Daily excerpts of new fashion, culture, lifestyle, activism and women's news posts 2007-2019.
Guy Aroch Captures Barbara, Jasmine and Romee in Victoria's Secret Resort 2019.2020
Victoria’s Secret Angels Barbara Palvin, Jasmine Tookes and Romee Strijd bask in sun and sand, showcasing the Victoria’s Secret Resort 2019-2020 Collection. The Angels are lensed by Guy Aroch in the Turks & Caicos, miles away from Columbus, Ohio executive suite VS headaches.
Victoria's Secret Sorority Sister Holiday 2019 Spirit
Victoria’s Secret claims its London heritage, winging to London for its Holiday 2019 campaign. The VS sorority sister lineup includes Alexina Graham, Barbara Palvin, Birgit Kos, Elsa Hosk, Lais Ribeiro, Loren Duran, Leomie Anderson, Josephine Skriver, Stella Maxwell, and Winnie Harlow.
Rihanna's Savage x Fenty Xtra VIP Campaign Rings In A New Day in Lingerie Leisure
Rihanna rings in the holiday season, sharing her Savage x Fenty three VIP boxes in a campaign lensed by Dennis Leupold. Designs were handpicked by Rihanna’s stylist, creative collaborator and best friend Jahleel Weaver. Talking with British Vogue, Weaver describes the VIP boxes as representing everything the lingerie brand represents: “Expressing the truest version of yourself and celebrating how different and unique we all are.”
From the “Truth or Dare” package to “Still Watching?” and “XXX”, Weaver wanted to include as many lingerie styles as possible for Fenty’s expansive following, writes British Vogue. “The pieces I chose all have their own unique Savage twist and show personality – a mix of strength and sensuality,” Weaver tells Vogue. “I love it when people take risks with their clothes. It’s always so obvious when you can see that a person is having fun with fashion.”
For Love & Lemons returns to Victoria’s Secret for a Holiday 2019 collaboration. The campaign stars Ophelie Guillermand, Solange van Doorn and Tami Williams styled by Ashley Glorioso in a collection that includes lace bustiers, rhinestone embellished bras and high-waisted panties.
Zoey Grossman delivers a modern, poetic sensuality in the Love & Lemons romantic aesthetic that’s doing far more for Victoria’s Secret than VS is doing for the boarding school with heart LA brand..
Victoria's Secret Rolls Out Grace Elizabeth In For Love and Lemons Campaign by Zoey Grossman
Victoria's Secret celebrated their For Love & Lemons Lingerie collaboration with founders Laura Hall and Gillian Rose Kern and Collection Muses Devon Lee Carlson and Solange Van Doorn. at a FLL x Victoria’s Secret launch party Thursday night
Victoria’s Secret Chief Executive Officer John Mehas delivers another major signal about his vision for a revitalized Victoria’s Secret, one that is “by her, for her” and that includes LA-based photographer Zoey Grossman shooting VS Angel Grace Elizabeth in the first release of campaign images.
Russell James Portraits New VS Model Lorena Duran as Sensual Phoenix Teases Rise from Ashes
VS needs all the support we can muster in our own USA economic interest, so let’s give the formerly great lingerie brand a break. AOC applauds its new hire model Lorena Duran and putting Russell James (who I’ve always adored) behind the lens to photograph her.
Russell James has an impeccable reputation with the VS models for decades. And few contemporary photographers have a better grasp of photographing upscale female sensuality — transgender, bisexual, gay or straight. Russell James respects and appreciates women. (Whatever group I forgot, please forgive me. Surely you get my point.)
On Tuesday morning, over 100 models, including Christy Turlington Burns, Edie Campbell, Karen Elson, Milla Jovovich, Doutzen Kroes, and Gemma Ward, signed an open letter addressed directly to Victoria’s Secret. The letter petitioned the lingerie brand to take concrete actions in protecting models against sexual misconduct.
The letter was properly addressed to Victoria’s Secret’s CEO John Mehas and it pulled no punches:
We are writing today to express our concern for the safety and wellbeing of the models and young women who aspire to model for Victoria’s Secret. In the past few weeks, we have heard numerous allegations of sexual assault, alleged rape, and sex trafficking of models and aspiring models. While these allegations may not have been aimed at Victoria's Secret directly, it is clear that your company has a crucial role to play in remedying the situation. From the headlines about L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner’s close friend and associate, Jeffrey Epstein, to the allegations of sexual misconduct by photographers Timur Emek, David Bellemere, and Greg Kadel, it is deeply disturbing that these men appear to have leveraged their working relationships with Victoria’s Secret to lure and abuse vulnerable girls.
