Victoria’s Secret media relations
Victoria’s Secret is the largest lingerie retailer in the US, and has been for several decades.
After achieving explosive success it was accused of losing relevance, then overhauled its brand image.
Here’s the story of the rise, fall, and subsequent comeback of the brand, now the subject of a Hulu documentary series.
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Inspired by an uncomfortable trip to a department store to buy underwear for his wife, Raymond set out to create a place where men would feel comfortable shopping for lingerie. He wanted to create a women’s underwear shop that was targeted at men.
Victoria’s Secret
His vision was summed up by Slate’s Naomi Barr in 2013: “Raymond imagined a Victorian boudoir, replete with dark wood, oriental rugs, and silk drapery. He chose the name ‘Victoria’ to evoke the propriety and respectability associated with the Victorian era; outwardly refined, Victoria’s ‘secrets’ were hidden beneath.”
He went on to open a handful of Victoria’s Secret stores and launched its famous catalog.
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Wexner, who founded L Brands (formerly Limited Brands) was already making a name for himself in the retail world as he gradually built up an impressive empire.
By June 1982, Limited — which had previously acquired Express and Lane Bryant — was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. One month later, under Wexner’s leadership, the company acquired Victoria’s Secret’s six stores and its catalog for $1 million.
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He was closely following the European lingerie market of that time and wanted to bring this aesthetic to the US. So, he set out to create a more affordable version of European upscale brand “La Perla” — lingerie that looked luxurious and expensive but was affordable.
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Source: The Telegraph
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The show, which was run by Ed Razek (longtime chief marketing officer of L Brands), became an iconic part of the brand’s image.
Razek and his team were responsible for hand-picking the models to walk the show. Because of this, he became one of the most important people in the modeling world, helping to launch the careers of Gisele Bündchen, Tyra Banks, and Heidi Klum.
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Source: Time
Body by Victoria was a “blockbuster success” and more than doubled the sales volume of any other bra that Victoria’s Secret had previously launched, Michael Silverstein wrote in his book, “Trading Up.”
Victoria’s Secret
From then on, the term “Angel” become synonymous with the brand.
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Razek hired the best photographers and television directors in the world to make commercials for the brand.
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It’s been tradition for an Angel to wear a “Fantasy Bra” at every runway show since 1996. These change each year.
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According to reports at the time, Turney wanted to remove the “hooker looks” in the catalog and made the aesthetic more like Vogue than Playboy.
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Source: Business Insider
L Brands
Wexner made a series of quick and fast changes: killing the catalog, swimwear, and apparel to focus solely on lingerie, the core part of its business.
He also split the brand into three — Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, Victoria’s Secret Beauty, and Pink — and recruited a CEO for each division.
Courtesy of Spanx
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Victoria’s Secret was slow to adjust to a shift from padded and push-up bras toward bralettes and sports bras, missing out on a major fashion trend.
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Victoria’s Secret was accused of failing to adapt to the times.
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Source: Business Insider
Business Insider/Mary Hanbury
“We believe Pink is on the precipice of collapse,” Jefferies analyst Randal Konik wrote in a note to investors in March 2018, commenting on the level of promotions in store.
Some parents complained that Pink was being brought down by Victoria’s Secret’s over-sexualized ads.
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Razek made a formal apology online but some of his critics called for him to step down.
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Source: Business Insider
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Mehas had his work cut out for him. Same-store sales at Victoria’s Secret were down 3% in 2018, and the retailer was gradually losing market share to new companies.
Plus, he had angry shareholders to deal with. In March 2019, activist shareholder Barington Capital sent a letter to Wexner, laying out recommendations to improve growth at Victoria’s Secret in order to “unlock substantial value.”
In the letter, Barington’s CEO, James A. Mitarotonda, called out the company’s brand image as being “outdated.”
“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,” he wrote.
AP Photo/Jay LaPrete
It seems Victoria’s Secret took this criticism to heart. After acknowledging the letter in a statement, it appointed two new female board directors — Sarah E. Nash and Anne Sheehan — and made steps to address the comments about the brand image being outdated.
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While she is not a plus-size model, fans praised the company for its decision to take on Hungarian model Barbara Palvin as one of its newest Angels.
Instagrammers celebrated a post starring Palvin for being more body-inclusive, as they perceived her to be curvier than some of the brand’s other models.
“This model actually looks healthy..& I’m loving it!” one Instagram user wrote.
“At last! A real human body,” another said.
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Brazilian transgender model Valentina Sampaio, shared a photograph of herself on Instagram in August 2019, tagging the Victoria’s Secret Pink brand along with the hashtags: “campaign,” “vspink,” and “diversity.”A day later, she shared a video of herself with the caption “Never stop dreaming.”
Her agent later confirmed that she had signed a contract with Victoria’s Secret.
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Source: Business Insider
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During a call with analysts after reporting its third-quarter earnings results, L Brands CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer responded to a question about whether the fashion show would run this holiday season.
“We will be communicating to customers, but nothing similar in magnitude to the fashion show,” he said.
Wexner previously told employees in May that Victoria’s Secret was “rethinking” the show. And Victoria’s Secret model Shanina Shaik — who has walked in several of its fashion shows — told The Daily Telegraph in Australia in July 2019 that the annual show was off this year.
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Epstein managed Wexner’s money for several years, and former company executives told the Wall Street Journal that he tried to meddle in Victoria’s Secret’s business, offering input on which women should be models.
Some of Epstein’s victims came forward saying that he used his connection to Victoria’s Secret to coerce them into sexual acts.
L Brands’ board of directors announced that it had hired an outside law firm to review its relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in August 2019.
In September, Wexner addressed his ties to Epstein at L Brands’ investor meeting. “At some point in your life we are all betrayed by friends,” Wexner said. “Being taken advantage of by someone who was so sick, so cunning, so depraved, is something that I’m embarrassed I was even close to. But that is in the past.”
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In a statement to the press announcing the news, Wexner said that Sycamore has “deep experience in the retail industry and a superior track record of success,” and that it “will bring a fresh perspective and greater focus to the business.”
Victoria’s Secret
At the end of April 2020, Sycamore filed a lawsuit to back out of the deal, alleging that Victoria’s Secret’s actions taken during the pandemic to close stores, cut back on new inventory, and not pay rent for the month of April were in violation of the agreement that the two parties had made in February.
L Brands immediately issued a statement saying that a termination of the agreement is “invalid,” and that it would “vigorously defend” the lawsuit and “pursue all legal remedies to enforce its contractual rights.”
REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
L Brands said that it had come to a “mutual agreement” with Sycamore to “terminate” the deal.
The company also said that it had reshuffled its management team and would focus on “implementing significant cost reduction actions and performance improvements at Victoria’s Secret.”
This included permanently closing as many as 250 Victoria’s Secret and Pink stores in the US and Canada in 2020.
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Jefferies analysts described Victoria’s Secret’s progress as “admirable,” after it reported strong fourth-quarter results in early 2021.
Bloomberg later reported that L Brands had resumed discussions to sell the brand once more and was seeking a much higher valuation, in the region of $3 billion.
But in May, L Brands put an end to speculation and said that it was no longer looking for a buyer and would split the company in two and spin-off Victoria’s Secret to become a standalone company.
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Courtesy Dan Schawbel
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