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Victoria's Secret

 
Modern Fashion Encyclopedia: Victoria's Secret
 
(American Intimate apparel and accessories for women)
  • Founded: by Roy Raymond in 1977, in San Francisco.
  • Company History: Published first catalogue, 1978; sold for $4 million to The Limited apparel group, 1982; Cacique sibling formed to market French-styled lingerie, 1988; introduced swimwear, 1991; began selling cotton panties, 1993; launched bath and body line and introduced Miracle Bra, 1994; first runway show, 1995; spun off by The Limited, 1995; introduced seamless bras, 1996; launched legwear, 1998; went online with firm website, 1998; first live web fashion show, 1999; debuted Dream Angels fragrance collection, 1999; sponsored AIDS fundraiser with Miramax Films, 2000; launched first men's fragrance collection, 2001; launched Pink fragrance and aired first television fashion show, 2001; signed license with Shiseido Company Ltd. for cosmetics, 2001.
  • Company Address: 3 Limited Parkway, Columbus, OH 43216, U.S.A.
  • Company Website:www.VictoriasSecret.com.

Victoria's Secret made buying lingerie not only a pleasure but a must in the late 1980s and 1990s. The upscale lingerie and apparel firm took shopping for lingerie from the neglected corners of department stores and put it front and center in thousands of boutiques throughout the United States. Both men and women happily flocked to the sensuous, sumptuously decorated shops and buying sexy innerwear was no longer a chore or embarrassing for either sex.

Men gladly accompanied their wives or lovers to Victoria's Secret, while women enjoyed finding a myriad of products in every size and shape imaginable. This was the experience Roy Raymond had in mind when he founded Victoria's Secret in 1977 in San Francisco. Loath to shop for lingerie or foundations for his wife in austere surroundings, Raymond envisioned an appealing shop with a stylish decor—somewhere with a Victorian-boudoir feel. The next year, Raymond took his lingerie fantasies a step further, creating a mail order catalogue to sell his growing selection of bras, panties, slips, and loungewear.

The response to the Victoria's Secret catalogue was immediate and stunning; Raymond's business mushroomed in size and scope yet he had problems meeting demand and running the mail order business. While there were rivals, such as Frederick's of Hollywood which sold many of the same products, Frederick's had a raunchy feel to its stores and looked more like an S&M supplier than intimate apparel retailer. In 1982, Raymond sold the company, which consisted of six faltering stores and its catalogue, for $4 million to Leslie Wexner, founder of The Limited women's apparel firm.

Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, the Victoria's Secret mystique grew and Wexner decided to add another lingerie maker to his fold, launching Cacique as a French counterpart to Victoria's faux English styling. While Cacique stores opened near or by Victoria's Secret stores in 1988 and 1989, the older sibling's catalogues had reached the pinnacle of popularity. The thick magazine-like editions became acceptable "girlie" material for men of all ages. Women awaited the arrival of catalogues almost as eagerly as men; soon the pages were crowded with not only intimate apparel but sportswear and accessories as well. Gone were the posed couples that had populated Raymond's catalogue, replaced by sexy, pouty, internationally known models. Being selected to pose for a Victoria's Secret catalogue became a much sought after job, a stepping stone to model superstardom.

In the early 1990s Victoria's Secret continued to broaden its product line with swimsuits (and a special swimwear catalogue reminiscent of the annual Sports Illustrated edition), simple, cotton panties—which suddenly made the old-fashioned underwear hip and must-have—and a bath and body line called Second Skin Satin Luxury Bath Collection. Next came the Miracle Bra in 1994, released months ahead of Warner's Wonderbra. The Limited, which had created a subsidiary called Intimate Brands to manage Victoria's Secret and its sister company, Bath & Body Works, spun the company off in 1995, retaining a majority stake when the firm went public.

Despite its similarity to its sibling, Cacique failed to gain the notoriety or clientéle of its much famed elder. Intimate Brands closed the chain in 1998, putting a new home furnishings concept into many of the stores called the White Barn Candle Company. Around the same time, Victoria's Secret introduced cosmetics into its stores and catalogue, setting the stage for Victoria's Secret Beauty, which began as in-store shops. The firm then joined the wave of the future by launching a company website. Although many retailers had websites for information, store locations, and to sell products, Victoria's Secret decided to broadcast its spring fashion show live via the Internet in early 1999. Servers were completely unprepared for the 1.5 million viewers who tried to log on; they were not only completely overwhelmed by the response but jammed for hours and eventually crashed due to the unexpected crush of web surfers.

