Victoria’s Secret is the most well-known lingerie brand in the world. Their fashion shows have aired on TV, and their products are sold in stores across the country and in their catalogs. They’re known for their sexy lingerie and sexy ads featuring Candice Swanepoel and Adriana Lima, but the company hasn’t always been so successful. It’s gone through many ups and downs, including a major rebranding. This Hulu documentary series, titled Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, chronicles the company’s turbulent past.
The first episode opens with a backstage scene before the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. The models are dressed in their skimpy lingerie, and they’re smiling for the cameras as they wait to walk the runway. In the background, you can see a crew of people setting up the stage for the event.
When Victoria’s Secret founder Roy Raymond founded his company, he wanted to bring a European upscale lingerie aesthetic to the US market. He envisioned his company as the American version of La Perla, a popular lingerie brand in Europe. Raymond chose the name “Victoria’s Secret” because it evoked a sense of the Victorian era, a time of refined style and strict societal norms regarding femininity and sex, according to Slate.
Over the years, the company expanded and its brand recognition skyrocketed. The fashion show began to air on TV, and the “Angels,” as the brand calls its models, became household names. Their faces adorned billboards and lingerie packages, and their bodies graced the pages of magazines and calendars.
In the 2000s, Victoria’s Secret’s annual fashion show went from a private event for friends and family members to a massive production with millions of viewers tuning in to watch each year. The bejeweled Fantasy bra was a main attraction, and each year an Angel would be chosen to wear it. The piece, which cost a reported $1 million, was designed by famous jewelry designers and featured rubies, Swarovski crystals, and other precious gems. The Angels, whose jobs were to promote the lingerie line, were paid millions for their roles.
Then, in 2019 came the end of an era. VS pulled the plug on its annual fashion show, which had previously drawn millions of viewers, and the company announced it would rebrand. The brand’s chief marketing officer, Ed Razek, came under fire for stating that the company was only interested in casting models who looked a certain way and was not open to plus-size or transgender models.
By 2022, the rebranding effort had taken hold. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returned, and the lingerie brand’s sales improved. However, the rebranding efforts were not without controversy. In April of that year, the company’s parent company, L Brands, was involved in a sexual harassment scandal involving two top executives. It also faced backlash over its links to Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted of stalking and murdering a teenage girl in California. And in May of 2022, the three-part Hulu documentary series Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons shook up the public image of the company.