How Victoria’s Secret Plans To Bring ‘Sexy’ Back

After revenue dipped five percent, the lingerie brand called upon famed supermodels to star in a new campaign.

Beau Hayhoe

Oct 20, 2023

Trends ebb and flow in fashion, but certain things have staying power, like the famed Victoria’s Secret Angels (and the red-hot image of Victoria’s Secret in general).

But as recently as 2021, Victoria’s Secret shifted away from its Victoria’s Secret Angels and plotted a new course.

That change in creative direction focused on more inclusivity and diversity among its models, led by a variety of new female faces for the iconic brand, like soccer star and activist Megan Rapinoe and activist Priyanka Chopra.

The shift even led Bella Hadid to model for VS again, but the changes have proven less successful than anticipated in terms of dollars and cents: Reports indicate the lingerie brand’s revenue is down five percent, so what’s Victoria’s Secret to do?

The key? Another change in direction back towards its eye-catching, provocative heyday in some respects, led by the return of the longest-running VS Angel, Adriana Lima.

The brand still feels, however, that “sexiness can be inclusive,” Victoria’s Secret and Pink Brand President Greg Unis said on an investor call last week, according to CNN.

A campaign celebrating icons like Naomi Campbell also debuted earlier this summer, indicating a shift back to decades past.

Icon and model Emily Ratajkowksi also joined that campaign, which arrives alongside a series of changes VS is plotting, including expanded retail investment outside North America, plus a different, more appealing store aesthetic entirely.

How those changes will impact the legendary brand in the years to come is anyone’s guess right now, but Victoria’s Secret is certainly focused on turning up the temperature again (literally and figuratively).