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Mass MarketUnited StatesEst. 1977

Victoria's Secret

"The world's most famous lingerie brand"

Founded by Roy Raymond, acquired by Les Wexner for $1M in 1982. Built into a multi-billion dollar empire. Cancelled its famous fashion show in 2018.

Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret is the American lingerie retailer founded by Roy Raymond and his wife Gaye on June 12, 1977, with a first store at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. Les Wexner bought it in 1982 for $1 million and built it into the largest lingerie seller in the United States; since August 2021 it has been an independent listed company, Victoria's Secret & Co., based in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

A Victorian Boudoir in Palo Alto

Raymond, a Tufts graduate with a Stanford MBA from 1971, started the company out of embarrassment. Buying lingerie for his wife in a department store, he felt like an intruder among racks of nylon under strip lighting. His answer was a shop designed for the male customer: dark wood, a mock-Victorian boudoir, and a name meant to suggest nineteenth-century propriety with something hidden underneath.

He raised $80,000, half from family and half from a bank. The first year brought in about $500,000. A mail-order catalog followed, and by 1982 the business had five stores, a catalog of around 40 pages and annual sales of roughly $6 million. It was also short of money.

Les Wexner's $1 Million Purchase

In 1982 Raymond sold to Les Wexner, founder of the Ohio clothing chain The Limited, for $1 million. Wexner's change of direction was the decisive one in the brand's history. He moved the shop's attention from the nervous husband to the woman buying for herself, kept the English-sounding name and the boudoir styling, and rolled the format out through American malls.

Growth was fast. By 1986 there were 100 stores and Victoria's Secret was the only national lingerie chain in the country. Sales passed $1 billion in the early 1990s. By 1998 it held about 14 percent of the American intimate apparel market, and by 2006 it had 1,000 stores and accounted for roughly a third of the category. Revenue peaked at about $7.78 billion in 2016.

Raymond did not share in any of this. His later businesses, including the children's shop My Child's Destiny, failed, and he died in 1993.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

The first Fashion Show took place on August 1, 1995, at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Four years later a webcast of the show drew about 1.5 million online viewers, a very large audience for the internet of 1999. Network television followed, and the 2001 broadcast reached about 12.4 million viewers.

The show made celebrities of the contracted models known as Angels, among them Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bündchen and Adriana Lima, and it gave the brand an annual piece of theater, the jeweled Fantasy Bra. In merchandising terms the format was blunt: push-up bras, padding and a single idea of glamour, sold at mall prices.

The 2018 Collapse

The decline came quickly once it started. Audience figures had already fallen to about 9.2 million by 2014, and the 2018 show drew about 3.2 million. That November, chief marketing officer Ed Razek told Vogue that the show should not include transgender or plus-size models, and the backlash landed at the same time as competition from brands built on wider sizing and comfort. Razek left in August 2019, and the show was canceled in November 2019.

Wexner's long association with the financier Jeffrey Epstein came under intense scrutiny after Epstein's arrest in 2019, and shareholder complaints filed in January 2021 returned to it. In February 2020 L Brands agreed to sell a majority stake in Victoria's Secret to Sycamore Partners and Wexner stepped down as chief executive. The Sycamore deal was abandoned within months.

Victoria's Secret & Co.

On August 3, 2021, L Brands spun the business off as Victoria's Secret & Co., listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with Martin Waters as chief executive. The Angels had been retired that summer in favor of a VS Collective of ambassadors that included the transgender model Valentina Sampaio. In November 2022 the company bought the size-inclusive online brand Adore Me for $400 million. Hillary Super later became chief executive.

The show came back in stages: a documentary-style special on Amazon Prime Video in September 2023, then a live runway show in New York on October 15, 2024, hosted by Tyra Banks, and another New York show in 2025. The company that had canceled its runway for being out of step now runs it again, with a different cast and the same name.

