Huge wings. Gorgeous supermodels. Luxurious lingerie. Victoria’s Secret angels were the epitome of desirability for women in America and around the world. They were the ultimate fantasy, stepping straight down from the gates of heaven and onto the runway. Their hair blowouts and pink-striped pajamas embedded them as a dominant fashion symbol within pop culture. An invitation to be in one of their shows was the equivalent of a lottery ticket for young models looking to catapult their career. In a viral 2015 video, Gigi Hadid is shown collapsing onto the floor squealing “Really?” after she was asked to join the Victoria’s Secret fashion show model lineup. To walk for such an iconic brand amongst the household names of Adriana Lima, Gisele Bündchen, and Tyra Banks was a life-changing opportunity sought after by many.
Victoria’s Secret built a dream — but its nightmarish past makes it difficult for new consumers to buy into the dream the company claims to sell.
Early History of Victoria’s Secret
The brand was founded in 1977 by Stanford graduate Roy Raymond and his wife Gaye Raymond. Raymond allegedly started the company after being “faced with racks of terry-cloth robes and ugly floral-print nylon nightgowns” while trying to buy lingerie for his wife. Seeing an opening in the market, the Raymonds used $80,000 of savings and loans from their family to start the business. The name “Victoria” was selected to evoke the sophistication and refinement attached to the Victorian era while “Secret” implied breaking the conservative norms of modesty and purity. The Raymonds opened their first store in Palo Alto, Calif., eventually launching five more in addition to a 42-page catalogue. In contrast to the ‘50s and ‘60s style, more sensual lingerie shifted from practicality and comfort. Victoria’s Secret’s somewhat scandalous nature soon attracted a large customer base. Although the company was highly successful, they faced financial difficulties, leading the couple to sell Victoria’s Secret to The Limited’s Leslie Wexner. Around the early ‘90s, the brand’s worth neared $1 billion.
To keep up with demand, Victoria’s Secret added its iconic fashion show in 1995, pairing outfits with angel wings by 1998. The show was broadcasted on national television starting in 2001, which drew over 12 million viewers. It developed into a spectacle featuring well-known artists including Maroon 5, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift while spanning across four cities — New York City, Paris, London, and Los Angeles.
The Lack of Body Diversity
Despite the show’s popularity, Victoria’s Secret consistently faced criticism in the 2010s for its lack of body and racial diversity. At the 20th anniversary of the show, just seven of the 44 models were Black and only two were of Asian descent. What also concerned viewers was the continued idealization of unattainable thinness displayed from show to show. The average clothing size for women in 2015 was 12 to 14 with a 34DD bra size. Yet, on the Victoria’s Secret runway, there were no plus size models to be seen.
In an interview with the HPR, Caroline Rush — CEO of the British Fashion Council — explained that the demand for size diversity in a company like Victoria’s Secret is amplified compared to other brands because lingerie focuses on “seeing the aesthetics of the body” as opposed to the articles of clothing “created by designers.” She believes that in the past few years, models have become “influencers” instead of just serving as canvases for pretty clothes. “They have a voice, they have a perspective, quite often they are campaigners and activists,” Rush notes. Customers today want to see “someone they aspire to be or would be inspired to be in the presence of.”
In 2014, a controversial marketing ad for the collection Body by Victoria Lingerie plastered the words “The Perfect ‘Body’” on a picture of 10 ultrathin supermodels. The campaign sparked social media outrage, prompting a Change.org petition calling for the ad’s removal to gather over 30,000 signatures. Eventually, the caption of the photo was changed to read “A Body for Every Body” but the original photo was kept the same. Victoria’s Secret did not issue an apology for the ad, leaving many unsatisfied with their response. Critics were hoping for structural changes considering that the brand was generating billions of dollars in sales while accounting for “more than half of the U.S. lingerie store market.”
When asked explicitly in her interview about why customers were demanding a change, Rush explained that “the advent of social media has enabled consumers and individuals that are seeing the images to spark a more detailed dialogue around the images we want to see as women.” Rush added that the “whole wave of young designers” has helped to reject the notion that ultra thinness “should be the only aesthetic that is seen within the fashion industry.”
Unfortunately for Victoria’s Secret, continued cries for body diversity haunted the brand for years, leading to its lowest-ever viewership in 2018 — 3.3 million viewers down from 9.7 million in 2013. The following year, the company announced that it would be cancelling the 2019 angel show due to the declining ratings.
A Culture of Eating Disorders
Customers were not the only demographic to be affected by Victoria’s Secret’s unrealistic beauty standards. Former Victoria’s Secret supermodel Bridget Malcolm came forward in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia to emphasize the cutthroat culture behind the scenes. She described how an agent told her to “do cocaine” in order to lose weight and how modelling for the business “was extremely exploitative at that time.”
For models employed by Victoria’s Secret, the message to lose weight was made abundantly clear. Erin Heatherton, another former angel, reported exercising twice a day and following a strict diet to meet the goals demanded of her. When she was unable to reach those targets, she considered not eating to drop the weight. Comments from Ed Razek, the chief marketing officer of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, perpetuate the belief that angels must dedicate themselves to achieving a certain look. After a young model asked Razek why she did not appear in the show that year, he informed her that while there were pictures of her at the club, “Adriana Lima was jumping rope for 3 hours.”
As an ex-model herself, Rush explains the need for organizations to “bring in things like model lounges, access to nutritional advice, [and] to support networks.” Brands need to ensure that models are not treated “as a commodity” and instead, “as individuals that are there to partner” and “to deliver great work.” If Victoria’s Secret is serious about transforming their culture, they need to start with the models responsible for breathing life into their fantasy.
