which approximately $17 million to $18 million will be for construction of new stores or remodeling of existing stores upon lease renewals and/or store relocations.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call and question and answer session at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today. To participate in the conference call, please dial 888-713-3587 and provide ID number 5892402. A broadcast of the call will also be available on the Company’s website, www.wetsealinc.com. A replay of the call will be available through November 24, 2011. To access the replay, please call (888) 203-1112 or (719) 457-0820 and provide the ID number above.

About The Wet Seal, Inc.

Headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California, The Wet Seal, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer of fashionable and contemporary apparel and accessory items. As of October 29, 2011, the Company operated a total of 550 stores in 47 states and Puerto Rico, including 464 Wet Seal stores and 86 Arden B stores. The Company’s products can also be purchased online at

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www.wetseal.com or www.ardenb.com. For more Company information, visit www.wetsealinc.com.

Safe Harbor

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: This news release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that relate to the Company’s guidance for its fiscal November 2011, its fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 and its store opening and capital spending plans for all of fiscal 2011, or any other statements that relate to the intent, belief, plans or expectations of the Company or its management. All forward-looking statements made by the Company involve material risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on factors beyond the Company’s control. Accordingly, the Company’s future performance and financial results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This news release contains results reflecting partial year data and non-fiscal data that may not be indicative of results for similar future periods or for the full year. The Company will not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed or implied therein will not be realized.

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Exhibit A

The Wet Seal, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(000’s Omitted)

(Unaudited)

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Exhibit A (Continued)

The Wet Seal, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

(000’s Omitted, Except Share Data)

(Unaudited)

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Exhibit A (continued)

The Wet Seal, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(000’s Omitted)

(Unaudited)

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Exhibit B

Segment Reporting (Unaudited)

The Company operates exclusively in the retail apparel industry in which it sells fashionable and contemporary apparel and accessories items, primarily through mall-based chains of retail stores, to female consumers with a young, active lifestyle. The Company has identified two operating segments (“Wet Seal” and “Arden B”) as defined by ASC 280- Segment Reporting. E-commerce operations for Wet Seal and Arden B are included in their respective operating segments. Information for the 13 and 39 weeks ended October 29, 2011, and October 30, 2010, for the two reportable segments is set forth below (in thousands, except store counts and sales per square foot):

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Exhibit B (Continued)

The “Corporate” column is presented solely to allow for reconciliation of store contribution amounts to consolidated operating income, interest income or expense, net, and income before provision for income taxes. Wet Seal and Arden B segment results include net sales, cost of sales, asset impairment and other direct store and field management expenses, with no allocation of corporate overhead or interest income and expense.

Wet Seal operating segment results during the 13 and 39 weeks ended October 29, 2011, and October 30, 2010, include $0.2 million, $1.0 million, $1.0 million and $2.1 million, respectively, of asset impairment charges.

Arden B operating segment results during the 13 and 39 weeks ended October 29, 2011, and October 30, 2010, include $0.5 million, $1.0 million, $0.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively, of asset impairment charges.

Corporate expenses during the 39 weeks ended October 30, 2010, include non-cash interest expense of $2.1 million as a result of accelerated write-off of remaining unamortized debt discount and deferred financing costs upon conversions of Secured Convertible Notes and $0.7 million of cash interest expense for a conversion inducement associated with conversions of Secured Convertible Notes and Convertible Preferred Stock.

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Exhibit C

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures to Most Directly Comparable Financial Measures

Included within this press release are references to operating income, net income and earnings per diluted share excluding the effect of certain charges, which are measures not in compliance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or “non-GAAP financial measures.” The following is a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the applicable GAAP financial measures for the 13 and 39 week periods ended October 29, 2011, and October 30, 2010 (in millions, except for earnings per diluted share):

From time to time, the Company determines the carrying values of certain of its long-lived assets are not supported by their anticipated future cash flows and, as a result, must record non-cash charges to impair these assets. The timing and magnitude of these charges can be sporadic, thus significantly affecting the reported financial results of the fiscal period in which they are recorded. Given the unique nature and sporadic timing of these charges, the Company consistently presents these charges as a separate line item within its statements of operations and, similarly, believes the presentation of its historical financial information excluding these non-cash charges to be beneficial to its investors.

The complexity and volatility of the accounting and financial reporting for the Company’s Secured Convertible Notes (the “Notes”) has been a major focus of the Company’s management and investors. To help investors better understand the complexity of the accounting for the Notes, the Company provided significant disclosure in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 29, 2011. Management presents certain historic financial information that excludes non-cash charges for the ratable write-off of unamortized debt discounts and deferred financing costs when Notes are converted. Given the unique

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nature of these charges and their volatility, management believes that presenting financial information without these charges helps investors better understand the Company’s current operating performance. Management believes the magnitude of the charges when conversions occur can impact investors’ understanding of the Company’s business results in such periods. Explicit disclosure of these impacts provides meaningful information to investors.

See the discussion within the “Income Taxes” section found elsewhere in this earnings release for more information regarding the Company’s election of a tax method change in the third quarter of fiscal 2010.

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