Last updated

Models (30)

AY

Anok Yai

Model · 2024–present

CS

Claudia Schiffer

Model · 1996–1996

AA

Adut Akech

Model · 2022–2023

WH

Winnie Harlow

Model · 2018–2018

AG

Ashley Graham

Model · 2024–present

PE

Paloma Elsesser

Model · 2024–present

JK

Jill Kortleve

Model · 2024–present

GB

Gisele Bündchen

Model · 2000–2006

AL

Adriana Lima

Model · 1999–2018

TB

Tyra Banks

Model · 1997–2005

NC

Naomi Campbell

Model · 1996–2005

HK

Heidi Klum

Model · 1999–2010

DK

Doutzen Kroes

Model · 2008–2014

AA

Alessandra Ambrosio

Model · 2004–2017

MK

Miranda Kerr

Model · 2007–2013

CS

Candice Swanepoel

Model · 2010–2018

BP

Behati Prinsloo

Model · 2009–2018

JT

Jasmine Tookes

Model · 2015–2021

LR

Lais Ribeiro

Model · 2010–2018

KK

Karolína Kurková

Model · 2000–2010

LA

Lily Aldridge

Model · 2009–2018

EH

Elsa Hosk

Model · 2011–2018

BP

Barbara Palvin

Model · 2019–2021

SM

Stella Maxwell

Model · 2014–2018

TH

Taylor Hill

Model · 2014–2018

SS

Sara Sampaio

Model · 2015–2021

RS

Romee Strijd

Model · 2014–2018

JS

Josephine Skriver

Model · 2016–2018

IG

Izabel Goulart

Model · 2005–2016

VS

Valentina Sampaio

Model · 2019–present

Sources

  1. en.wikipedia.org: Victoria's Secret
  2. en.wikipedia.org: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
  3. en.wikipedia.org: Roy Raymond

Collections (44)

Spring 2025

SS 2025

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Spring 2025 holds 27 pieces from Victoria's Secret: 16 sets, 10 bras and one swimwear piece. The shift is in what is missing. The Spring/Summer 2023 season carried 61 swimwear pieces, while this one has almost none, so the focus is back on lingerie, with bras making up over a third of the lot. It is a tenth of the size of the 2023 collection in our archive. No automatic image labels were assigned to these pieces.

Spring/Summer 2023

SS 2023

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Spring/Summer 2023 is the biggest Victoria's Secret collection we hold, with 217 pieces. Sets lead at 104, swimwear follows with 61, and 51 are bras, plus a single bodysuit. Set against the 17-piece Holiday 2021 drop, this season brings in a large swim range and many more standalone bras. The brand, founded in the United States in 1977, is filed in our archive as mass market at a mid price tier. No automatic cut or fabric labels were assigned.

Autumn/Winter 2022

FW 2022

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Autumn/Winter 2022 at Victoria's Secret holds 414 pieces in the archive. Of these, 229 are sets, 156 bras, 26 swimwear and 3 bodysuits. Most pieces with a clear cut label read as wire-free soft cups (28), with five triangle bras and three molded or padded ones. Fabric is mainly microfiber (13 pieces) and lace (6), with tulle, chiffon and satin trailing. The brand is a mass-market, mid-priced name, founded in the US in 1977.

Spring/Summer 2022

SS 2022

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This Spring/Summer 2022 Victoria's Secret Swim page holds 27 pieces. Swimwear leads with 15, followed by 10 sets, with one bodysuit and one bra.

Spring/Summer 2022

SS 2022

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Victoria's Secret Spring/Summer 2022 comes to 514 pieces, split into 267 sets, 195 bras, 50 swimwear items and 2 bodysuits. Cut labels are the most varied of the brand's seasons here: 36 wire-free soft cups, 8 padded, and single sports, front-closure, backless and triangle bras. Microfiber leads the fabric labels at 26, then tulle (10), chiffon (7), lace (6) and embroidered (6). All labels come from automatic image analysis, not the maker.

Winter 2022

FW 2022

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Winter 2022 from Victoria's Secret Swim is a 14-piece page. Eleven are filed as swimwear, two as bras and one as a set.

