Once a byword for fun and glamour, the lingerie brand has recently been proving the adage: Go Woke, Go Broke. Now bosses have done a screeching U-turn and FIONA GOLFAR says: It’s WOMEN who want Victoria’s Secret to bring sexy back

When I worked at Vogue House as editor-in-chief of the fashion bible, there was a shop across the road in Bond Street that some of our staff frequented – part retail therapy, part entertainment.

In the 1990s, Victoria’s Secret, with its Swarovski nail-studded underwire bras and neon lace thongs, felt fun, aspirational and even empowering. This was the era of Juicy Couture-clad WAGs, and being as overtly boudoir sexy as a burlesque dancer wasn’t even remotely frowned upon. I was seduced by the brand’s sexy lace half cup bras.

My then-teenage daughter was obsessed with the celebrity-filled runway extravaganzas she was famous for. She loved the Angels (as the top models are known) with their glamorous proportions, mermaid hair and a heavy dose of make-up. Adriana, Candice, Heidi, Alessandra…

Since then, however, Victoria’s Secret has undergone something of a self-censoring makeover. Long gone are the ‘Angels’; the feathers, the foam, that all-American stardust.

When the fashion world – along with the rest of the planet – woke up, the boardroom panicked.

The glitzy catwalk shows were ditched (the last ‘classic’ show, packed with celebs, feathers and glitter, was in 2018) and a procession of body-positive models entered.

The goal was to both attract Gen Z and retain their original customers – a difficult task at the best of times. But when I asked my daughter, now 25, if she wanted to shop at the new and improved Victoria’s Secret, she backed away. Not only is it desperately ‘uncool’, it also smacks of ‘inauthenticity’, which is apparently a much bigger crime.

It turns out that the target audience – and the many critics of social media – are not as gullible as these big brands might imagine. Not only can they smell the stench of desperation, they can spot a cynical marketing ploy from a mile away. Now Victoria’s Secret executives are realizing the truth of the “go woke, go broke” mantra. This year’s turnover is expected to be £1.1 billion lower than in 2020.

Surprise, surprise, the brand has now decided to bring sexy back and prioritize sex appeal over today’s more body-positive images that the core consumer has shunned.

And I, for one, say hurray for that! Because no matter how much times have changed since the glory days of the Angels, women still enjoy a healthy dose of ambition. And when I’m looking for glamour, I don’t necessarily want to see myself or women like me.

Brands may think that women feel left out and insecure every time they see a model who is thinner, younger and prettier than themselves, but that’s simply not the case. We know what we look like and generally the appearance of the women on billboards and catwalks won’t change that.

So what we really want is not another mirror held up to us in a misguided attempt to make us feel better about ourselves (it’s much easier to compare flaws to a ‘normal’ woman than to a supermodel), but a gateway to another world. Because while I don’t want to be bombarded with heroin-chic stick insects, the truth is that when I see a plus-size model, I immediately think less about the clothes than the woman wearing them. I remember that Vogue was also often criticized in my time for its use of skinny models. Our editor even went to great lengths to get designers to create realistic sample sizes (to no avail), and photo retouching often meant the girls looked bigger, not smaller.

But still, the magazine’s job was to create magic. Something to dream about. Beautiful escapism.

And that’s what the old Victoria’s Secret did. It exuded the glamor of Charlie’s Angels because it understood that women wanted to dream.

Yes, we want to feel better about ourselves – and a gorgeous new bra or panty can really do that. For a moment we can suspend disbelief; When I wear the same lingerie as fashion thoroughbreds like Adriana Lima, I can feel sexy too.

Understandably, the MeToo, body positivity, diversity and gender identity movements have led to change. But in the aftermath of Wake, Victoria’s Secret became embroiled in a series of scandals.

In 2018, then-marketing boss Ed Razek sparked a backlash when he declared that Victoria’s Secret would never cast plus-size models in its annual fashion show.

Razek resigned the following year and in 2020, the New York Times reported that he was accused of inappropriate behavior towards models – accusations he denied.

In 2019, an investigation by the New York Times revealed ties between former Victoria’s Secret L Brands CEO Lex Werne and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, further tarnishing the brand’s reputation.

You can imagine the sheer panic in the boardroom – and the call to quickly move away from the regressive, hyper-sexualised image. But how do you desexualize the sexiest brand in the world? It was like asking a sex shop to start selling hymnals.

Victoria’s Secret chose to use the handbrake – from gyrating, burlesque glamazons to Dove ad-worthy. And I believe the customers just weren’t ready for this dramatic transformation.

The major catwalk shows featuring ‘Angels’ were halted and the company stated its ambition to be ‘the world’s leading advocate for women’. To that end, recent campaigns have featured stars such as former U.S. women’s soccer captain Megan Rapinoe, plus-size models Paloma Elsesser and Ali Tate-Cutler, and Brazilian transgender model Valentina Sampaio.

Although the fashion show returned last month, there was no catwalk and instead model Naomi Campbell recited a poem. Yawn.

So I applaud this return to sexy and can’t wait to see it. As brand bosses struggle to find the right balance between iridescence and inclusivity, they’re having to take a leaf from more modern, female-led brands like Kim Kardashian’s Skims and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty. Here the models are rounder than the old Angels, but they are healthy rather than oversized.

What’s sexy should be defined by women – not by a boardroom desperately trying to wake up.