L Brands CEO Les Wexner (l) and former CMO Ed Razek (r) in happier times.
The letter then proceeds to invite Victoria’s Secret to join the RESPECT Program —a program of the Model Alliance—is the only existing anti-sexual harassment program designed by and for models.
Signatory companies make a binding commitment to require their employees, agents, vendors, photographers and other contractors to follow a code of conduct that protects everyone’s safety on the job, and reduces models’ vulnerability to mistreatment. Models have access to an independent, confidential complaint mechanism, with swift and fair resolution of complaints and appropriate consequences for abusers. Further, RESPECT includes a robust training program aimed toward prevention, to ensure that everyone understands their rights and responsibilities.
“Corporations tend to treat the discovery of abuses as public-relations crises to be managed rather than human-rights violations to be remedied,” says Sara Ziff, the founder and executive director of the Model Alliance. “The RESPECT Program provides Victoria’s Secret an opportunity not only to right the wrongs of the past but also to work towards prevention.”
Ziff recently penned an essay for the Cut detailing her own encounter with Epstein as a young model. She highlighted just how long an imbalance of power and lack of protections have “plagued” the industry. She wrote: “Now, we need the support of agencies, publishing companies, and fashion brands who want to do better by the talent who they purport to protect.”
In November, the Model Alliance issued a statement following disgraced L Brands Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek’s infamous Vogue interview in advance of Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Razek retired from Victoria’s Secret on Monday.
We have the welcome news that Victoria’s Secret Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek has retired in the wake of growing fallout around Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to L Brands chief and major stockholder Les Wexner. The plot has thickened so deep that even I — who worked in the business for a decade and knew both men well — am waiting for the next shoe to drop.
Razek was riding high — not in terms of VS revenues and profits, which were clobbered last year — but in an interview with Vogue in advance of the now cancelled, annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Among the tough questions fielded to Razek was one about using ‘transsexual’ models in the fashion show.
Razek claimed that “transsexual” models should not be cast “because the show is fantasy.” We know he meant “male fantasy” which is among the many reasons for the decline of VS. Former Victoria’s Secret Angel Karlie Kloss and current Angel Lily Aldridge clapped back online, stating that trans and gender non-conforming lives are not up for debate.
In a bit of poetic justice, Razek is out and transgender beauty Valentina Sampaio, a 22-year-old model hailing from Brazil, has shot a new campaign for Victoria’s Secret Pink.
I find Sampaio’s sultry, intoxicating images to be more conducive for the VS mothership, but whatever role she plays, we say kudos.
Hiring Sampaio won’t begin to solve Victoria’s Secret’s problems, but at least we know that new VS CEO John Mehas is putting his foot down. Mehas most recently was president of Tory Burch and from all we know, his thinking is much more advanced in terms of today’s women and also the attitudes of young shoppers than either Razek’s or Wexner’s.
Victoria's Secret Fall 2019 Campaign with Candice, Elsa, Grace Elizabeth, Kelly and Lorena AOC Fashion
Victoria’s Secret Angels Candice Swanepoel, Elsa Hosk, and Grace Elizabeth join Kelly Gale and Lorena Duran in the lingerie brand’s very sexy fashion pieces Fall 2019 campaign, lensed by Russell James [IG].
In May 2019, Fast Company profiled the highly-influential Diet Prada’s work calling out copycat fashion designers and championing new ones. Diet Prada cofounders Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler are among Fast Company’s Most Creative People of 2019.
Victoria’s Secret can’t seem to stay out of the news. Not only has VS landed on Diet Prada’s front page Instagram for knocking off their former design director, but the post gave Diet Prada the opportunity to slice a bit of VS flesh over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
First, the VS knockoff of Fleur du Mal’s “appliquéd Lily bras and panties, dupes of which unsurprisingly showed up for sale on VS’ website and Instagram two days ago (at half the price),” writes Diet Prada. The Columbus, Ohio-based lingerie company placed a $12,656 web order from Fleur du Mal online. As a former design and fashion director head at VS,
I agree that brand knocked off Fleur du Mal. In fact, with a knock off that literal, who needs a design staff?
I agree that brand knocked off Fleur du Mal. In fact, with a knock off that literal, who needs a design staff?
Having been the VS Design Director from 2008-2011. Jennifer Zuccarini, Fleur du Mal’s founder, who previously co-founded the lingerie brand Kiki de Montparnasse in 2005, perhaps wondered what was happening with an order that size. I’m assuming that multiples were ordered — perhaps even enough for a test in a store or two.
Not only does Victoria’s Secret not need more bad publicity of any kind right now, but Diet Prada took the opportunity to discuss the Victoria’s Secret - Jeffrey Epstein connection.
