As the fashion and fragrance giant reshapes itself into a platform for inclusive, invincible self-love, it’s not only changing its products but also its imagery and advertising. These 10 Instagrammers are documenting the journey — and it’s all pretty wild.
In 1977, entrepreneur Ron Raymond opened the first Victoria’s Secret store in San Francisco. A savvy marketing strategist, he realized that female consumers had a hunger for luxury, glamour, and the feeling of being special. He and his team created a brand that delivered just that. Over the years, the lingerie company expanded its empire from an eponymous catalog to a swanky retail chain with more than 1,300 stores worldwide and an online business.
Its annual fashion shows became a sensation, with viewers eagerly awaiting each year’s “Fantasy Bra.” A special Angel is chosen to model the famous bejeweled creation (created in partnership with jewelry designers) and its accompanying outfits. The resulting images were published in limited-edition books that sold for thousands of dollars.
The VS brand had a powerful following, but it could only thrive for so long before its image and the consumer base started to shift. With the rise of activism in the wake of the #MeToo movement, demands for increased representational inclusivity in terms of body size and race and ethnicity, and competition from more overtly inclusive lingerie brands like ThirdLove and Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty, VS’s efforts to present its wares as emblems of femininity and strength began to wane.
By 2023, Victoria’s Secret was on the verge of collapse. Its teen-centric brand, PINK, was losing money and facing backlash from parents who felt it sexualized young girls. Its raunchy ads and annual fashion show were outdated, with viewership slipping and the company’s PR crisis in the fall of 2022 when VP of Communications Heather Razek sent the internet into a tizzy by criticizing transgender and plus-size models and calling out a rogue exec’s behavior in a viral video.
In March of 2023, the company relaunched its annual fashion show with a movie and what it called the “VS Collective,” a group of trailblazing artists, activists, and designers including corset engineer Michaela Stark and plus-size model Paloma Elsesser, who were selected to revamp the lingerie giant’s image. Their goal was to destroy old Victoria’s Secret tropes and build new ones. Margot Bowman, a London-based emerging director, was hired to capture the VS 20 in action. Her Prime Video documentary, which debuted in October, is part doc, part reality TV, and part NSFW.