Lingerie Wars: Victoria’s Secret vs. Savage X Fenty

Artwork by Lesley Wang

Hannah Connolly looks at the seismic shift in lingerie marketing.

Glamourous. Iconic. Unattainable. These are some of the words that spring to mind when you hear the name Victoria’s Secret. Perfectly sculpted bodies clad in skimpy sequinned two pieces; flamboyant angel wings, legs that go on forever and heaps of lip gloss. A lingerie empire, Victoria’s Secret invented fashion shows as we know them; star-studded spectacles designed to entertain. A sartorial masterpiece, the Victoria’s Secret show is a pop-concert-cum-lingerie-extravaganza exhibiting a phantasmagorical display of feathered wings, diamond bras and fake tan. Top-tier musicians perform goddess-like amongst the strutting supermodels. Since 1995, it has been lighting up our screens annually; it dominates our Instagram feeds, #Trends on Twitter, and prompts various opinion pieces in national publications. This year however, the show was cancelled.

What happened? What has constituted the demise of the most powerful lingerie brand in the world? Well, #MeToo happened. #TimesUp happened. And, miraculously, women found their voices in a new way. Between 2016 and 2018, discourses about body positivity started to take over and checking your privilege became the new pink. Intersectional feminism was embraced by brands who recognised that inclusivity and diversity were hugely important in running a successful business. Consumers started asking more from their favourite brands. And what did they want? Representation, representation, representation.

In the last three years, body-positive clothing brands and influencers started taking over Instagram, representing a shift which culminated in Cosmopolitan deciding to have plus-size model Tess Holliday as their cover girl. In these two years, Victoria’s Secret’s market share in the US dropped from 33% to 24% - in direct correlation, it seems, with the societal change that sees body positivity and inclusive representation as an important aspect of a brand’s popularity.

Whilst other brands became consciously more diverse, Victoria’s Secret kept rigidly to their tried and tested formula. Sex sells. Beautiful thin women wearing sexy lingerie sells. Why bother changing? When asked in a Vogue interview how the ‘atmosphere’ at the show ‘has changed in the wake of #MeToo’, Ed Razek (Chief Marketing Officer) claimed that Victoria’s Secret ‘didn’t have changes to make’, addressing this change in the following statement: “I think we address the way the market is shifting on a constant basis […] we attempted to do a television special for plus-sizes [in 2000]. No one had any interest in it. Still don’t.”

When asked whether the VS show should include transgender models, Razek responded, “no, I don’t think we should... Because the show is a fantasy.”

And here’s the crux. The real reason the iconic brand is in decline: they are marketing a ‘fantasy’ to real women. They have chosen the most aesthetically ‘perfect’ supermodels they can find; doused them in oil, fake tan, and copious amounts of make up before strutting seductively to top of the chart’s bops. It really is the idealistic dream of the male gaze put into action. And for years it worked. But recently, women have been more vocal about the importance of representing their lived reality. The reality of being a size 14, being pregnant or bloated. The reality of being transgender.

All of this makes a lot of sense when we look at the brand’s origins. Victoria’s Secret was invented by Roy Raymond in 1977, after an uncomfortable experience shopping for lingerie with his wife. His vision was simple: create a lingerie shop where men felt comfortable.

Raymond based the name on the Victorian era in England, which was famed for keeping sexual desires hidden beneath the lacy veils of custom. In other words, the concept was based on the idea of keeping things hidden; all conceived from the male perspective. It was not about representing reality; the awkwardness of getting a bra fitted, the disenchantment with your own saggy bits in the mirror, the frustration of not being able to find items that fit at every part of your menstrual cycle. It was about turning the male fantasy of virginal yet highly sexualised ‘angels’ into a reality – even if it was just for a 42-minute entertainment special.

Although Victoria’s Secret has come a long way since then, its roots still remain. No matter how much they dress it up with savvy marketing about empowerment, its targeted audience is limited to the men who gawk at ‘angels’ in million-dollar diamond bras, or the women who effortlessly identify with the models. As Ed Razek said, “we market who we sell to, and we don’t market to the whole world.” Their target market doesn’t include plus-size women or transwomen. Otherwise – and it really is as simple as this – they would be more open about inclusivity. As Vogue points out, “in many ways, the discussion around Victoria’s Secret is not about who it’s letting in, but who it’s still keeping out.”

This is where Savage X Fenty comes in. Rihanna’s new lingerie collection is all about feeling comfortable in your own skin. Her fashion show was a refreshing demonstration of the beauty of all body types, with transgender and heavily pregnant models performing alongside the likes of ex-Victoria Secret angel Cara Delevingne. In doing this, the show attracted an audience beyond the parameters of the fashion world’s stylists and journalists; it attracted ordinary women. Rihanna’s show doesn’t just represent different body sizes and gender orientations. It showcases a different kind of modelling to that of the Victoria’s Secret show. Instead of walking one by one down the runway, Rihanna’s models dance in sync with each other, curving their bodies in ways that highlight functionality and flexibility, as well as sexiness and beauty. It is quite clear that, to its core, Savage X Fenty is all about portraying the uninhibited, unfiltered modern woman.

Savage X Fenty represents a new wave of lingerie branding – one that is committed to raising all women up as opposed to ‘empowering’ some and neglecting others. It also represents the immense cultural shift that has taken place within the last few years. The question is, can Victoria’s Secret keep up?

It seems that the societal ideal for a sexy woman has changed a lot since the golden age of the noughties, which idolised chiselled abs and lusciously long legs above all else. But Savage X Fenty’s resounding success (as well as Victoria’s Secret’s brief demise) illustrates how society-at-large is looking for a different model of ‘sexy’: one defined by individuality. And so, perhaps the answer is not for the two brands to compete with each other, but for them both to find their own ways of making all women feel included; whatever their size, skin colour, gender identity or sexuality.

The fact that Savage X Fenty’s appearance on the lingerie scene has prompted Victoria’s Secret to reconsider their stance on including plus size or trans models is already a step in the right direction. Does Savage X Fenty really have the power to help Victoria’s Secret evolve and embrace a different style of Fashion Show? Potentially. Only time will tell. But if the seismic shift in lingerie marketing is anything to go by, Victoria’s Secret may well come back stronger than ever and ready to embrace body positivity in a striking new way. Here’s to hoping.

This article was originally published in Issue 724 of Pi Magazine.