The rise, fall, and latest stumbles of Victoria's Secret

The Victoria's Secret fashion show is set to return in 2023 after a four-year hiatus.

Victoria's Secret media relations

• Victoria's Secret is the largest lingerie retailer in the US, and has been for several decades.
• After explosive success it had several stumbles but has since overhauled its brand image.
• The brand is relaunching its Victoria's Secret fashion show in the fall with a live fashion event and movie.

Victoria's Secret has been the leading lingerie retailer in the US for several decades. But it's prominence has been shaken up in recent years after the lingerie brand faced sluggish sales, criticism for its lack of model diversity and size inclusivity, scandal for possible ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and an entire brand-image overhaul.

The lingerie retail space also started to shift in a new direction — verring from push-up bras and skinny models to sports bras and a more body-positive image. Lingerie competitors, including Aerie, ThirdLove, and Lively, started to attract more interest from consumers and sales at Victoria's Secret began to slip. 

Then the brand ended its infamous Victoria's Secret fashion show in 2019, following controversial comments about transgender models from the its former marketing chief. But, after launching new marketing campaigns and the VS Collective, a group of female activists and entrepreneurs, the Victoria's Secret fashion show is making a comeback this fall. 

Here's a look at the rise, fall of Victoria's Secret, and the brand's plan for redemption. 

Victoria's Secret was founded in 1977 by American businessman Roy Raymond.

Roy Raymond (left).

Wikimedia Commons

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.  

He named the brand after the Victorian era in England, wanting to evoke the refinement of this period in his lingerie.

Victoria's Secret vintage catalog 1982.

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. 

By 1982, the company was making more than $4 million in annual sales, but according to reports, it was nearing bankruptcy at the time. It was at this point that Les Wexner swooped in.

Les Wexner (center).

Getty/Astrid Stawiarz / Stringer

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. 

Wexner turned Raymond's vision on its head, creating a store that was focused on women rather than men.

Wexner wanted to create affordable lingerie that looked luxurious.

Nicholas Hunt/Getty

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 the European upscale brand "La Perla" — lingerie that looked luxurious and expensive but was affordable.  

And it worked. By the early 1990s, Victoria's Secret had become the largest lingerie retailer in the US, with 350 stores nationally and sales topping $1 billion.

Victoria's Secret spring lingerie collection in New York Tuesday, February 6, 1996.

AP Photo/Adam Nadel

Source: The Telegraph

The brand began to cement its image over the next few years. In 1995, its famous annual fashion show was born.

Ed Razek.

AP Photo/Terry Gilliam

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.

 

In 1999, the show aired for the first time online. Time described it as the "internet-breaking moment" of this era after 1.5 million viewers tried to tune in and crashed the site.

Model Tyra Banks at Victoria's Secret fashion show Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1999 in New York.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Source: Time

Meanwhile, the brand was also launching some of its best-known and most successful products, including its heavily padded Miracle Bra and Body by Victoria.

Claudia Schiffer wearing a million dollar diamond Miracle Bra in a five-story display in New York City, 1996.

Evan Agostini/Getty Images

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."

Around this time (1997), the idea of the Victoria's Secret "Angel" came into play after a commercial featuring Helena Christensen, Karen Mulder, Daniela Peštová, Stephanie Seymour, and Tyra Banks ran to promote its "Angels" underwear collection.

Victoria's Secret Angels.

Victoria's Secret

It was tradition for an Angel to wear a Fantasy Bra" at every runway show starting in 1996. They changed each year.

Throughout the '90s and early 2000s, its commercials featured heavily made-up and scantily dressed Angels.

A Victoria's Secret ad from 1997.

YouTube/Derek Dahlsad

Razek hired the best photographers and television directors in the world to make commercials for the brand. 

The runway shows became more lavish. In 2000, model Gisele Bündchen walked the runway in what was then the most expensive item of lingerie ever created, a $15 million diamond-and-ruby-encrusted 'Fantasy Bra.'

Gisele Bündchen.

