Victoria’s Secret, a brand heavily reliant on its glamorous models and flashy shows, has shown a systematic decline over the past five years. The company’s exploitative nature and mistreatment of their female employees, particularly, has drawn significant attention and backlash. In the present day, we can immediately recognise their business model as highly problematic. However, earlier, their practices were not only normalized but idolized.
In an image-based industry such as modeling, young minds can be exposed to harmful influences. Victoria’s Secret didn’t only promote unhealthy lifestyles in their models, but also marketed them as the ultimate standard of physical wellbeing - donning them with the mantle of ‘angels’. “If you aren’t tall, busty and whip-thin, you can’t possibly think you’re beautiful,” their advertisements seemed to say.
Models were subjected to harassment and frequently pestered to lose weight. Bridget Malcolm, a former angel, was told to do cocaine to lose weight, sexually assaulted multiple times, and developed a serious eating disorder - she would go for days without eating and feel frustrated when she started passing out. In an interview, after leaving the company and taking time to heal from the profound hurt they had inflicted on her, she said : “The company was very exploitative at that time. To me, it felt like controlling women, getting women to be as small as possible and even then, telling them they weren’t small enough”
The toxic work environment the company fostered resulted in many other models also developing similar problems. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate out of all mental illnesses. They are so deadly because of their long-term effects on your heart. Most people do not die from starvation, but rather because of the remnants of the strain that the heart was put under upon deprivation of proper nutrients and energy. Many victims face cardiac issues later in life as a result.
Leslie Wexner
Leslie Wexner purchased Victoria’s Secret in the 1980s. Immediately, he began introducing changes that led to the brand growing. However, this success was propelled by unsavory business practices and tolerance of abusive behavior.
Not only was Leslie Wexner closely associated with Jeffery Epstein, American sex offender and pedophile, but he also went as far as to grant him the protection of his brand name. Jeffery used the friendship to lure more young models into his web by claiming he was a recruiter for victoria’s secret, a claim that Wexner never refuted, despite it’s lack of verity.
Edward Razec
Edward Razec was in charge of recruiting models for the fashion shows conducted annually. His shameful conduct in this business setting, however, should have deemed him wholly unsuitable for the role.
At castings, Mr. Razek sometimes asked models in their bras and underwear for their phone numbers, according to witnesses. He urged others to sit on his lap. Two models said he had asked them to have private dinners with him.
The incident of Ms. Muise, in particular, is strikingly horrifying. In 2007, after two years of wearing the coveted angel wings in the Victoria’s Secret runway show, the 19-year-old was invited to dinner with Mr. Razek. She said she was excited to cultivate a professional relationship with one of the fashion industry’s most powerful men.
Mr. Razec attempted to kiss her repeatedly, despite her rebuking his advances. For months, he sent her intimate emails, which The Times reviewed. At one point he suggested they move in together in his house in Turks and Caicos. Another time, he urged Ms. Muise to help him find a home in the Dominican Republic for them to share.
Ms. Muise was forced to maintain a polite tone in her emails, trying to protect her career. When she finally declined an invitation to dinner, the consequences were drastic. For the first time in four years, Victoria’s Secret did not pick her for its 2008 fashion show.
It is not difficult to tell who pulled the strings behind this sudden estrangement.
At a photoshoot in June 2015, the company put out a buffet lunch for staff. Ms. Crowe Taylor, the public relations employee, went to get seconds. Mr. Razek intercepted her, blocking her path. Then, with dozens of people watching, he tore into her, berating her about her weight and telling her to lay off the pasta and bread.
“What was most alarming to me, as someone who was always raised as an independent woman, was just how ingrained this behavior was,” she said. “This abuse was just laughed off and accepted as normal. It was almost like brainwashing. And anyone who tried to do anything about it wasn’t just ignored. They were punished.”
Furthermore, in an interview with Vogue, Razec claimed that they would never hire a trangender model for their annual show, citing aesthetic reasons. This statement drew extreme backlash and many people called for his resignation. Eventually, Razec was forced to give a formal apology.
Razek claimed that the allegations against him were “categorically untrue, misconstrued or taken out of context.” However, his actions along with the hundreds of witnesses that took a stand against him clearly prove otherwise.
What went wrong?
As a comment on an article on the unsavory practices of Victoria’s Secret read, “This brand did NOT define femininity for millions of women. It defined it for millions of men. Are we really surprised it was a misogynistic cesspool?”
Victoria’s secret promoted a very specific beauty ideal. When faced with abuse allegations, they would simply silence the victim by having them sign non-disclosure agreements. Their pre-existing stereotypes, along with their history of objectifying women turned out to be a fatal flaw. With the rise of feminism and movements like #MeToo, many women began to speak out - leading to the collapse of companies like these.
There was also a shift in consumers' needs, with women gravitating towards authentic marketing, natural looks and comfort over all else. As the CEO of Thirdlove, a competitor of VS said in an open letter, “Let women define themselves” : a step essential to success in the industry, and clearly one that Victoria’s Secret forgoed.
Rebranding : What to expect in the future?
Victoria’s secret has recently undergone a ‘purge’ of sorts. Both Wexner and Razec have stepped down, and the board of directors now comprises mostly women. Their rebranding, however, is being viewed as more performative activism than anything else.
Many have criticized this move as an attempt to appear inclusive and empower its modelling brand's growth unsavoury behaviour paedophile Victoria’s Secretits Msa dinner invitation behaviour transgender unsavoury Secret Third Love forged their waning sales, as opposed to a clear dedicated effort in changing the brand. This is only exacerbated by the fact that while the brand claimed that they’d be releasing more inclusive lines of clothing, including those for plus-sized women, they are yet to secretly follow through with the promise.
All in all, it is no good to support a company with a great message if their actions speak otherwise. We must wait and see if the rebranding was a genuine attempt at making Victoria’s Secret more inclusive, or simply a last-ditch attempt at the revival of a toxic brand.
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