Victoria’s Secret is kissing its Angels goodbye and saying hello to athletes, activists and actors as the lingerie brand’s new spokespeople. The intimate-clothing retailer, known for using models referred to as “Angels” to strut the runway scantily clad in their collections for the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, has announced a completely new rebrand with a campaign that features a group of diverse women as the brand’s new representatives.
Among the first seven women selected to join the “VS Collective” are professional soccer star and equal pay champion Megan Rapinoe, actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra Jonas and LGBTQ model and activist Valentina Sampaio, the first transgender model to be featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. More women are set to join. Victoria’s Secret created the partnership to “build new, deeper relationships with all women” by creating “revolutionary” lingerie collections, “inspiring” content, and bring awareness for causes that support women, according to a press release about the changes.
The turnaround is seen as a response to the criticism the brand has faced for its lack of diversity within its model selection, and an effort to win back market share that it’s lost as a result. In 2018, Victoria’s Secret then chief marketing officer Ed Razek said in what became a highly controversial interview, that he wasn’t interested in casting transgender and plus-size models for the annual fashion show.
Razek’s comments sparked backlash and fire for the brand. He soon announced his “retirement,” and Victoria’s Secret cast Sampaio as its first openly transgender model, as well as hiring its first plus-sized model, Ali Tate-Cutler, in 2019. But many felt the brand hadn’t gone far enough, and that same year, Victoria’s Secret cancelled its internationally broadcast Fashion Show, citing the need to “evolve” its marketing technique as a reason.
Included in the press release was a statement from Sampaio, heralding the brand’s new direction. “Being a trans woman often means facing closed doors to people’s hearts. As a powerful global platform, Victoria’s Secret is committed to opening these doors for trans women like me, by celebrating, uplifting and advocating for ALL women.”
Having athletes and activists like Rapinoe represent the brand could be the first step to a changing Victoria’s Secret image. “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 the Wednesday announcement.
More changes are expected to come to Victoria’s Secret as parent company L Brands announced plans for the brand to be a standalone public company in August. In 2020, L Brands announced that they would be closing 250 stores, and then in February of this year, they announced that 30 to 50 additional U.S. Store locations would be closing as well.
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