In 1999 parent company Intimate Brands introduced additional cosmetics to Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret stores, and took the in-store Victoria's Beauty shops and started creating separate stores either adjacent to or near existing Victoria's Secret boutiques. Over the next two years, the company moved in several new directions. A men's fragrance collection, called Very Sexy for Him, was developed for a 2001 launch while the firm entered talks with Japan's Shiseido Company Ltd. to create a cosmetics line. Additionally, after the success of its website fashion show, Victoria's Secret raised the bar and took its spin on fashion to prime-time television. Its first-ever televised fashion show, aired by ABC in November, stirred controversy when concerned viewers complained to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the "indecency" of the scantily clad models. Fortunately for Victoria's Secret, neither the FCC nor most of viewing public found the showing indecent. On the contrary, millions tuned in and enjoyed the provocative parade.

By 2002 there were about 2,300 Victoria's Secret boutiques in the U.S., and its racy and lacy catalogues were mailed to more than 350 million households annually. Its stores had become as much about attitude and indulgence as undergarment needs—women loved the sexy, ultrafeminine innerwear, and it made them feel sexy and beautiful regardless of their age, size, or inclination.

Publications

On Victoria's Secret:

    Articles
  • Perman, Stacy, "Victoria's Secret Hitting the Beach," in WWD, 30 March 1994.
  • Belcove, Julie L., "Victoria's Secret—Boudoir to Bath with July Entry," in WWD, 6 May 1994.
  • Moin, David, "The Intimate Category Killer," in WWD, 13 March 1995.
  • Machan, Dyan, "Sharing Victoria's Secrets," in Forbes, 5 June 1995.
  • Brady, Jennifer L., "Victoria's Secret Seamless Bra Sews Up Sales," in WWD, 16 September 1996.
  • Palmieri, Christopher, "Victoria's Little Secret," in Forbes, 24 August 1998.
  • Moin, David, and Laura Kelpacki, "Victoria's Secret Puts Sex Appeal and Color into Cosmetics Line," in WWD, 18 September 1998.
  • Napoli, Lisa, "Bared-Bones Fashions, Fully Covered Publicity," in the International Herald Tribune, 11 February 1999.
  • Moin, David, and Pete Born, "IBI Giving Victoria's Secret Push Into Global Prominence," in WWD, 29 September 1999.
  • "Victoria's Secret to Cosponsor AIDS Benefit," in WWD, 9 February 2000.
  • Hickins, Michael, "Victoria's Secret Shifts Into Global Overdrive," in WWD, 5 April 2000.
  • Klepacki, Laura, "Victoria's Secret Takes a Brave Step," in WWD, 27 January 2001.
  • Born, Pete, "Victoria's Secret's New Interest: Guys," in WWD, 12 October 2001.
  • "Victoria's Secret Launches Something Very Sexy for Him," in Cosmetics International, November 2001.
  • "FCC Fields Complaints About Victoria's Secret Show," in Adweek, 19 November 2001.

— Nelly Rhodes

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Wikipedia: Victoria's Secret
Top
Victoria's Secret
Type Subsidiary
Founded 1977
Headquarters Columbus, Ohio, USA
Key people CEO of the MegaBrand: Sharen Jester Turney & Jarred Buggs
CEO of Victoria's Secret Stores: Lori Greeley
EVP: Rebecca Finn
CFO: Bill May
[1]
Industry apparel
Products bras, panties, sleepwear, hosiery, women's clothing, fragrances and beauty products
Revenue $3.222 billion (FY 2006)[1]
Parent Limited Brands
Website http://www.victoriassecret.com/

Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products.[2] It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales surpassing US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006.[2] Victoria's Secret is known for its fashion shows and catalogues, which feature top fashion models.

Contents

History

Victoria's Secret was started in San Francisco, California, in 1977 by Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus Roy Raymond,[3] who felt embarrassed trying to purchase lingerie for his wife in a public and awkward department store environment. He opened the first store at Stanford Shopping Center, and quickly followed it with a mail order catalog and three other stores.[3] The stores were meant to create a comfortable environment for men, with wood-paneled walls, Victorian details and helpful sales staff. Instead of racks of bras and panties in every size, there were single styles, paired together and mounted on the wall in frames. Men could browse for styles for women and sales staff would help estimate the appropriate size, pulling from inventory in the back. In 1982, after 5 years of operations, Roy Raymond sold the company to The Limited.

