Victoria’s Secret is a huge brand that sells everything from bras and underwear to gift items, hosiery, fragrance, and bath products. The company has a massive, worldwide network of brick-and-mortar stores and an equally large catalog business. Its primary competitors range from small boutiques to department stores.
The company was founded in 1977 by Roy Raymond and Gaye Anderson in response to a need for lingerie and intimate apparel that would fit modern lifestyles. The company’s lingerie and underwear lines have expanded since that time, and the company now offers a wide variety of women’s clothing, accessories, and fragrances.
Its success has been meteoric. From its start as a catalog-based business, the company has grown to become one of the world’s most successful and profitable lingerie companies. The company’s annual fashion show is broadcast to millions of viewers worldwide, and its “Angels” are well-known supermodels like Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum, and Tyra Banks. The company’s lingerie collections are sold in its stores and catalogues, and the brand is also active on social media.
But the company’s popularity has not been without controversy. A recent three-part documentary series, Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, uncovers a dark side to the multibillion-dollar empire. It turns out that the company has a long history of exploiting young girls and women while peddling an image of beauty that is impossible to achieve in real life.
The docs feature many former employees who describe the retouching and beyond-unreal body standards that are the hallmark of the Victoria’s Secret brand. In addition, the docs reveal the company’s long association with Harvey Weinstein, who worked on a few of the brand’s fashion shows in the early 2000s and claimed to have helped hire some of the models.
During the VS era of unbridled sexiness and unrealistic body standards, the brand’s stock rose reliably. But in 2019, sales slowed and the company’s then-chief marketing officer, Ed Razek, gave a disastrous interview to Vogue where he said that transgender models should not appear in the fashion show because the shows are about fantasy. The fallout was huge.
But over the last several years, the company has begun to refocus and change its approach to female representation. The brand has started to highlight plus-size models in ads and on store mannequins. It has also shifted its message about body positivity, making a commitment to promote diversity and inclusion by hiring disabled and transgender models and featuring them in their campaigns.
And the company has begun to change its image through new ad campaigns and by replacing its “Angels” with more diverse members of the VS Collective, which includes athletes like soccer star Megan Rapinoe and actress/activist Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
But despite all of these changes, many shoppers say they still don’t feel welcome in the stores or in the ads. Sierra Mariela, 20, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, says she hasn’t stepped inside a Victoria’s Secret store in five years because she feels that the messaging is sexist. Instead, she shops at Target or online on the private marketplace Depop for her lingerie needs.