Victoria’s Secret is set to ditch its ‘inclusive’ rebrand and return to its sexy roots following a £1.1 billion drop in revenue since 2020 – the latest victim of ‘go woke, go broke’. Fiona Golfar in the Mail says women will welcome the move. Here’s an excerpt.
When I worked at Vogue House as the fashion bible’s Editor-at-Large, there was a shop across the road on Bond Street that some of us staffers would visit — part retail therapy, part entertainment.
Back in the Noughties, Victoria’s Secret, with its Swarovski-studded, heavily under-wired bras and neon lacy thongs felt fun, aspirational — empowering, even. This was the era of Juicy Couture-clad WAGs, and being as overtly boudoir-sexy as a burlesque dancer wasn’t remotely frowned upon. I was seduced by the brand’s sexy half-cup lacy bras.
My then teenage daughter was obsessed with the celeb-crammed catwalk extravaganzas that it was famous for. She adored the Angels (as its top models are known) with their glamazonian proportions, mermaid hair and lashings of make-up. Adriana, Candice, Heidi, Alessandra …
Since then, however, Victoria’s Secret has gone through something of a self-censoring makeover. Long gone are the ‘Angels’; the feathers, the froth, that all-American sprinkle of stardust.
When the fashion world — along with the rest of the planet — went woke, the boardroom panicked.
