DO-OVER

Victoria’s Secret Ditches Rhinestoned Angels for Athletes Like Megan Rapinoe

“When the world was changing, we were too slow to respond,” the company’s new chief executive said of the dramatic rebranding.

Victoria’s Secret is finally trying to catch up with the times with a dramatic rebranding that will embrace athletes and women of varying sizes instead of waif-thin models with unrealistic proportions. “When the world was changing, we were too slow to respond,” the company’s new chief executive, Martin Waters, was quoted as saying by The New York Times on Wednesday. “We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want.” At the center of the brand’s overhaul is a group of women called the VS Collective who will feature in ads and promotions on Instagram, and also advise the brand in general. The group includes outspoken women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe, teen freestyle skier Eileen Gu, plus-size model and social justice advocate Paloma Elsesser, and Brazilian trans model Valentina Sampaio, among others. The revamping comes after the company’s hold on the market dwindled over the last few years, while the brand was accused of being outdated and dented by a series of scandals, including transphobic comments made by a former executive and the previous owner’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.