Victoria’s Secret is remodeling its stores across the globe and throwing out its iconic “Angels” imagery, hot pink color scheme, and sexy decor as part of its larger rebranding effort — one that’s been criticized as woke and “performative” by former models and included naming women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe and transgender model Valentina Sampaio brand ambassadors.
After canceling its annual fashion show in November 2019, Victoria’s Secret is now erasing the brand’s longtime Angels aesthetic that helped turn supermodels like Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Ariana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Karlie Kloss, and Candice Swanepoel into household names.
The televised show had become the biggest fashion event of the year with millions tuning in every year since its launch in 1995.
A spokesperson for Victoria’s Secret confirmed to the New York Post that the brand is revamping all of its stores and throwing out the Angels in favor of plus-sized mannequins and imagery that reflects real life rather than fantasy.
The Post reports:
When Victoria’s Secret’s three-story flagship in midtown Manhattan reopens at the end of July, it will be scrubbed of any evidence of its former pride and joy: the Victoria’s Secret Angels. [Emphasis added]
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Customers can also bid farewell to the videos that ran on a constant loop on television screens of its fashion shows and interviews with models, a spokesperson confirmed. [Emphasis added]
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About half of Victoria’s Secret’s 1,400 global stores have begun to swap out the angel imagery for a look that is “more inviting for women to enter,” Victoria’s Secret’s new creative director, Raul Martinez, told The Post. [Emphasis added]
Models Martha Hunt, Lais Ribeiro, Josephine Skriver, Sara Sampaio, Stella Maxwell, and Romee Strijd walk the runway at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on November 8, 2018 at Pier 94 in New York City. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
US model Devon Windsor walks the runway at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on November 8, 2018 at Pier 94 in New York City. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Adriana Lima, Elsa Hosk, Alessandra Ambrosio, Taylor Hill, Martha Hunt and Sara Sampaio walks the runway at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on November 30, 2016 in Paris, France. (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Victoria’s Secret)
Last May, Victoria’s Secret announced that it would permanently close around 250 stores in the U.S. and Canada in 2020. “It’s parent company L Brands said overall sales for the three months ended May 2 fell 37 percent compared with a year ago. Gross profit fell 59 percent. The company lost $275.2 million in the quarter, compared with net income of $40.3 a year ago. Profits per share were down 807 percent for a loss of 99 cents per share,” Breitbart News reported.
Former Victoria’s Secret model Bridget Malcolm made headlines around the world last month when she said the lingerie company’s woke re-branding is “perforative” and a “joke.”
Devon Windsor walks the runway during the 2017 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show In Shanghai at Mercedes-Benz Arena on November 20, 2017 in Shanghai, China. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Victoria’s Secret)
Supermodels photographed during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at the 69th Regiment Armory November 13, 2003 in New York City. (Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
Candice Swanepoel walks the runway at the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show at Earls Court on December 2, 2014 in London, England. (Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)
Models Taylor Hill, Jasmine Tookes, Elsa Hosk, Adriana Lima, Behati Prinsloo, and Candice Swanepoe walk the runway at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on November 8, 2018 at Pier 94 in New York City.(TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
US model Bella Hadid walks past singer Rita Ora as she performs on the runway at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on November 8, 2018 at Pier 94 in New York City. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Victoria’s Secret Angels Adriana Lima, Doutzen Kroes, Candice Swanepoel, and Erin Heatherton walk the runway during the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at the Lexington Avenue Armory on November 7, 2012 in New York City. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
US model Gigi Hadid walks the runway at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on November 8, 2018 at Pier 94 in New York City. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Models on the runway during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show held at the Kodak Theatre on November 16, 2006 in Hollywood, California. (Mark Mainz/Getty Images)
Dutch model Romee Strijd walks the runway at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on November 8, 2018 at Pier 94 in New York City. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Chinese model Ming Xi, US model Grace Elizabeth, French model Cindy Bruna, US model Gigi Hadid, US model Kendall Jenner and British model Alexina Graham walk the runway at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on November 8, 2018 at Pier 94 in New York City. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
British model Lily Donaldson presents a creation during the 2015 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in New York on November 10, 2015. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images)
Victoria’s Secret models (L-R) Lily Aldridge, Candice Swanepoel, Doutzen Kroes, Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima walks the runway during finale of the 2014 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at Earl’s Court exhibition centre on December 2, 2014 in London, England. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Victoria’s Secret)
Victoria’s Secret CEO Martin Waters is advising store associates of the brand’s rebrand, saying “We are moving from what men want to what women want; We are going from a look to a feeling, from excluding most women to including all women, from mostly unattainable to grounded in real life.”
Only three former Angels with Victoria’s Secret will work with the brand moving forward: Models Helena Christensen, Grace Elisabeth, and Taylor Hill.
Instead of the Angels, Victoria’s Secret announced this year brand ambassadors soccer player Megan Rapinoe, transgender model Valentina Sampaio, and plus-size model Paloma Elsesser, among a few others.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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