Fashion explained: The rise and fall and rise again of Victoria’s Secret

For more than 40 years, Victoria’s Secret has been a spectacle and game-changer in the fashion world. With countless celebrities, influencers and business empires backing the brand, the lingerie line has become synonymous with scandal and controversy.

How did it all start and will their return mark a new era or dismal flop?

Here’s our look at the ups and downs that defined Victoria’s Secret.

The business was founded by marketing guru Roy Raymond and his wife Gaye.

While Roy was out underwear shopping for his wife, he found the experience embarrassing and the fabrics used outdated. After researching the market, he and his wife founded Victoria’s Secret in 1977. The name was taken from Queen Victoria as the store and its products were influenced by Victorian-era boudoirs. The tongue in cheek of naming it after the monarch was a nod at the taboo behind shopping for lingerie.

It didn’t take long for Roy to face financial issues, so when he was facing bankruptcy he contacted retail behemoth Les Wexner. In 1982, Wexner bought Victoria’s Secret for $1m.

That same year Wexner saw to it that Victoria’s Secret would expand to five stores and a 40-page catalogue that would help the business make $6m annually. In Anna Tomasino’s Discovering Pop Culture, it was alleged Wexner continued the tradition from Ray that claimed Victoria’s Secret was based in London as a means to pull in elite crowds. 

In 1986, Cynthia Fedus-Fields would capture the brand’s approach to a sexy yet refined image through its catalogue. Her creative direction would see the company make close to $1bn (R18.48bn). 

Unfortunately Roy was struggling to keep things afloat after opening a children’s store that would go bankrupt and saw him and Gaye get a divorce. In 1989, an infamous spread advertised in many magazines helped promote their toiletries and fragrances. Preceding this, Wexner would hire Harvey Weinstein as his financial advisor.

VICTORIA’S DEBTS

While Victoria’s Secret continued to prosper, Raymond would face his own troubles following his divorce and business failures. He committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in California. According to Gaye, Roy suffered from depression due to his businesses failings.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

In 1990 the world of women’s undergarments shifted when Wonderbra took over the scene. After a successful TV ad campaign for Victoria’s Secret, Wexner and his marketing officer Edward Razek wanted to fight back for their stake with the idea to launch a fashion show like any other clothing brand.

By 1995 they had their first event. They were not able to score the big supermodels they were aiming for and only had two cameras to document the show. However, this was more than enough to get the eyeballs they needed and the show earned global recognition.

During this time, complaints were sent to Wexner about Epstein using his access to Victoria’s Secret to claim he was a scout for the company. In 1996 visual artist Maria Farmer would contact authorities about the abuse she experienced at the hands of Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell Wexner’s residence. This would not be revealed for 20 years.

BREAKING THE INTERNET

The year 1996 proved to be a game-changer for Victoria’s Secret. Following the success of their first show, they started offering specialty products like hosiery exclusively found in certain stores or deals that could be bought from their catalogues. 

At the time Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows were paid $1m to broadcast the event. That same year they bagged their first supermodel, Claudia Schiffer, who wore the now famed Million Dollar Miracle Bra. It became a tradition for the brand to feature supermodels wearing the 100 carat (and often more) bra.

Supermodel Tyra Banks became the first women of colour to continue the heritage in 1997 in the Diamond Dream Bra. The first pair of wings debuted at the angel-themed show in 1998, which would be a mainstay for the brand.

When they advertised their upcoming runway collection at the 1999 Super Bowl halftime show, they brought more than 1-million viewers on Broadcast.Com prior to the video being available. On the date of its showing they broke the site with close to 2-million views.

In 2000, they would host their first charitable show at Cannes in France as part of a campaign that raises money for the Cinema Against Aids programme.

ANGELS ACROSS AMERICA

Preceded by a move from CBS to ABC broadcasters, in 2002 The Limited absorbed its partner company Intimate Brands which Victoria’s Secret fell under and rebranded as L Brands. They would also launch Pink, a line aimed at teenage girls.

In 2003 they had their first run-in with PETA when their activists stormed the stage with targeted attacks towards Gisele Bundchen. 

The following year would see them take a hiatus due to concerns about the 2004 Super Bowl performance by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Instead, they travelled across America as part of Angels Across America, which included staple models who were under contract with Victoria’s Secret.

THE BUSINESS OF UNDERWEAR

The biggest names of the company would soon hang their wings. This included Banks and Bundchen, who retired in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Pink would make its runway debut despite a report coming out that the company was paying factory workers in Thailand peanuts. The company landed in hot water when it was revealed  they had their employees in poor conditions in Jordan. 

That same year, Epstein was charged with multiple counts of child molestation. It was reported Wexner would only cut ties with him more than a year later.

ANGELS IN HOLLYWOOD

In 2007, Victoria’s Secret was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which was received by their roster of that year. However, this could not repair the negative image the brand was getting and for the second time the quality of the pieces came under fire. 

The brand would launch the first of many model search competitions, with the first  won by Kylie Besutti. 

SHE’S NO ANGEL

Questions about why the models were not diverse started to come to the fore. Especially after Razek used offensive terms referring to transgender women when asked in an interview about the lack thereof.

Model Gigi Gorges infamously made a YouTube video chronicling her disappointment with an allied sentiment from plus-size model Tess Holiday, who criticised them for their lack of a wide range of different shapes and sizes.

The Model Alliance, a non-profit organisation that works on policies for models, criticised Razek and later asked them to join their RESPECT programme. The programme encourages organisations to make enforceable changes to the treatment of models.

As the Me Too movement and backlash over Epstein would get him incarcerated, Wexner would muddle the Victoria’s Secret brand when the Farmer case would be brought up again. By December that year, digital ratings for the show  performed well but the climate surrounding the show saw a drop in number watching on small screens.

THE 'END' OF VICTORIA’S SECRET

Following a harrowing year, L Brands put a lot of effort into promoting Victoria’s Secret in 2019 which backfired by costing the company due to a loss of profits. This ricocheted in the closing of stores in March the same year due to a decline in performance.

Wexner would later announce the iconic show would be taken off air after 24 years. Soon after Karlie Kloss hung her wings in defiance of the negative image Victoria’s Secret accrued at the time.

Following the arrest of Epstein, a number of models came forward with evidence of sexual misconduct from Timur Emek, Greg Kadel, and David Bellemere.

With mounting heat on the brand, its long-standing media officer, Razek, would retire a year after the “transsexual” remarks. Meanwhile, Victoria’s Secret continued to experience falling sales which lead to Sycamore Partners offering more than $500m to buy them out.

Sycamore partners later wanted out of the deal and used the Covid-19 pandemic as an exit strategy. Wexner eventually stepped down but remains the chairman emeritus. While Victoria’s Secret remained an industry giant, the pandemic would see more stores closed, including those from spinoffs like Pink.

VICTORIA’S RESURRECTION

New policies and management were appointed after the exit of Wexner and Raznek, which has been cited as the reason behind the increased performance of Victoria’s Secret sales in 2021. They would also look to actress Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and tennis champion Naomi Osaka as brand ambassadors.

This year, the CFO of Victoria’s Secret Timothy Johnson announced the show would be coming back, a move bolstered by their financial performance in 2022.

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