Victoria’s Secret has had a rough last few years. The billion-dollar lingerie company has faced criticism over its lack of inclusive sizing, transphobic and fatphobic comments from its top executives, and former CEO Les Wexner’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The brand has not held its Victoria’s Secret Fashion show, famous for its supermodel “Angels” and diamond-encrusted Fantasy Bra, since 2018. Brands like Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty and Universal Standard have taken advantage of the companies hesitancy to evolve by introducing sizing up to 4XL and campaigns like the Savage X Fenty fashion show, which features models in a diverse range of sizes, races and genders.
Now, as the company is in the process of separating from the Wexner-owned L Brands, they have introduced a new initiative that attempts to showcase a new-and-improved Victoria’s Secret.
On Wednesday, the company announced the VS Collective, a “partnership platform” with seven notable women who will, according to the New York Times, “alternately advise the brand, appear in ads and promote Victoria’s Secret on Instagram.”
View this post on Instagram
VS collective’s founding members include professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe, actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, transgender model Valentina Sampaio, and professional skier Eileen Gu, among others.
“So often I felt myself on the outside looking in with brands in the beauty and fashion industry and I’m thrilled to be creating a space that sees the true spectrum of ALL women,” Rapinoe said in a post for the Victoria’s Secret Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
The company has also brought more women into high levels of the company, including Martha Pease, the new chief marketing officer in charge of the VS Collective.
“When the world was changing, we were too slow to respond,” new chief executive Martin Waters told The New York Times. “We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want.”
Waters announced that the fashion show would likely return in 2022, with significant changes.
“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,” Waters said. “Right now, I don’t see [the Angels] as being culturally relevant.”
Tyra Banks, who became Victoria’s Secrets’ first-ever Black contract model when she signed with the company in 1995, celebrated the new initiative.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQOiMt4HZNd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
“To the new collective of badass ROLE models, I may have cracked that door open, but y’all are charging through.” she wrote in an Instagram post. “ Keep on keepin’ on until we all LOSE COUNT of how many are breaking through behind you.”
This change has not come without skepticism.
Victoria Secret only wants to rebrand because SavagexFenty took over their market 😭
— 𝒜. (@cocoalosoxo) June 17, 2021
In a New York Times opinion piece, writer Jennifer Weiner called the announcement “cynical and calculated — a move that stinks of desperation,” but acknowledged that the change signifies a sign of the times that not even Victoria Secret could ignore.
“… representation still matters,” she wrote. “Seeing ourselves — and especially seeing ourselves as beautiful and desirable — matters. If Victoria’s Secret’s new additions mean that even one girl feels a little more worthy, then those are steps in the right direction.”
What do you think of the VS Collective? Let us know by leaving a reaction down below or tweeting at @celebsecrets.