The Limited kept the personalized image of Victoria's Secret intact. Victoria's Secret was rapidly expanded into the U.S. malls throughout the 1980s. The company was able to vend a widened range of products such as shoes, evening wear, and perfumes among others with its mail catalog issued eight times annually.

By the early 1990s, Victoria's Secret had become the largest American lingerie retailer topping one billion dollars.[4]

On 10 July 2007, Limited Brands sold 75% of Limited clothing chain to firm Sun Capital Partners to focus and boost sales growth on Victoria's Secret lingerie stores and Bath & Body Works units which provided 72% of revenue in 2006 and almost all the firm's profit.[5] There are 1,000 Victoria's Secret lingerie stores and 100 independent Victoria's Secret Beauty Stores in the US, mostly in shopping centers. It sells brassieres, panties, hosiery, cosmetics, sleepwear, and much more. Victoria's Secret mails more than 400 million of its catalogues per year.[1] Under pressure from environmentalist groups, Victoria's Secret's parent firm and a conservation group have reached an agreement to make the lingerie retailer's catalogue more environmentally friendly in 2006. The catalogue will no longer be made of pulp supplied from any woodland caribou habitat range in Canada, unless it has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The catalogs will also be made of 10 percent recycled paper from post-consumer waste.[6]

Victoria's Secret is now building its image with a fairly conservative, middle-class shopper in mind and avoids any connotations of sleaziness that lingerie might carry.[4]

The company gained notoriety in the early 1990s after it began to use supermodels in its advertising and fashion shows. Throughout the past decade, it has refused to follow the celebrity trend, turning down at least one celebrity a month begging to model the brand.[7]

Victoria's Secret makes use of a rigorous customer service model, stressing upselling, frequent staff attention, and signing customers up for a store credit card that provides discounts for frequent shoppers in the way of coupons by mail and free merchandise.[citation needed]

Victoria's Secret Angels

Victoria's Secret Angels on a commercial for the Secret Embrace line.

"Victoria's Secret Angels" are the brand's most visible models and spokeswomen. The VS Angels made their début in 1999 in the fourth annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Daniela Pestova, Karen Mulder, Laetitia Casta, Heidi Klum, Stephanie Seymour, and Tyra Banks are among the "Angels" from the original promotion.[8] In May 2007, the Victoria's Secret Angels, including Adriana Lima, Selita Ebanks, Alessandra Ambrosio, Izabel Goulart, and Karolina Kurkova were chosen to be part of People Magazine's annual "100 Most Beautiful People in the World" issue. [9] On November 13, 2007, Victoria's Secret Angels became the first trademark awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [10] The 'Angels' are among the world's best-paid models.[7]


Current

The models started working for the company before being contracted as Angels. Listed below are the years the current Angels started shooting and working for the company. Their first runway show for the company is the second year listed below. The years the models were contracted into Angels are listed above.

Former

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

In 1995, Victoria's Secret held its first fashion show; the world press reported it as the "lingerie event of the century." In 1999, the VS company made broadcast history in simultaneously broadcasting a live fashion show online and at Times Square, drawing some 1.5 million viewers, after being advertised during the Super Bowl American football game.[16][17]

In 2000, the show was held in Cannes, France, during the Cannes Film Festival to raise money for the Cinema Against AIDS charity; it raised $3.5 million.

In 2001, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show made its broadcast television debut on ABC, drawing millions of viewers and middle-brow controversy; the Federal Communications Commission receives many complaints about each broadcast every time.[18][citation needed]

In 2004, instead of the annual fashion show, The Angels (Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bündchen, Adriana Lima, and Alessandra Ambrosio) did an Angels Across America Tour, a grassroots campaign for the brand visiting four major cities, New York, Miami, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.[12]

In 2005, the Rutgers University Drumline made a guest appearance for the show's finale. This was Tyra Banks' last runway appearance.

