REVIEW: With no disrespect to a certain group of motorcycle enthusiasts, they were the most celebrated and recognised angels in America.
A select group of global supermodels who helped fuel the fantasies of men and women around the world – and persuaded them to shell out jaw-dropping price tags for alluring scanties.
But as the fascinating, enlightening and sometimes shocking three-part documentary series Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons (now streaming on Prime Video) highlights, behind the “tits and glitz” of the mega-popular annual runway show was a darker side as the infamous Jeffrey Epstein used his connections to CEO Les Wexner for his own nefarious ends. Posing as a recruiter, his behaviour was the subject of numerous complaints from as early as 1993, with Wexner accused of either ignoring them, sweeping them under the carpet, or both.
However, while just like the 10-part Secrets of Playboy series earlier this year, Matt Tyrnauer’s investigation rightly exposes the seedier side of this business empire, this also provides a fascinating look at the rise and fall of an iconic fashion brand. How did an Ohio businessman turn a faltering husband-and-wife passion project into a $7.5 billion enterprise and how did an apparently female-focused company fail to adapt and get so out of step with the times and women’s demands for them to look outside the “narrow band of beauty” they were seemingly selling?
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* Victoria’s Secret show cancelled after months of speculation
* Victoria’s Secret fashion show will no longer be shown on network TV
While Matt Tyrnauer’s investigation rightly exposes the seedier side of the Victoria’s Secret business empire, it also provides a fascinating look at the rise and fall of an iconic fashion brand
Through new interviews with employees, fashion experts, designers and models, as well as extensive archival footage which includes internal videos and a 2017 sit-down with Wexner himself, you’ll learn about the intriguing history of both the man and the brand.
While he started out in his parents’ women’s full-service dress shop, only going it alone after a disagreement with his dad over wanting to focus on sportswear, Victoria’s Secret was actually founded by Roy and Gaye Raymond in 1977. The inspiration? Roy felt embarrassed buying lingerie for his wife in a department store and thought other men would also feel more comfortable being able to select in a more “welcoming environment”, or via a catalogue from the comfort of their home.
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Les Wexner bought Victoria’s Secret from Roy and Gaye Raymond in 1982.
For a few years, it worked well, but it was on its last legs – and facing bankruptcy – when Wexler came calling in 1982. Now the owner of a number of fashion brands which had already begun to dominate retail space in America’s increasingly popular shopping malls (adroitly and magnificently described by one commentator here as Instagram 101 – the original place to be “seen” showing off your personal style), he had a vision of transforming the Raymond’s Victoriana sofa and Tiffany lampshade-dominated visions into something more contemporary and exciting.
“Men should feel uncomfortable in our stores,” he says in one sound-bite, stressing that he was creating a “powerful vision” from a “lady’s point-of-view”, “fantasising and romanticising” what was an everyday commodity. That included “inventing” a new founder – Victoria Stewart White – a refined, aspirational mid-30s Englishwoman. It worked so well, one former employee says she distinctly remembers an intern asking her, “So, when do we get to meet Victoria?”
Other successful Wexler business innovations included bi-monthly European trips to “scout” and essentially “steal” the latest trends (one item, retooled and renamed as the Forenza sweater was the garment that really built his empire), outsourcing manufacturing to China and starting the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, something that was key to persuading models that posing for their them could be the start – rather than the end – of their career, as had been the previous perception. But, as Dutch model Frederique van der Wal reveals, the adrenaline rush of the spotlight sometimes quickly faded.
“I was happy to leave, go home and cry in a bathtub,” she says of her post-show routine.
Such candidness is what makes this erudite and comprehensive teddy-to-thong-and-#MeToo deep dive such engrossing viewing.
Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons is now available to stream on Prime Video.
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