Autumn/Winter 2021

FW 2021

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Nineteen pieces make up Victoria's Secret Swim for Autumn/Winter 2021. It is a very short page, and the record gives no garment categories.

Autumn/Winter 2021

FW 2021

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Victoria's Secret, the US brand founded in 1977 and spun off in 2021, is represented by 528 pieces from Autumn/Winter 2021. Sets are the biggest group at 287, ahead of 172 bras, 20 swimwear pieces and 4 bodysuits. Our archive's image labels read 36 bras as wire-free soft cups, with a few padded, triangle and backless cuts. Among fabric labels microfiber leads with 16, then chiffon (7), cotton (6), lace (5) and satin (4).

Holiday 2021

Holiday 2021

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Victoria's Secret Holiday 2021 is a small, set-driven drop: 17 pieces, 15 of them bra and panty sets and only 2 single bras. There is no swimwear at all, which separates it from the brand's spring and summer seasons in our archive. Our automatic image labels read one bra as a soft wire-free cup and one piece as satin, too few to call a trend. The brand opened in 1977 and sits in the mass-market, mid-price tier.

Spring/Summer 2021

SS 2021

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This is the largest Victoria's Secret group in the archive: 667 pieces from Spring/Summer 2021, the year of the brand's spin-off. Sets number 366 and bras 196, with 36 swimwear pieces, 3 bodysuits and one robe. Our archive's image labels read 109 bras as wire-free soft cups, against two padded and two backless. Fabric labels favor microfiber (20) and cotton (16), followed by jersey knit, lace and tulle.

Spring/Summer 2021

SS 2021

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Autumn/Winter 2020

FW 2020

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Only 88 pieces represent Victoria's Secret Swim for Autumn/Winter 2020, a thin season next to its neighbors. Garment categories were not recorded for any of them.

Christmas 2020

Christmas 2020

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Christmas 2020 is a nine-piece Victoria's Secret page with no garment categories recorded. The brand was founded in 1977 in the United States.

Spring/Summer 2020

SS 2020

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Spring/Summer 2020 is the biggest Victoria's Secret Swim season on file, at 429 pieces. None carry a garment category, so there is no breakdown by type here.

Victoria's Secret FW 2020

FW 2020

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Autumn/Winter 2020 at Victoria's Secret: 766 pieces, with no categories recorded. Founded in 1977, the brand is classed here as mass market.

Victoria's Secret SS 2020

SS 2020

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With 1,293 pieces, Victoria's Secret Spring/Summer 2020 is the largest page of the brand in this group. No garment categories are recorded for it. The brand started in 1977.

Autumn/Winter 2019

FW 2019

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Victoria's Secret Swim, Autumn/Winter 2019: 381 pieces in the archive, a large swim set for the season. The record carries no garment categories, so the page is a straight run through the range.

Spring/Summer 2019

SS 2019

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A smaller Victoria's Secret Swim season: 214 pieces recorded for Spring/Summer 2019. No garment categories are attached, so the pieces are listed as they came in.

Victoria's Secret FW 2019

FW 2019

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Victoria's Secret FW 2019 is a big page, 857 pieces, with no garment categories in the record. The American brand dates from 1977.

Victoria's Secret SS 2019

SS 2019

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Spring/Summer 2019 for Victoria's Secret runs to 1,233 pieces. Our record gives no garment split. The brand was founded in 1977 and is filed as mass market.

Fashion Show 2018

FW 2018

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The final Victoria's Secret Fashion Show before the format was cancelled. Featured the first collaboration with another fashion house - Balmain, co-designed by Olivier Rousteing. Elsa Hosk wore the final Fantasy Bra, encrusted with 21,000 diamonds by Swarovski.

Fashion Show 2017

FW 2017

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Held in Shanghai, China - the first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Asia. Lais Ribeiro wore the Champagne Nights Fantasy Bra.

Fashion Show 2016

FW 2016

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Jasmine Tookes wore the Bright Night Fantasy Bra. The show was held in Paris for the first time, at the Grand Palais.