AP Photo/Stephen Chernin

In 2000, Sharen Jester Turney came on as CEO of Victoria's Secret Direct, heading up its catalog business.

Sharen Jester Turney is in the center.

AP Photo/Richard Drew

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.

She became CEO of the whole brand in 2006. Under her nine-year tenure, the company thrived; sales increased by 70% to $7.7 billion.

Turney with a group of Victoria's Secret models.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Source: Business Insider

Turney abruptly stepped down in 2016 and was succeeded by Wexner as interim CEO.

Turney made an abrupt departure.

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.

Jan Singer became CEO of Victoria's Secret Lingerie in September 2016.

Jan Singer.

Courtesy of Spanx

Singer spent over a decade at Nike and was CEO of Spanx before she joined Victoria's Secret. 

Between 2015 and 2018, sales began to falter.

A Victoria's Secret store in New York.

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

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. 

More body-positive underwear brands such as Aerie, ThirdLove, and Lively cropped up, taking market share.

Aerie.

Facebook/Aerie

Victoria's Secret was accused of failing to adapt to the times.

Between 2016 and 2018, its market share in the US dropped from 33% to 24%. Some shoppers complained that the quality of its underwear had slipped.

Deals on Victoria's Secret underwear.

Business Insider/Mary Hanbury

Source: Business Insider.

One of its biggest assets, the teen-centric brand Pink, also began to struggle. Sales slipped, and it resorted to heavy discounting to woo shoppers.

Pink.

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.

Its annual fashion show drew criticism for being outdated, and viewership slipped.

Its 2018 fashion show didn't get quite the fanfare it had gotten in the past.

AP Images

In November 2018, Razek sent the internet into a frenzy after he made controversial comments about transgender and plus-size models.

Razek said in an interview with Vogue that he didn't think the show should feature "transsexuals" because the show is a "fantasy." "It's a 42-minute entertainment special. That's what it is," he said in the interview.

Ed Razek speaks to the 2018 Victoria's Secret runway models backstage during the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at Pier 94 on November 8, 2018, in New York City.

Getty Images/Dia Dipasupil

Razek made a formal apology online but some of his critics called for him to step down. 

Read more: People slammed Victoria's Secret after its marketing chief made controversial comments about transgender models, but he didn't resign. This could be why, according to former executives.

Less than a week after Razek's comments went viral, Singer resigned.

Singer left when the brand was in turmoil.

AP Images/ Evan Agostini

Source: Business Insider.

Singer was replaced by John Mehas, who took over the role at the start of 2019.

Kendall Jenner walks the runway at the 2018 Victoria's Secret fashion show.

Agostini/Invision/AP

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 and called out the company's brand image as being "outdated."

Read more: An activist shareholder is urging Victoria's Secret parent to update 'tone-deaf' brand image to boost sales

Barington also called out the lack of diversity in its board of directors as being an issue for the brand. At the time, of the 11 board members, nine were men.

Wexner and his wife, Abigail, both sat on the board of directors.

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. 

It hired a more body-inclusive model.

Hungarian model Barbara Palvin.

Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

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.

It also hired its first openly transgender model.

Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio.

Getty/ Dominique Charriau / Contributor

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.

The same day, Wexner announced that Razek would be resigning in the middle of August in a memo sent out to employees.

Les Wexner and Ed Razek pose backstage at the 2016 Fragrance Foundation Awards presented by Hearst Magazines - Show on June 7, 2016, in New York City.

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Fragrance Foundation

Source: Business Insider.

And on November 21, 2019, the company confirmed that it had officially canceled its runway fashion show that year.

Wexner previously told employees in May that Victoria's Secret was "rethinking" the show.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

At the time, L Brands CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer told analysts that the fashion show didn't have a big impact on boosting sales at the brand. 

While these were potentially positive changes, the brand found itself caught up in a new challenge in the summer of 2019: its CEO and the company being linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Les Wexner (L) and Jeffrey Epstein (R).

Astrid Stawiarz/Stringer and Patrick McMullan/Getty Images

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."

