Nothing, absolutely nothing causes as much furor in college girls as a seven for $27 Victoria’s Secret panty sale. Believe me, I’ve been in a ladies’ locker room when someone gets the PINK Nation email and the entire structure of the place resonates with the high pitched sound of the “OMGs!” and “NO WAYs!” that come out of the mouths screaming girls. I would know this first hand because I’m usually one of those screaming girls.
To say I love Victoria’s Secret would be an understatement. On my first-ever trip to New York City as a teenager, I made my dad sit through an hour and a half of blankly staring at the floor as I made my way through the flagship store with a shopping bag full of things to try on. (It’s worth noting there were at least another twenty men alongside my dad just patiently counting the tiles on the floor.) I’d probably wear PINK hoodies every day of the semester if it weren’t for the other hundreds of girls on campus who already rock them on a daily basis.
Earlier this year, Victoria’s Secret surprised the public by announcing it would stop selling swimsuits and it would be getting rid of their entire inventory by the end of this year. On the bright side, there was a huge swim sale where you could score a tankini for as low as $13.99. On the not so bright side, the entire swim line is now bound to disappear both online and in stores, something that by the way, is a college girl’s worst nightmare prior to spring break and summer.
To the average buyer, it would seem like the lingerie giant is doing better than ever, yet you’re just a Google search away from finding out that’s not exactly the case. Alongside shutting down their swimwear line, they also discontinued their catalogue, which at one point was their most iconic element.
Back in April, L-Brands, Victoria’s Secret’s parent company, announced the brand has now been divided into three different branches: VS Lingerie, VS Beauty, and PINK, which could be the future of Victoria’s Secret, according to Business Insider. It also announced it would eliminate 200 corporate jobs to aid the restructuring of the company.
With other lingerie brands quickly rising on the scale, (American Eagle’s Aerie saw an increase of 32 percent on its sales for the first quarter of the present year) it seems like Victoria’s Secret’s recent adjustments are the first step towards changing their game plan, one which proved being successful for more than two decades.
Victoria’s Secret's advertisement campaigns may have seemed to work well for the past years, but in an era of body positivity and self-acceptance, buyers today seem to respond better to Aerie's simpler approach featuring un-retouched models of different sizes, as opposed to the overtly sexy ads featuring bombshell supermodels.
Maybe our eyes have become used to the Angel's statuesque bodies and despite the brand's presence on social media today, post after post on Instagram features exactly the same thing: a model who despite her good genes and rigorous exercise routine is still excessively photo shopped.
Surprisingly enough, their annual fashion show's viewership has also decreased in the past years, even though it's something I look forward to watching every year because there's nothing more fun than picturing myself wearing a giant pair of wings and a Swarovski embellished bra, all this while I lie on the couch and eat a slice of cookie cake.
Despite economists’ warnings on the brand's downfall, Victoria’s Secret is still the leading lingerie company, generating more than $6 billion per year and recently re-launching their active wear line. So has Victoria's Secret lost its allure? Absolutely not. Victoria’s Secret’s main products are bras, and as long as there are women in the world, a large demand for bras will never cease to exist (unless someone someday comes up with another type of antigravity device that will hold a pair of boobs together). Yet with the perceptions of beauty and what’s sexy skewing towards a more natural look, it wouldn’t hurt for Victoria’s Secret to give their wings to girls with fuller figures too, as I’m sure a couple extra pounds wouldn’t prevent them from flying.