Fashion Show 2015

FW 2015

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Musical performers included The Weeknd, Selena Gomez, and Ellie Goulding. Gomez performed a medley for the PINK segment.

Fashion Show 2014

FW 2014

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Featured performances by Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, and Hozier. Two Dream Angels Fantasy Bras were worn by Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio.

Fashion Show 2013

FW 2013

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Candice Swanepoel wore the Royal Fantasy Bra, created by Mouawad. The show by this point featured elaborate staging and A-list musical performances.

Fashion Show 2012

FW 2012

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Featured the "Circus" segment with Adriana Lima as ringmaster, "Calendar Girls" with each month as a runway look, and "Angels in Bloom" with flower-inspired designs. Alessandra Ambrosio wore the Floral Fantasy Bra.

Fashion Show 2011

FW 2011

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Miranda Kerr wore the Fantasy Treasure Bra. The show continued its trajectory as the most-watched fashion event globally.

Fashion Show 2010

FW 2010

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Segments included "Tough Love" (opened by Adriana Lima), "Country Girls" (opened by Candice Swanepoel), and "Game ON" (opened by Erin Heatherton).

Fashion Show 2009

FW 2009

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The "Star Trooper" segment featured flashy metallic and neon Space Age designs, backed by the Black Eyed Peas' electro-pop performances.

Fashion Show 2008

FW 2008

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The "Glamour Goddess" segment drew inspiration from Greek mythology, with models draped in flowing fabrics and metallic accessories.

Fashion Show 2007

FW 2007

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Featured the "Surreally Sexy" segment inspired by Dalí and Magritte paintings, and the "Deck the Halls" holiday segment. Heidi Klum wore massive snowflake wings.

Fashion Show 2006

FW 2006

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Segments included "Come Fly With Me" (retro flight attendant-inspired), "Highland Romance" (Scottish-inspired with tartan and pheasant feathers), and "Winter Wonderland" (crystallized lingerie with all-white fur muffs).

Fashion Show 2005

FW 2005

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Featured the "Santa's Helpers" segment with festive details and a candy-themed segment with looks evoking candy canes and conversation hearts. Gisele Bündchen wore the Sexy Splendor Fantasy Bra.

Fashion Show 2003

FW 2003

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Held at the 69th Regiment Armory in NYC. Featured performances by Sting, Mary J. Blige, and Eve. Heidi Klum wore the Very Sexy Fantasy Bra.

Fashion Show 2002

FW 2002

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Karolína Kurková wore the Star of Victoria Fantasy Bra. The show established itself as a cultural phenomenon beyond the fashion world.

Fashion Show 2001

FW 2001

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Heidi Klum wore the Heavenly Star Fantasy Bra. The show continued to grow in scale and celebrity involvement.

Fashion Show 2000

FW 2000

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Gisele Bündchen wore the $15 million Red Hot Fantasy Bra, which earned a Guinness World Record as the most expensive item of lingerie ever created.

Fashion Show 1999

FW 1999

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A groundbreaking event as the first major fashion webcast, streamed live on the internet. Heidi Klum wore the $10 million Millennium Fantasy Bra.

Fashion Show 1998

FW 1998

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Notable for introducing the iconic Angel wings on the runway for the first time, transforming VS models into the "Angels" that would define the brand for two decades.

Fashion Show 1997

FW 1997

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The first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show to be televised. Held at the Plaza Hotel in NYC, it marked the brand's transition from intimate runway event to mass media spectacle.

Million Dollar Miracle Bra

1996

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The first Victoria's Secret Fantasy Bra. Modeled by Claudia Schiffer for campaign images - the first model to don the Fantasy Bra, which appeared in ads but not on the runway.

Fashion Show 1995

FW 1995

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The very first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, held at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Introduced by Stephanie Seymour, it established the template for what would become the most-watched fashion event in the world.

Fashion Show 1995

1995

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Nine pieces from the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 1995 sit on this page: five sets and four bras. The brand was founded in 1977.

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