know Victoria’s Secret...she’s an old man that lives in Ohio making money of off girls like me... -Jax

While Victoria’s Secret as a brand is trying to make strides currently to become more inclusive and aim to cater for every type of body, it is hard to forget the brand they once were. First set up in June of 1977 in California by businessman Roy Raymund, it was intended to be a lingerie store targeted towards men. An area in which men would feel comfortable shopping for underwear for their wives. He envisioned a boudoir style shop with teak wood and dark drapery to evoke the sense that “Victoria’s Secret” lay behind its masculine front. After five years this famous company was facing bankruptcy and it was taken over by Lez Wexner of L Brands. Wexner took Raymonds vision and completely changed it to aiming to create a brand aimed towards women not men. He took inspiration from the market in Europe, specifically the products of the highend brand La Perla. He wanted to bring the class and elegance of their repertoire but at an affordable price. He not only succeeded but by the early 90s the company had become the biggest lingerie brand in the United States. It was at this time that the brand solidified its image and started its famed yearly fashion show. It was their image that would come to wreck their reputation leaving them nearly obsolete once again...

The fashion show was headed up by Ed Razek, a man who later become one of the most influential names in the fashion industry. He held the power of who would walk the runway and launched many model careers including and not limited to: Heidi Klum and Gisele Bündchen. The shows drew in a humungous audience, the first one to be put online in 1999 gained traction of 1.5 million people, in turn crashing the site. It is evident that with such a large viewership that this brand could have a lot of influence with their audience. The brand coined the term Victoria’s Secret Angel used to promote their angel line of underwear. The models were dressed in skimpy and “barely there” underwear dawned with a face full of makeup. These angels would go on to be seen at the annual show. The shows took it to a step more elaborate in 2000 with the debut of the

“fantasy bra” costing $15 million.

The brand’s sales continued to soar with the creation of three separate entities; Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, Victoria’s Secret beauty and PINK. This rise then began to collapse nearing 2018. The brand failed to adapt to new trends that were circulating around this time, when popularity grew for bralettes and sports bras rather than traditional padded and push-up bras. They also struggled to keep up with their competitors such as Aerie who were branching out towards sizeinclusive ranges of underwear. This has always been where the brand fell short.

Looking back now on their runways, that have not taken place since 2018, it is clear that their whole image and branding was very damaging towards peoples’ body image. As the song goes the marketing team were “cashing in on body issues, selling skin and bones with big boobs”. Not one model looked like a normal body. Ed Razek stated he had “no interest” in using a model larger than a size 8 (which equates to a UK10/12). Similarly, with their print campaigns, models were heavily airbrushed and gave off a “heavenly” and “perfect” image. These standards are impossible to reach and unrealistic for women to achieve. It was this attitude and marketing strategy that led to downfall of the brand. People found their content over sexualised and unrealistic. It was controversial comments made by Razek, however, that topped it off and led to a drastic change.

Following the resignation of its current CEO at the time and the ‘voluntary’ stepping down of Razek, John Mehas became CEO in 2019 and certainly had a lot of damage to repair. He stated “Victoria’s Secret’s brand image is starting to appear to many as being outdated and even a bit ‘tone deaf’ by failing to be aligned with women’s evolving attitudes towards beauty, diversity, and inclusion”. The company has since taken strides to further the brand by making its board of directors more diverse, hiring more body-inclusive and transgender models and having female activists and entrepreneurs as the face of the brand. While the brand has come a long way, it is important to remember and acknowledge its turbulent and demeaning past.