The end of the world’s most famous lingerie firm as we knew it has come. In 2019, the famous and televised Victoria’s Secret parade with models turned into angels who took the catwalk dressed in sensual outfits and spectacular wings was definitively canceled . Now, the firm has undertaken a radical turn with which it seeks to empower women and stop reinforcing unattainable beauty stereotypes for the majority of the population.
Hence, he has changed his traditional angels for women with success and personality, such assoccer player and gay community activist Megan Rapinoe; the actress and businesswoman Priyanka Chopra Jonas, or the first transsexual model to work for the firm, Valentina Sampaio, among others. Also working as the image of the brand from now on will be model, refugee and mental health advocate Adut Akech; the journalist, photographer, founder of the Girl Gaze project and defender of equality Amanda de Cadenet; world champion freestyle skier, youth and women’s sports advocate and model Eileen Gu; and model and diversity advocate Paloma Elesser.
The reasons for this announced death have been several. In the first place, the defense of unreal bodiesthat, far from representing women, they showed us models who underwent grueling training for months and followed a strict diet. In addition, movements such as MeToo caused the firm to be constantly involved in controversy over the sexualized image they offer of women. Its owner’s relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein didn’t help either.
This translated, logically, into tremendous economic losses , of up to 50% in its billing and with only 3.3 million spectators in its last parade in 2018. An obvious social change must be added to this equation.
On his Twitter, Rapinoe announced that he will work to “show ALL women their individual and collective beauty and power” from the firm, which has also restructured its executive leadership to include a majority of women. In The New York Times, he went further and described the “patriarchal and sexist” message that the previous Victoria’s Secret sent with its image, thought “from a masculine lens and through what men wanted”, as “really harmful”.
One of the first initiatives of The VS Collective will be a podcast in which the “founders” of the group will share their stories and experiences with the journalist Amanda de Cadenet, who is also a collaborator of the brand.