But their troubles don’t stop there (The Fleur du Mal accusation). The recently exposed ties between L Brands’ CEO Les Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein Epstein, sent stock shares of VS’ parent company tumbling to the lowest they’ve been in nearly a decade. Epstein, a close friend and former financial advisor to Wexner, has of course been making headlines after being indicted on child sex trafficking charges. The day of his arrest last weekend, a trove of naked photos of underage girls was uncovered in his Upper East Side mansion, a home that was formerly owned by Wexner and reportedly transferred over to Epstein for $1. Hella shady and creepy, if we’ve ever seen it. Supermodels, it might be time to really rethink your contracts with Victoria’s Secret. Here’s to L Brands’ shares and VS’ profits tumbling even deeper lol.
I covered the latest Victoria’s Secret Epstein problems on July 12 as well. It’s difficult to process all the negative publicity VS has gotten in the last year. My in-depth comments were attached to the newest VS ad campaign. I just checked one VS Angel’s Instagram and she still hasn’t posted her campaign shots. She’s been out of the country but I say it’s no accident. On the 12th, two of the five models didn’t post the new campaign.
Victoria's Secret Releases Gorgeous Pre-Fall 2019 Ad Campaign As Stock Falls Under Epstein Scandal
Embattled lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret releases its pre-fall 2019 campaign, with product and an editorial vision under new CEO, former Tory Burch president John Mehas.
The campaign is shot by Adam Franzino, very much in the style of my Victoria’s Secret vision and features VS Angels Elsa Hosk, Jasmine Tookes, Romee Strijd, Martha Hunt and Taylor Hill joined by Rubina Dyan.
Karlie Kloss Talks Leaving Victoria's Secret + Joining Judaism In British Vogue August Cover Story
Superstar Karlie Kloss covers the August 2019 issue of British Vogue, lensed by Steven Meisel. Karlie wears a Versace sweater and Bulgari jewelry styled by Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful, who chooses a fabulous gown by Marc Jacobs for one preview shot and Dior checks for another.
Now for the real story, which is Karlie delivering a loving gut punch to Victoria’s Secret, its second in two days. On Monday, NIKE made it known that they now sell more bras in North America than any other retailer.
VS Angels Barbara, Lais and Leomie Join Lorena In Russell James Snaps For VS Swim 2019
Victoria’s Secret turns up the temperature with more images from its online and select stores summer 2019 swim collection. Angels Leomie Anderson, Lais Ribeiro and Barbara Palvin join forces with model Lorena Rae. Longtime VS photographer Russell James is behind the lens photographing his VS friends posing in bold metallics, asymetrical shapes with major cutouts and high-waisted bikinis.
Victoria's Secret Kisses Network TV Fashion Show Goodbye | Thinking Next Steps
Victoria’s Secret is going to rehab and hopefully something new and wonderful will be born on the watch of former president of Tory Burch John Mehas.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show kissed network television ‘goodbye’ Friday, announcing that it will no longer air on network television after 22 years years for the fashion show, and almost two decades on television.
The announcement was made in a Friday memo to the chain’s associates from Leslie Wexner, the chief executive of Victoria’s Secret’s parent company, L Brands. Mr. Wexner said that the company had been “taking a fresh look at every aspect of our business” in the past few months, and noted that the brand “must evolve and change to grow.”
Victoria’s Secret Angel Taylor Hill launched the new Victoria’s Secret fragrance Tease Dreamer in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The limited-edition sister to the original VS Tease fragrance, channels the Hollywood Hills, Malibu, surf-loving California lifestyle. VS adds a note of coconut — a gourmand twist, they call it — for a perfect spring sendoff.
PHOTO BY IHTESHAM ISMAIL ON UNSPLASH
Victoria's Secret To Close 53 Stores in 2019 As Global Auto Sales Also Drop In Major Spending Shifts
American teenagers no longer hang out at the mall like generations past. Their lives are far more complex and demanding; then add in the high priority of digital culture and online shopping in their lives. Their fashion fav brands often aren’t even sold in America’s shopping malls.
Last week was a brutal one for American retailers. L Brands made the decision to close 53 Victoria’s Secret stores in North America. Gap Inc. announced that it will close 230 stores in the next two years. J.C. Penney weighed in with 18 new department store closures. Earlier in February Payless announced the closure of 2,500 in America.
It’s not all bad news. Planet Fitness Chief Executive officer Chris Rondeau said his business is immune to e-commerce’s effects on brick-and-mortar, making it a good mall tenant, writes Business of Fashion.
