Jan Singer, the CEO of the L Brands Inc. unit overseeing Victoria’s Secret, has resigned following a two-year-stint on the job, according to breaking reports.
L Brands has yet to issue a statement on Singer’s reported departure. The fashion executive left Spanx to take a leadership role at Victoria’s Secret in September 2016. The clothing giant’s stock tumbled a whopping 39 percent over the past year. “Victoria’s Secret has been under scrutiny for failing to keep up with shifting consumer demands, especially involving themes of female empowerment and diversity,” Bloomberg reports.
Singer’s exit comes just days after Victoria’s Secret chief marketing officer Ed Razek apologized for remarks he made about not casting transgender models in the company’s fashion shows.
In a recent interview with Vogue, the executive argued casting transgenders would detract from the “fantasy” of the famed events.
“It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should,” Razek told the magazine. “Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is.”
“It is the only one of its kind in the world, and any other fashion brand in the world would take it in a minute, including the competitors that are carping at us,” he added. “And they carp at us because we’re the leader. They don’t talk about each other. I accept that. I actually respect it.”
Following the social media firestorm, Razek apologized for his comments, saying they were “insensitive.”
“My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show came across as insensitive. I apologize,” Razek said. “To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show. We’ve had transgender models come to castings… And like many others, they didn’t make it… But it was never about gender. I admire and respect their journey to embrace who they really are.”