Ex-Victoria's Secret models claim they were FORCED to wear toy-adorned lingerie to woo teens
Several ex-Victoria’s Secret models have come forward to accuse the company of forcing them to wear toys and ballons as lingerie to promote the label's PINK line in the early 2000s. The allegations were made in Hulu's new docuseries, ‘Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons’, which streamed on July 14.
Victoria’s Secret was founded by Roy and Gaye Raymond in 1977 before it was bought by Leslie Wexner in 1982. In the early 2000s, the brand launched its PINK collection to target tweens and teenagers. The former models alleged in the docuseries that the lingerie company made them walk in "undergarments while carrying hula hoops and balloons" on the ramp to promote their new segment. The marketing strategy was reportedly put into effect to charm “young customers who we can hold for decades,” an anonymous former staffer explained in the documentary, adding, “For me, that's when I felt like things were going in the wrong direction because PINK was targeted at teenagers and tweens. So, that did not feel good.”
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Model Dorothea Barth Jörgensen, who walked the ramp for the retailer in 2012 while Justin Bieber performed, said in the three-part docuseries, “I had this dress with toy things [all] around and the whole set was pretty much based on toys. My sister's children were so excited that I'd be going on the runway with Justin Bieber. They were so obsessed with him and they were like 10 and 12 at the time so I think they definitely hit the target.”
Another former Victoria’s Secret model Lyndsey Scott said she was required to wear a child-like costume during a 2009 fashion show. "I was wearing balloons," she recalled. "They were not clothes, they were not sold in the stores. It wasn’t about the clothes as much as it was about the models fulfilling this idea of this fantasy that Victoria’s Secret wanted to fulfill."
“I realize there were a lot of bad people who allowed bad things to happen,” the model added.
However, the problem was not just with the PINK collection and its “strategy to create FOMO” for the young people. Several former employees also alleged that misogyny prevailed at the firm when Ed Razek was its chief marketing officer. He had infamously declared that transsexuals and plus-size models were not welcomed at the Victoria's Secret fashion shows before resigning in 2019, the documentary revealed.
A 2020 investigative report by The New York Times accused Razek of having sexually harrassed many staffers during his run as the company's marketing head. The report claimed that numerous staffers had accused him of “demeaning comments and inappropriate touching of women”. Razek, however, dismissed the allegations, saying they were “categorically untrue, misconstrued or taken out of context.
"I've been fortunate to work with countless, world-class models and gifted professionals and take great pride in the mutual respect we have for each other,” he had said.
The Hulu docuseries also explored Wexner’s business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. His ex-business partner, Stephen J Hoffenberg, said in the documentary, “He could convince anything of anybody… the master manipulator.”
“Wexner had the money that Epstein was seeking. Wexner got from Epstein the glamour and smoothness that he was seeking. I'm not at all inferring that it was a sexual need but there was something there,” Cindy Fedus-Fields, former CEO of Victoria's Secret Direct, said.
Wexer stepped down in 2020 and Martin Waters was brought in as the president of Victoria’s Secret.
The company addressed the docuseries in a statement to PEOPLE, saying, “The company featured in this docuseries does not reflect today's Victoria's Secret & Co. When we became a stand-alone company in August 2021, we set out to regain the trust of our customers, associates, and partners.”
It added, “Today, we are proud to be a different company, with a new leadership team and mission to welcome, celebrate, and champion all women. This transformation is a journey, and our work continues to become the Victoria's Secret our customers and associates deserve — where everyone feels seen, respected, and valued.”
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The brand posted a short clip on its Instagram page with the caption, “It's no secret. We've made mistakes, we're listening, we're learning and we're changing.”