A Darker Secret of Abuse Revealed
Eating disorders were not the only problems affecting the company’s models. In 2020, the New York Times conducted an investigation into Victoria’s Secret and published an exposé. Interviews with more than 30 executives, employees, models, and contractors revealed a shocking culture of abuse and harassment, mostly at the hands of powerful men. Razek was reported to have made inappropriate advances multiple times toward models. Women who complained faced retaliation, with model Andi Muise claiming she was not rehired after rejecting Razek. Many felt uncomfortable fighting back against Razek given his position and close relationship with the CEO Leslie Wexner. These feelings were compounded by the lack of women within the highest ranks of the company.
Through Wexner, Victoria’s Secret has also been connected to Jeffery Epstein — America’s notorious serial sex offender. Wexner had strong ties to Epstein, according to interviews, court documents, and financial records. He gave Epstein unusual control over his finances, authorizing him to borrow money on his behalf and make investments. Epstein acted as a financial advisor to the billionaire despite having no qualifications, increasing the scrutiny Wexner faced when Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges. Around the summer of 1996, executives at L Brands learned that Epstein pretended to be a recruiter for young lingerie models looking to be in the Victoria’s Secret catalogue. One unidentified woman stated that Epstein promised to find her a modelling job at the company, but instead sexually abused her. Executives say that Wexner was informed of Epstein’s behaviors and swore he would take care of it. Yet, Wexner did not end his relationship with Epstein until over a decade later when he was charged with multiple counts of molestation and unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
The Angel Show’s Revival
Given all of the scandals, Victoria’s Secret had a lot of rebranding and structural changes to undertake. They hired their first openly transgender model, Valentina Sampaio, the same month Razek left his position. Wexner also stepped down from his role as CEO amidst the Epstein scrutiny. By 2021, Victoria’s Secret broke off from L Brands to transform into a public company. They have since focused on reforming their image to seem more body positive and ethnically diverse.
For the first time in five years, Victoria’s Secret announced it was bringing back its fashion show, taking place in New York City on October 15th, 2024. The announcement was made through an Instagram post that stated that the “show is back and will reflect who we are today, plus everything you know and love.” The show included performances from Cher, Tyla, and K-pop star Lisa, making it the first all-women musical lineup in Victoria’s Secret history. Unlike previous shows, this one featured more women of color, plus-size models, and older models. Kate Moss made her debut at age 50, and Adriana Lima returned at age 43. Plus-size model Ashley Graham rocked the runway in a lacy leotard and black floral cape, joining other plus-size models Paloma Elsesser, Kai Soleil, Devyn Garcia, and Jill Kortleve, who range from a size 8 to a size 16. To increase accessibility, all the items were shoppable during the livestream, meaning there was no million dollar “fantasy bra” embellished with jewels like previous years. Through these adjustments, the brand hoped to regain cultural relevance to a new younger demographic who perhaps have a different idea of what it means to be sexy.
However, making too many alterations to the original show could risk sacrificing Victoria’s Secret’s identity. In an interview with the HPR, Professor Thomai Serdari, who specializes in luxury marketing and branding at New York University Stern, says that authenticity is another important aspect to new campaigning efforts, especially among the Gen- Z demographic.
“I don’t think there’s any space in the marketplace any longer for pretending to be something that you’re not,” Professor Serdari explained, “and this is precisely why I believe it is better to take things slowly [with rebranding].”
Viewers of the show had mixed reviews, with some onlookers claiming that the show strayed too far from the brand’s original character and others believing it did not go far enough. Advocates for inclusivity observed how most of the plus-size models were more covered up compared to their thinner counterparts. Some also say that the Victoria’s Secret show is still catered entirely to the male gaze rather than uplifting and empowering women. To them, models strutting down the runway in strappy stilettos, feathery wings, and delicate lingerie perpetuates the same cycle of objectification and hyper-sexualization.
Beyond the Runway Curtains
In order to successfully rebrand, Professor Serdari says Victoria’s Secret needs to return to the “core” values of the business and work to define those simplistically to their customers. According to Professor Serdari, the difficulty with rebranding is strategically deciding how to keep existing supporters who “still love the old identity.”
So, what is Victoria’s Secret’s identity?
Rush thinks that “the angel was originally created in the image of what the kind of perfect beauty would be,” but that it is time to reflect on what that means to the modern consumer. “What we… want to see as being adorned as beauty and dawned as powerful, is someone who probably has a voice beyond just what their looks are,” Rush argues. Rather than toning down the show to make it more relatable to audiences by removing elements like the fantasy bra, Victoria’s Secret could have retained their fun and glamorous looks. Selecting models from all backgrounds and sizes does not require the brand to compromise style.
Social media does seem to be guiding a lot of the discussion surrounding the success of the show’s rebrand. But as Professor Serdari pointed out, the show is only one aspect of the company’s “strategic blueprint” and to believe otherwise would be a crucial error. Victoria’s Secret recently hired a new female CEO, Hilary Super from Savage X Fenty. “The strategy needs to be a series of campaigns, a series of engagements with the new consumers,” Professor Serdari notes, “and it’s wonderful to see women in power getting to that position of leadership.”
Victoria’s Secret remains caught between a controversial past and an uncertain future, especially before its upcoming 2025 show. To address concerns that the show’s changes were merely performative and not sincere, the brand must continue to change the company’s structure and rebrand beyond the show. Focusing on a one-day event distracts from the more important discussion about the message Victoria’s Secret sends to women the other 364 days of the year. Rebuilding trust with its audience will be crucial if Victoria’s Secret wants to be a competitive leader in the lingerie industry. Having more women on the executive teams could help to put women at the forefront of conversations in design and marketing. Systemic change cannot be realized with just the show; the brand needs to demonstrate a sustained commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and exemplary treatment of models.
Regardless, one thing is clear: In order to embrace the angel, the brand must first reckon with its demons.
Senior Interviews Editor