Read more: Former employees reveal what the billionaire head of Victoria's Secret is like as a boss as he faces backlash over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein

In February 2020, the company announced that Wexner would be stepping down as chairman and CEO of L Brands but would stay on as chairman emeritus and sit on the board of directors. At the same time, it announced that it was selling a 55% stake in Victoria's Secret to private-equity firm Sycamore Partners.

Wexner stepped down in 2020.

Jay LaPrete/AP Images

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."

 

In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic swept across the US and Victoria's Secret was forced to shutter its stores.

Stores close during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Victoria's Secret

In 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."

 

On May 4, 2020, L Brands announced that the deal with Sycamore had officially fallen apart.

The Sycamore deal falls through.

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.

 

 

In the second half of 2020, the brand started to recover, boosted by more sales online.

Victoria's Secret becomes a standalone company.

Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

Jefferies analysts described Victoria's Secret's progress as "admirable" after it reported strong fourth-quarter earnings 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 of that year, 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 business.

 

 

 

It then worked hard to execute a turnaround under new leadership.

Victoria's Secret updated advertising in its stores.

Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

Read more: Victoria's Secret is experiencing a major comeback after years of declining sales — and Wall Street is salivating

It overhauled its brand image – swapping its Angels for a new group of activists and entrepreneurial women to be the face of the brand.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

Courtesy Dan Schawbel

In 2022, a three-part documentary series on Hulu titled "Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons" shook up the brand in the eyes of the public.

Jeffrey Epstein.

Kypros/Getty Images

The series delved into Wexner's ties with Jeffrey Epstein and said that questions remained about the nature of their relationship.

In the background, the company was continuing with its turnaround effort by launching new ventures such as Happy Nation, a brand that sells first bras and apparel to pre-teen shoppers.

Happy Nation.

Happy Nation

It also began selling Victoria's Secret beauty products and underwear on Amazon. 

In March 2023, the company said its annual fashion show would return after a four-year hiatus.

Victoria's Secret model Kate Grigorieva.

Getty Images

The company is constantly innovating "in all spheres of the business," a spokesperson for Victoria's Secret told Insider, adding: "This will lead us into new spaces like reclaiming one of our best marketing and entertainment properties to date and turning it on its head to reflect who we are today."

Following the announcement about the revived Victoria's Secret fashion show, the lingerie brand said it would drop a movie as well.

Victoria's Secret announced it would release a movie alongside its fashion show this year.

Courtesy of Victoria's Secret

By fall 2023, the retailer said it would release a "reimagined version" of its Victoria's Secret fashion show in the form of a movie, alongside a live fashion event.

"This film is the ultimate expression of the Victoria's Secret brand transformation," Raúl Martinez, creative director at Victoria's Secret, said in a statement. "It will be driven by fashion, glamour, and entertainment with a nod to beloved iconography from the past but in a bold, redefined way."

But recent Victoria's Secret campaigns have led to continued criticism of the brand.

Bella Hadid announced a campaign with Victoria's Secret on her Instagram in July.

Lionel Hahn/Getty Images

In July, supermodel Bella Hadid announced her participation in a Victoria's Secret campaign on her Instagram, a post that attracted a mixed-bag of responses online. Some online commenters said the campaign was "perpetuating body dysmorphia to young women" while others defended the campaign.

 

Victoria's Secret ired fans for dropping a marketing campaign similar to one from Kim Kardashian's Skims brand.

Naomi Campbell in Victoria’s Secret “The Icon” campaign, alongside Tyra Banks in Skims “Icons” campaign from 2022.

Mikael Jansson/Victoria’s Secret and Greg Swales/Skims

In August, Victoria's Secret debuted a campaign that featured Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bündchen, and Adriana Lima, alongside other supermodels from the late '90s and early 2000s as well as newer faces to the modeling scene.

The brand also traded in its "Angels " label, though, and named its campaign "The Icon" — similarly titledto a Skims campaign from the year before titled "Icons." The similarities didn't end there: both campaigns included Victoria's Secret models from earlier eras, and both included photos with comparable overexposed lighting and editing styles. 

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