“Our business can’t be Amazoned. We’re un-Amazonable,” he said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “We do about 5,000 workouts per gym per week, about 8 million workouts a week in the U.S., so look at how much traffic we drive to these centers every day. And the majority of those visits are Monday through Wednesday; most retailers are busy on the weekends, so we’re a great co-tenant for these retailers to drive that traffic.”
Victoria’s Secret celebrates Valentine’s Day with red and pink pjs and sexy little nothings worn by all-stars like Alexina Graham, Elsa Hosk, Sara Sampaio, and Taylor Hill.
“Valentine’s Day is about celebrating all the love in your life. Whether you are shopping for yourself or buying a gift for someone special, you can’t go wrong with Victoria’s Secret,” says Romee Strijd. “This year, I am all about being a little bit daring. I gifted myself the new neon Very Sexy Push Up Bra to wear for a fun night out.”
THIRDLOVE CEO HEIDI ZAK (L); L BRANDS CMO ED RAZEK (R)
Third Love Lingerie's Heidi Zak Pens Open Letter To Victoria's Secret After Razek Interview
The fallout from L Brands CMO Ed Razek’s now infamous Vogue interview in advance of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show continued with the publication of ThirdLove's co-founder and co-CEO, Heidi Zak’s open letter to Victoria’s Secret, published in Sunday’s New York Times.
In a long list of frankly stupid comments from a smart man I worked with for years, Razek cited his small but mighty ThirdLove competitor in the lingerie space, saying “We’re nobody’s ThirdLove, we’re their first love.” Pissed off people protested over Razek’s arrogance, particularly in view of Victoria’s Secret and PINK’s current death spiral in revenue. It was not a moment to give women and men one more reason not to shop Victoria’s Secret at the critical holiday season.
Emily Ratajkowski Launches M / RATA Lingerie On Nov. 22, Adding Another Wound To Victoria's Secret
Victoria’s Secret is about to get another lingerie sector challenger with the announcement that Emily Ratajkowski is launching a new lingerie line called M / RATA in a collab with Blush Lingerie. Ratajkowski’s new baby will make its debut on November 22, 2018 just in time for the holidays.
M / RATA lingerie is committed to ethical manufacturing under the Blush umbrella, reflecting the growing demands and concerns especially among younger consumers. The rules governing its manufacturing practices are posted on the company’s website.
M / RATA by Blush is also committed to size inclusivity, a topic that haunted Victoria’s Secret once again after the brand’s recent, tone-deaf Vogue.com interview by VS pros Ed Razek and Monica Mitro.
Adriana Lima announced her retirement from Victoria’s Secret after walking her 18th and last fashion show at Manhattan’s Pier 94. Her Instagram post was a sweet goodbye.
Victoria’s Secret Angel, Brazilian beauty Adriana Lima is hanging up her wings after two decades and 18 fashion shows with the brand. Lima shared the news on her Instagram following Thursday night’s taping of the annual show.
The name Adriana Lima is almost synonymous with the Victoria’s Secret brand, and Lima is so devoted to its success that she famously walked the runway in 2012, just five weeks after giving birth.
"Dear Victoria, Thank you for showing me the world, sharing your secrets, and most importantly not just giving me wings but teaching me to fly. And all the ❤️ to the best fans in the 🌎! Love, Adriana 💖"
Victoria’s Secret sent Adriana out with a bang, devoting a whole segment of her final VS runway walk to her. Making a solo walk down the runway against the backdrop of a video montage of her spectacular VS career, tears broke when Victoria’s Secret gave her a sign to carry that read, "Thank you to the best Angel of all time."
Victoria’s Secret Angel Adriana Lima says goodbye. via Vogue.com
Lima’s departure comes a year after the retirement of fellow Brazilian sister Alessandra Ambrosio, who retired her wings after 17 years after the 2017 fashion show. With multiple challenges for the brand dominating its current status, the departure of Adriana Lima is one more data dot in projecting the Victoria’s Secret future.
The early read on VS execs Ed Razek and Monica Mitro’s online Vogue interview “We’re Nobody’s Third Love, We’re Their First Love”—The Architects of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Are Still Banking on Bombshells is not great. The Cut wrote: This Interview With the Minds Behind Victoria’s Secret Is . . . Really Something.
I know both Ed and Monica and have articulated my own thoughts on Victoria’s Secret many times. It’s a moment for reflection before saying anything else right now about Victoria’s Secret. Meanwhile, we share a look back at Adriana Lima’s career to date. There’s no doubt that she has an exciting future ahead of her.
Anne of Carversile is an influential fashion, design and culture news resource for creatives, brands and lifestye businesses since 2007.
All content Copyright © AnneofCarversville.com 2007-2024 or their respective owners where indicated.
