Victoria’s Secret: A Man’s Embarrassment Led to a Billion-Dollar Empire
Uncomfortable Truth of Misogyny, Male CEOs, and Body Image Issues
Victoria’s Secret is no secret for you. All of you know it is the epitome of capitalist exploitation of eurocentric beauty standards, shaping what a ‘perfect woman’ should be like.
The irony? Victoria’s secret is literally some random guy in America. It is so silly how the idea of women’s lingerie was conceived not by another woman but by a man, one who once went to buy lingerie for his wife and got embarrassed.
So, he came home, and instead of getting over his trip to the lingerie store, he started studying women’s lingerie. There are some very weird vibes this man is giving.
Founder Accused of Being A Pervert!
Victoria’s Secret is the idea of Raymond Roy. He once went to buy lingerie for his wife but the saleswoman at the store made him feel like a perverted intruder. Of course, the poor woman would have been flustered with a man browsing the bra and panties aisles.
To battle this embarrassment, Roy came home and reportedly spent literal years studying female lingerie. Talk about the fragile male ego hurting.
Finally, after much research and investing nearly $80,000 in this venture, the first store of Victoria’s Secret opened in 1977.
Now, talk about mansplaining the embarrassment behind buying lingerie, because Victoria’s secret was a specialty store where men would not be embarrassed to buy lingerie for their female partners.
Yes, in women’s lingerie also, men’s comfort comes first. Typical, don’t you think? It was also named after the elegance of the Victorian Era, another time period when women were repressed. Could the name have been taken as a premonition for what it actually stood for? This company would play on body image.
Anyways, these lingerie stores were a huge hit. In its first year of business alone, it made give or take $500,000. This was enough to finance a chain of stores at that time and expand to a multi-million dollar industry.
Then, in the 1980s, Victoria’s Secret was grossing a whopping $6 million yearly. What you would like to know, as I would is what are their business secrets. However, despite such huge profits, Raymond sold the company to Les Wexner for a mere $1 million. Doesn’t even make sense.
Wily Wexner Reshaping Victoria’s Secret
What Roy had created to be a comfortable buying experience for men was changed around the 1980s. These changes took place when Les Wexner, founder of Ohio-based Stores Inc of Columbus, bought Victoria’s secret.
He quickly realized that since the lingerie being manufactured was for women, women formed a sizeable market. He quickly revamped the brand image and marketing by adding elements of luxury, allure, and totally sexy marketing to become, as the New York times christen it, a leader of its time.
So, by 1986, Victoria’s Secret had expanded to around 100 stores. This was when Wexner got the bright idea to launch a fashion show where models would walk wearing his lingerie.
This blew up into a yearly lingerie fashion gala. I am sure all of you must have heard of these at least once since supermodels like Kendall Jenner, and Bella Hadid has walked for Victoria’s Secret too.
This fashion gala mainly shows supermodels dressed as ‘angels,’ complete with a pair of fancy wings and rhinestone-studded elaborate bras.
Desperate Diversification and Controversial CEOs
By the 1990s, Victoria’s Secret was all the rage. Some might even claim that Victoria’s secret was a classic example of self-expressing your sexuality. Especially since founder, Raymond objectified women for the supposed gratification they experienced after buying lingerie.
Wexner carried on this idea and a hyper-sexualized marketing campaign was born. It was getting such attention. So many sales! That Victoria’s Secret started dabbling in the cosmetics market as well.
Body by Victoria was also added to their branches. So now it is split into three divisions, each with its own CEO. Namely, Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, victoria’s Beauty, and Pink.
However, in recent years, CEO Ed Razek made some pretty controversial statements. He questioned why Victoria’s Secret never uses transgender or plus-sized models. Because let us be real, not every woman looks like a toned supermodel with a tiny waist and perfect hourglass figure.
This led to Victoria’s secret suffering severe backlash until they had to close down around 53 stores and the controversial CEO resigned.
Still, woke culture cannot really be held back in this era and despite Razek resigning, Victoria’s Secret sales took a sharp decline as women started realizing they should not make themselves tiny to fit clothes but clothes should be sized big enough to fit whatever size they were.
To top it off, Les Wexner also had to step down as he was investigated for the rampant misogyny in his corporation, and Victoria’s Secret fashion show was also called off. Wow, 2020 was really not a good year for Victoria’s secret when all its dark secrets were unveiled.
Take on Victoria’s Dark Secret
So, do you realize how problematic it is that a lingerie company meant for women has had a long line of male CEOs and was even founded because a man wanted other men to feel comfortable while buying lingerie for their female partners?
Moreover, once women started condemning playboy reveries and barbie doll proportions of the female body, Victoria’s Secret sales took a huge blow. What does this say about the principles of this company?
Not to mention that Wexner has been under charges of misogyny on several occasions. So, how can a misogynist market lingerie for ladies? What is your take on Victoria’s Secret’s rise to such dizzying power?
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