Victoria’s Secret To No Longer Call Ambassadors ‘Angels’ As Part Of Major Rebrand

Lingerie brand Victoria Secret, known for perpetuating traditional beauty standards, has rebranded with a more diverse line-up.

Yesterday, the brand announced it would no longer be calling its ambassadors ‘angels’ and announced a new line-up of spokesmodels that it dubbed the VS Collective.

In the past, Victoria Secret has been criticised for its models being too thin or underweight. Adriana Lima didn’t help this when she famously said in 2011 that she didn’t eat solid food nine days before a Victoria Secret Show.

In 2019, the lingerie brand did hire plus-size model Ali Tate-Cutler, but the brand had yet to make any big changes.

The VS Collective list marked a change in ambassadors for Victoria Secret, offering a more diverse line-up including 38-year-old actress Priyanka Chopra Jones, soccer star Megan Rapinoe and transgender activist Valentina Sampaio.

 

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While for many brands that list may not seem groundbreaking, competitors like lingerie brand Savage x Fenty have been embracing a diverse lineup since its inception in 2018.

It marks a big change in direction for the iconic brand that use to only feature models that fit into traditional beauty standards.

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The announcement of transgender model Valentina Sampaio was particularly poignant considering that, according to The Guardian in 2018, the chief marketing officer of Victoria Secret’s parent company L Brands, Ed Razer, told Vogue he didn’t want transgender models in a Victoria Secret show because it would spoil the “fantasy”.

Razer later apologised.

In lieu of the new announcement Victoria Secret’s chief executive, Martin Waters told The New York Times, “When the world was changing, we were too slow to respond. We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want.”

Waters also told The New York Times that he no longer felt the term ‘angels’ was “culturally relevant.”

Waters isn’t wrong about the world changing.

In February, CNN Business reported that Victoria Secret’s parent company L Brands announced plans to close up to 50 stores in The United States and Canada. The brand had already closed 241 stores in 2020.