The Regressive Cynicism of the Victoria’s Secret Collective
Tags: Gender Equality, Feminism, Victorias Secret, Self Love, Misogyny

By: Fran Dunaway, Co-Founder and CEO of TomboyX

The saying goes: you can’t put lipstick on a pig. But what happens when you try to put lingerie on one?

Last month, the world found out. The proverbial pig is corporate giant Victoria’s Secret, the company that has made billions helping the world see women as pieces of meat. The lipstick and lingerie? A recently announced rebrand that says goodbye to its Angels and hello to a new arsenal of ambassadors, a Who’s Who of forward-thinking, feminist-leaning athletes, actresses, and activists. With incredible talent like Megan Rapinoe, transgender model Valentina Sampaio, and South Sudanese refugee Adut Akech, the ‘who’ is undoubtedly impressive, but the ‘why’ behind the brand’s shift is a big issue.

The company claims it’s at last ready to embrace the changing times, to “stop being about what men want and to be about what women want,” as stated by Martin Waters, Victoria’s Secret’s chief executive.

That’s in stark contrast with the brand’s patriarchal past. For decades, the lingerie titan has clubbed society over the head with images, messaging, and products that depict and define bombshell beauty standards. Yes, change is possible, but I’m willing to bet their blood still runs pink. Are we really supposed to believe the same company that dangled the carrot of impossible airbrushed aesthetics for decades is now on the forefront of feminism?

My own journey with Victoria’s Secret started young. Not quite yet comfortable in my own skin, and before coming out of the closet, I ventured into one of their stores in search of not only underwear that fit my body, but also to find out whether or not my body fit society’s beauty standards.

It didn’t. I remember the discomfort of all that lace and frill, but mostly I remember being in Victoria’s Secret stores and in Victoria’s Secret products acutely aware that I didn’t belong. That realization cut deep. Instead of being upset at the ridiculous, bedazzled slice of fabric I held in my hands, I turned that anger and sadness inward at my own body. Why didn’t I fit the fantasy they were selling? Why didn’t my measurements measure up?

I know I wasn’t alone in that shame. But thankfully, a lot has changed since my days in those storied dressing rooms. The world has woken up some. And I have accepted my size and identity, and transformed my insecurity into strength. My wife and I are the proud co-founders of TomboyX, a line of comfort-first, gender-neutral underwear created to encourage people to unapologetically embrace who they were born to be. Inclusion, diversity, positivity, and radical self love have been the foundation of our organization since the beginning.

It hasn’t been an easy journey. As female entrepreneurs, we knew the stats were stacked against us — a scant 2% of venture capital funds go to women-founded startups. So when we sat around tables full of potential funders, most of them male, and pitched the notion of a more inclusive kind of underwear, we were frequently asked a question: “But, what’s wrong with Victoria’s Secret?”

I think they have their answer now.

Victoria’s Secret has long been a nefarious character in our lives and culture: a misogynist in a flashy suit who sees women not for who we are, but as assets to be evaluated. It reminds us in every editorial spread, every store window, that we have little value unless we fit the fantasy.

For generations of young women, Victoria’s Secret was responsible for the constant voice that sometimes whispered, sometimes screamed: You are not beautiful enough. You are not sexy enough. You are not enough. The company reinforced insecurity, shame, and warped ideas of sexualization until that became the status quo. It’s the brand equivalent of The Game, the 2005 Neil Strauss exposé on seduction and dating culture that relied on insulting women in order to gain power, influence, and favor over them. Victoria’s Secret has made billions doing the same — sowing the seeds of self-loathing and then reaping the benefits by claiming their products are just the thing to pick women back up and make them feel valued.

Now that the primordial corporation is finally sloughing off its vestigial misogynistic tail and proclaiming itself an advocate for all women, will we see beyond the hype? To me, the rebrand reeks of performative allyship. They can hire a trans model, but that doesn’t mean they care about the community. They can say they are for women, but their baked-in male-gaze culture communicates otherwise. They can amass all the shining ambassador stars in the progressive galaxy, but that doesn’t detract from the truth: the VS Collective is not a reckoning. It’s a repositioning. It’s not a movement or a mission. It’s marketing, plain and simple.

I’m not here to knock true evolution. As the co-founder of TomboyX, I applaud any effort that furthers inclusion, body positivity, helps the LGBTQIA+ and BIPoC communities, and creates space for the full beauty spectrum. It is, in its own way, heartening to see such a caveman of a company lurch into the 21st century and (at least feign to) adopt its ethos, especially because it’s so clear what’s behind the desperate shift: the people.

And the people have surely spoken: by averting their eyes (the televised signature VS Fashion Show was cancelled in 2019 after suffering a huge ratings drop) and diverting their money (in 2020, Victoria’s Secret posted a year-over-year revenue decline of 15.2%, a total of $2.10 billion). Customers have long been demanding alternatives, and after years of being ignored by the G-string kingpin, they’re giving their dollars to mission-driven companies instead. Considering the state of the world and the height of the stakes, there’s never been a more critical time in history than now to shop with our values in mind, at heart, and yes, even under our clothes.

Every time I open my inbox I am reminded of the power that authenticity can have. Our customers often reach out to us in tears. They’re different from the tears that spilled in the Victoria’s Secret dressing room of my youth. But they are connected: they’re the counterpoint. Instead of the constant burden of being told how to look or who to be, our customers cry from relief, free to be themselves. At TomboyX, we are proud to offer that contrasting narrative. We say simply: We see you. You are, and have always been, enough.

But will this new move be enough for Victoria’s Secret? Or has society evolved too far and too fast? My prediction: the VS Collective isn’t the next great thing. It’s simply the last gasp of relevancy for a company grasping to regain market share. The secret’s out, Vicky. Now it’s time for the world to move on.