Victoria’s Secret fires Angels.
The lingerie giant said on Wednesday it is teaming up with a group of inspiring women, including activists and entrepreneurs, to promote a new brand image and turn around business.
Victoria’s Secret announced that the women, who include Indian actress and entrepreneur Priyanka Chopra Jonas and professional soccer player and gender equality activist Megan Rapinoe, will be the faces and voices of the brand.
Victoria’s Secret Angels have been synonymous with the brand since the late 1990s. Over the years, these women, who include some of the world’s most famous models (such as Gisele Bündchen, Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum), have been the faces of Victoria’s Secret through marketing campaigns and the annual runway show.
In an interview with The New York Times published Wednesday, Victoria’s Secret CEO Martin Waters said the Angels are “culturally irrelevant.”
Read more: Victoria’s Secret’s marketing chief made controversial comments about transgender models, people slammed the company, but he didn’t resign. This may be why, according to a former executive.
The Victoria’s Secret runway show played a major role in defining “sexy” in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but more recently it has been criticized for being outdated.
The show was created by Ed Razek, the longtime marketing chief for Victoria’s Secret’s parent company, L Brands, who was considered one of the most influential figures in modeling in the early 2000s and helped launch the careers of several well-known models.
He stepped down in August 2019. The fashion show was canceled in November of that year, a year after he made controversial comments about employing transgender and plus-size models.
Waters told The Times that an overhaul of the brand was long overdue.
“Back in the day, the Victoria brand had a single lens called ‘Sexy,'” he said.
He added: “We’ve known for a long time that we needed to change this brand, we just haven’t had the control of the company to do it.”