For generations of American women, victoria secret was their go-to place for bras and lingerie. The mall store turned lingerie from a French luxury into an all-American staple with its pink shopping bags and velvet-lined dressing rooms. But the company is now embroiled in controversies over sexual misconduct and a growing perception that it doesn’t do enough to support women. In a new documentary, directors Heather McGowan and Margot Bowman follow the company as it struggles to reinvent itself in a culture that calls into question the very definition of objectification.
Ron Raymond founded the company in 1977 with a single San Francisco store and catalog that sold mostly lingerie, sleep wear and bath products. By the time he sold it to Les Wexner’s The Limited, Inc in 1982, it had expanded to more than 600 stores and a massive mailing list with sales of over $2 billion per year. The company had become a household name, luring insecure shoppers with the promise of confidence and sexiness.
Under Wexner’s guidance, Victoria’s Secret would go on to become a one-stop shop for every female need. The brand not only offered a range of lingerie, but also bras, panties, sleepwear, beauty, swimwear, shoes and PINK—a line for teenage girls. And the company would become famous for its annual fashion shows and televised commercials that showcased a rotating cast of supermodels like Stephanie Seymour, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bundchen, Adrianne Curry, Lily Aldrin, Alessandra Ambrosio and others strutting in their sexy VS finery.
The company’s raunchiness and “hooker look” were a response to a culture that viewed women as objects to be used for men’s pleasure. But as the ’90s ended, Turney began to phase in a more sophisticated aesthetic that was closer to Vogue than Playboy. This was a new kind of Victoria’s Secret that would be defined by an ideal woman that was both English romantic and modern feminist, the sort of women who could “seduce the world with their femininity.”
When Wexner stepped down as CEO in 2020, leaving behind his majority stake in the company, it signalled a major shift. In place of the annual fashion show and Angels, the company introduced a group of trailblazing partners—including lesbian soccer star Megan Rapinoe, plus-size model Paloma Elsesser and trans activist Valentina Sampaio—to represent the brand’s new values. But is it too late to make a lasting impact?
It’s easy to forget that a thong with a skirt of balloons attached to your heinie was not the dream outfit for most women. And it’s certainly not fashionable to resurrect this sort of thing—even when it’s done by a diverse group of women who have a lot to say about how the industry needs to change. But can this rebranding save the company? This compelling documentary takes an honest and provocative look at one of America’s most beloved brands. It may not answer all of our questions, but it gives us a fascinating window into how a retail empire was built and then changed forever.