Victoria’s Secret has announced that the brand is finally breaking up with its ionic VS Angel models.After years of controversy surrounding the show’s diversity and inclusivity, CEO Martin Waters has now labelled the models as ‘culturally irrelevant.’
Discover our latest podcast
Victoria’s Secret drops Angels for good
The lingerie brand had already cancelled the show back in 2019, with longtime Angel Shanina Shaik confessing to The Daily Telegraph at the time:
It's something I'm not used to because every year around this time I'm training like an Angel. But I'm sure in the future something will happen, which I'm pretty sure about.
Well, it looks like Shanina was right as Victoria’s Secret has decided to go with a rebrand, dropping the Angels entirely. Waters revealed to the New York Times: ‘In the old days, the Victoria brand had a single lens, which was called 'sexy.’
I've known that we needed to change this brand for a long time; we just haven't had the control of the company to be able to do it.
Victoria’s Secret launches two new campaigns in hopes to change its image
Now, in an effort to save the brand’s image, once tarnished with sexism, lack-of-diversity and strange affiliations with Jeffery Epstein, VS is launching two new campaigns: The VS Collective and The Victoria's Secret Global Fund for Women's Cancers.
A Victoria’s Secret press release describes The VS Collective as an ‘ever-growing group of accomplished women who share a common passion to drive positive change.’
Through social, cultural and business relationships, The VS Collective will work to create new associate programs, revolutionary product collections, compelling and inspiring content, and rally support for causes vital to women.
Inaugural members of the new collective will consist of seven groundbreaking women, including Indian actress Priyanka Chopra, footballer Megan Rapinoe, transgender model, actress and activist Valentina Sampaio - who famously worked with VS before.
Other members will include 17-year-old Chinese skier Eileen Gu, South Sudanese-Australian model Adut Akech, photographer Amanda de Cadenet, and plus-size model and activist Paloma Elsesser.
Members of the collective will not only appear in Victoria’s Secret advertising material, but they will also play a hand in advising the brand’s moves. Waters continued: ‘At Victoria's Secret, we are on an incredible journey to become the world's leading advocate for women.’
This is a dramatic shift for our brand and it's a shift that we embrace from our core. These new initiatives are just the beginning. We are energised and humbled by the work ahead of us.
Priyanka Chopra also spoke about VS’ new venture revealing her excitement to help the brand reconnect with consumers on a more meaningful level:
As we work together to chart the path forward in a new and impactful way, I'm not only looking forward to developing future collections that are inclusive of all people, but I am most excited for new customers and for those who have always been a customer of Victoria's Secret to feel represented and like they belong.
Victoria’s Secret’s scandalous downfall
VS’ new spokeswomen will definitely have their work cut out for them as the last few years have seen the lingerie brand face scandal after scandal.
Last year the New York Times released an expose on the brand, with records of over 30 current and former executives, employees, contractors and models, all accusing the brand of ‘misogyny, bullying and harassment.’
Victoria’s Secret also faced backlash in the past from their Angel’s shows, with audiences claiming that the brand focused its attention on wafer-thin models instead of representing its customer base of different sizes, genders, abilities, ages and ethnicities.
However, competing brands such as Savage X Fenty and Aerie have famously gone to great lengths in terms of representation, which undoubtedly impacted VS’ declining sales.
VS announced earlier this year that it would also be stepping away from parent company L Brands. Former owner Les Wexler also stepped away from the L Brands board last year after media exposed his relationship with sex-offender Jeffery Epstein.