The 2007 show featured a performance by the Spice Girls and gained prominence as the first American TV debut of the band after their comeback.[19] Kanye West was also scheduled to perform at the event, but cancelled his appearance due to his mother's death. Will.i.am was called to perform in his place.[20]

The fashion show features mostly lingerie and a multi-million-dollar "Fantasy Bra." one model is chosen among the angels to wear the Fantasy Bra. It is first advertised in the Victoria's Secret Catalog and since 2001 it has been shown in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Heidi Klum is the only Victoria's Secret Angel who worn three Fantasy Bras. Gisele Bündchen and Karolina Kurkova each have worn two Fantasy Bras. In 2006, Victoria's Secret's sub-brand Pink made its debut on the runway. The show has since evolved into a lavish event with elaborate costumed-lingerie, varying music, and set design according to the different themes running within the show. The show attracts hundreds of celebrities and entertainers, with special performers and/or acts every year. The giant angel wings worn by the models, as well as other wings of various forms and sizes such as butterfly, peacock, or devil wings, are Victoria's Secret's fashion trademark. The fashion show is also a meeting of today's supermodels, who are always posing in the middle, after the final walk.[17]

In the past, most of the clothing exhibited was not for sale, but in 2005, the show featured the clothing for sale in the catalogue.[18]

Year Broadcast date Television network Viewers (millions) Guest performers
2001[8] November 15 ABC 12.4 Mary J. Blige, Andrea Bocelli
2002[21] November 20 CBS 10.5 Destiny's Child
2003[21] November 19 CBS 9.4 Sting, Mary J. Blige, Eve
2004 N/A N/A N/A N/A
2005[21] December 6 CBS 8.9 Chris Botti, Ricky Martin, Seal, Rutgers University Drumline[13]
2006[22] December 5 CBS 6.8 Justin Timberlake
2007 December 4 CBS 7.4[23] Spice Girls, Will.i.am, Seal and Heidi
2008 December 3 CBS 8.7[24] Usher, Jorge Moreno

References

  1. ^ a b c [1]biz.yahoo.com. Retrieved July 25, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Limited Brands 2006 Annual Report". http://ww3.ics.adp.com/streetlink_data/dirLPD/annual/HTML1/default.htm. Retrieved on 21 April 2007. 
  3. ^ a b [2]accessed 2008-01-31.
  4. ^ a b [3]bookrags.com. Retrieved July 25, 2007.
  5. ^ [4]thestar.com. Retrieved July 23, 2007.
  6. ^ Victoria's Secret catalogue no longer in pulp frictionwww.cbc.ca. Retrieved September 20, 2007.
  7. ^ a b The World's Top-Earning ModelsForbes. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  8. ^ a b Advertising Mascots - People - Victoria's Secret Angels tvacres.com. Retrieved September 22, 2007.
  9. ^ "The Models of Victoria's Secret," People. Retrieved on 2007-05-11.
  10. ^ Victoria's Secret angels on Walk of Famesource: Mainichi Daily News. Retrieved November 14, 2007.
  11. ^ Meet the World's Luckiest Plane source:okmagazine.com. Retrieved November 7, 2007.
  12. ^ a b [5]accessed 2007-06-13.
  13. ^ a b CBS Specials: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2005source:CBS.com. Retrieved November 8, 2007.
  14. ^ Gisele Bundchen, Victoria's Secret Part Ways. Retrieved October 28, 2007.
  15. ^ Kurkova looses contract
  16. ^ Victoria's Secret Webcastwww.fashion-planet.com. accessed 2007-09-22.
  17. ^ a b [6]accessed 2007-06-13.
  18. ^ a b "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show back on CBS". http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46910. 
  19. ^ Alexandria Sage (2007-11-16). "Spice Girls strut down Victoria's Secret runway". Reuters. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071116/music_nm/victoriassecret_spicegirls_dc. Retrieved on 2007-12-07. 
  20. ^ Popcrunch (2007-11-15). "Will.i.am To Replace Kanye West". Popcrunch. http://www.popcrunch.com/william-victorias-secret-fashion-show-2007-performance-william-to-replace-kanye-west/. Retrieved on 2008-01-06. 
  21. ^ a b c UPN will re-broadcast Victoria's Secret Fashion Show www.ruggedelegantliving.com. Retrieved September 22, 2007
  22. ^ 'Victoria's Secret': Starved for Ratings, Too www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved September 22, 2007
  23. ^ "Victoria's Secret Racy Pics, Models, Spice Girls Boost Fashion Show". http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272617559.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-12-05. 
  24. ^ [7]

External links


 
 

 

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