I Will Take As Many Words As I Want To Write This Story
[b]My recent letter to Victoria's Secret and John Menas[/b]
[i]It's no secret this company is failing. It is failing the market and investors in their parent company, L Brands, but it is also fails women as a whole.
I worked in a store as a beauty and makeup adviser in 2012 when we had a make up line. After that I apprenticed at Clinique-a program that has ended. I saw young women after young woman come in and leave happy with what they bought. I also saw many in tears as the store was great for their friends but NOT for them. They did not exist to VS and the corporate heads at VS and then Limited Brands. So many came to me, in tears saying "Why do you not carry clothes I can wear. I have enough of your scents. I want clothing and lingerie". Some them asked me to do something about it which I could not.
i have watched this store rebuke the + size community since it inception. I have shopped at VS since 1979! I know of what I speak! It was once glamorous. Luxurious. Decadent but with class. It oozed femininity and yet it did not support all women.
Now it is 2019--are we not past shaming body types of even gender stereotypes? Women already KNOW what femininity is--we do not need VS telling us what it is. Women breastfeed, they have C-sections, they fight putting on and taking off pounds, they are vital in the workplace and they are vital in the home and community.
And not every woman is shaped the same!!!! It's bad enough that we face social shaming every single day of our lives . We do not need it from VS when Third Love is so much better as is Aerie. We do not exist to be a warped male fantasy-we are so much more than that!
Ok-deep breathe---below is what I just told VS and their new head of lingerie, John Menas. (who replaced Jan Siegler)
I doubt they will listen so it shall be interesting to watch the inheritable fall.[/i]
"[c=#BF0000]Force Ed Razek out of the company. Release all models from their contracts effective 8/1. They are not needed. Be the face of every women no matter their size, shape, or gender roles. We as women already know what sexy is. It's mid 2019, are we not past trying to define what femininity and gender roles are for women?
Stop with the casual lines. We have enough of that. It's not what we want from a lingerie store.
We do not exist to be marketed as a male's fantasy or his idea of what femininity is. We live for ourselves and we are better at it than any illusion he may have of us! Treat us a human beings and cater to what we want and need. We are not trophies for a male fantasy which has gotten rather old.
Bring back what we once loved-and still would. Second Skin Satin, the original Victoria perfume. The lines of bras and panties with ladies names for the line name. Biofit. Stop selling rubbish and catering to girls, yes girls, 8-21.
[b]Pink is NOT LIFE[/b]. One can only have so much of that. There comes an age you lose us and you do not market to us as successful adult women. Third Love and Aerie are looking better all the time and I even have serious issues with Aerie.
The Fashion show is no more. NikitaDragun ( a twitter user who did the VS show, as a transwomen BETTER than VS did last year) properly schooled you on how to that properly!
The catalog is gone. The free panties are gone as Jan wanted to make panties a business. ( a mistake) YOU DO NOT NEED supermodels!!! You need women being exactly that IRL in ads. You have lost touch with women and what had made you a great store decades ago. Luxury left your store in the 1980's. The feeling that VS was something special left long ago as well as line after line, that women loved, was discontinued by those who were clueless as to what we loved to shop for.
Getting rid of bigoted, short sighted, narrow minded Ed Razek is the first step as his vision is one women do NOT embrace. He had his day and contributed a lot but dinosaurs such as him are extinct. Or should be. John, good luck. Make VS what it once was or watch it fail."[/c]
Alexis
[c=#BF0000]Ps.. By the way John, do you remember when VS used to openly market to women AND MEN? I'll remind you. This, from the inside cover of a 1982 magazine with Geena Davis on the cover.
Excellent post. I rarely step foot into VS anymore, although the stuff fits me. I agree the PINK line has taken over, like sweats are so much better when they scream brand or “I’m a teenager”. Last time I went in looking for lingerie I was so disappointed with their few choices. I mean, it’s supposed to be a lingerie store right? One (huge) full room of pink. One full room of scents, one full room of bras, and only one room also with bras, panties, and a few lingerie choices. If they want to bring back the LINGERIE store I may shop there more again, but it’s not looking likely they will.
