I was really inspired to write this blog for you guys since the brand was just covered in a Hulu documentary. Victoria’s Secret has long been one of my favorite companies to the point where I even worked for them, and I haven’t shared much with you guys.

Victoria’s Secret was founded by Roy Raymond & Gaye Raymond back on June 12, 1977 in San Francisco and Palo Alto. Back then “VS” was 5 store locations with the goal of making lingerie shopping easy. Roy felt embarrassed buying lingerie for Gaye in stores so he came up with a store where you could mostly order by catalog.

In 1982 the Raymond’s flew out to Columbus, Ohio to facilitate the sale of their brand. Les Wexner, a growing businessman at the time bought the brand for $1 million to save it from its rapidly growing decline. You would think after 45 years, nearly half a century of operation, the brand would be on top of preventing any decline, but life had other plans for the company.

In 2018-2019, social media and customer complaints finally got to the brand in the midst of the #MeToo movement and since the company has taken major hits in popularity. The majority of the complaints were towards what people are calling “fourth wave feminism”, or general body inclusivity, diversity, cultural appropriation, and sexual assault claims running through upper management and their associations. Victoria’s Secret is unfortunately quite synonymous with Jeffrey Epstein given his close knit relationship with CEO Les Wexner, and his actions in association to the brand. That being said, the brand has built a reputation for itself like no other.

For a long time, Victoria’s Secret were the top brand & largest retailer of lingerie etc in the United States. As the saying goes, “they sold the fantasy”. Customers were finally in a place where beautiful lingerie was available at their fingertips. In 1990 they came out with Body by Victoria which was the “miracle bra”, or just the go to perfect daily bra. They sold 2 million “miracle bras” that year. It’s become the bra they use to fit you for all styles in store to this day, which is pretty cool.

At the turn of the millennium, Victoria’s Secret revolutionized coupons. They gave out a “buy $____ such & such amount and get a free pair of panties” coupon in every catalog which pulled people into the local stores like crazy. In 2002 they were able to open a sister store called PINK targeted at teens and young women. In 2008 they opened their first international stores giving in to the hype across the globe. While they were usually in places like airports, the United Kingdom and Canada were given locations. They reached nearly 1200 stores in 2016, absolutely peaking I thought. They decided to drop their famous catalog this same year, leaving a bittersweet taste in our mouths. As regular readers and browsers from the start of the brand this was devastating.

To back track for a moment, in 1995 in an effort to help keep themselves in the eyes of the public, key people up top in Victoria’s Secret came up with the idea of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. This has since been canceled before the 2019 show, but remains one of my favorite fashion specials ever.

The first show rocked cat walks and televisions across the globe. They featured all of the “it” music performances and models. While it went from a small show models stayed far away from because they had haute couture goals, it became “the” show models aimed for over some of the top European fashion houses. To some this was the “Ivy league” of fashion, to others they provided Victoria’s Secret with the status they lacked.

Today the brand has separated from Mrs Wexner and L Brands. It was bought for $525 million, which seems absolutely preposterous money wise, but I also know the brand so I smile nod and move on. It’s taken a 25% decrease in store locations due to the pandemic and sale impacts despite its value.

I will be drafting up a 23 part series breaking down every detail of each fashion show for you guys and my opinion on it. Yes you read that right. These shows have themes, glamour, haute couture aspects, athleticism, and a pizzazz I haven’t seen since the shows stopped in fashion. While this had both good and bad affects on its viewers and participants, the art aspects are something you can’t really match. Be sure to track the #VSFS here on Grey2Bay.

Stay tuned Angels 💫