@Elandra77 I want to see more actual lingerie as opposed to ANOTHER bra and panties line. I can get those anywhere. What happened to the garder belts, the babydolls, the sexy chemises?
Apparently you can sell that bottle of laundry detergent for $200 on eBay. Lol. They would sell out so fast once they got it in stock, seems like a poor business decision to discontinue it, especially because we were willing to pay top dollar for the stuff. You’d think they’d make more... 🤔
@HeavenBesideYou I want the same as i have enough bras and panties. Remember I used to work there and we got stuff, "buy ins" they were called, very cheap and long before the consumer had them. I agree about the garters-and stockings. Ever IF we find stockings they are hose and not thigh highs to wear with a garter!
Lingerie needs to be their focus. Not casual wear or even bra and panty lines.
In their zeal to cater to teens they lost the elegance they once had.
Luxury left-as did the feeling of sexiness.
The bottom line is that their corporate focus is totally wrong.
Go back to being a nice lingerie store for grown ass women, and have sizes that can accommodate them.
And it’s ironic that the bras they stock wouldn’t even fit their models. My stepdaughter is a 34EE and there wasn’t a single one in the place that fit her.
My boobs are too large for VS and I have moved on to other companies for those needs. I do love the feminine scents but I have not set foot in VS in a couple years.
@Fungirlmmm She is so sweet! Um..don't tell her I said that. Pinky swear?
I buy my stylist and colorist VS stuff as well. I am so appreciative of how they make me look. I am small enough VS has my sizes in all aspects but I do love shopping in my PJ's with a cup of coffee.
@Fungirlmmm Mostly from BBW these days, although I do still love Love Spell from VS.
SW-User
I can remember the days of being "too big" for their line & wishing for a day I finally could finally fit. Now that I'm much smaller, I [b]still[/b] don't come out of there feeling sexy. Due to my upper body being so fit on my otherwise tiny frame (especially that area now), the only bra's that fit, somewhat correctly, aren't sexy. I'm limited to that one style that has 5 color choices, offers nothing cute or frilly, and many have that stupid elastic band with their logo as straps. Forget trying to buy a teddy that fits, the same.🙄🤨
I have some PINK items, but really miss their sexy Venus line...I really loved those jeans( perhaps it's just those they don't carry, but I think Venus is gone)... I still agree with you..focus on the lingerie instead of clothing. It's like if KFC were to start selling steak!
@SW-User Thank You for your encouragement! I am an advocate for a few issues but they are ones I have to believe in. This is one of those as I have seen her tears up close.
Ah! The unsexy colors. We all have a few of those! I hate the band that is on the PINK line of Hipsters and not the VS Cotton line. I may as well men's BVD's! (and in truth that may be WHO they are marketing to with that liner and style)
I have no issue with the PINK nightwear line. But the rest is just basic overkill and enticing pre teens and teens. Also FEELING SEXY is something that is in decline. We may feel that while in a store with like minded shoppers. We, as women, are great at networking as we shop! However when we get home and get to the business of everyday living do we feel that way then? I suspect if women ask themselves that the reply is often no.
They are losing ground to Third Love and Aerie and they lack solutions. The solutions are not that difficult. Reconnect with thew consumer you drove away by offering what THEY ONCE LOVED! Bring in new women, whatever size she is and no matter how she relates as one. You do that by being all inclusive. We do not need supermodels telling what we need and how we need to look.
Remember the scents we used to buy there 30-35 years ago? They are gone. (In truth Rapture can be found in stores now and again) Victoria, as it was then was to die for! Now so many are just too sweet or we tire of them quickly.
Razek had said :We are no one's third love, we are their first!."
He got this reply from Heidi. Text as I cannot reproduce IG posts.
Dear Victoria’s Secret,
I was appalled when I saw the demeaning comments about women your Chief Marketing Officer, Ed Razek, made to Vogue last week. As hard as it is to believe, he said the following: “We attempted to do a television special for plus-sizes [in 2000]. No one had any interest in it, still don’t.” “It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy.” I’ve read and re-read the interview at least 20 times, and each time I read it I’m even angrier. How in 2018 can the CMO of any public company — let alone one that claims to be for women — make such shocking, derogatory statements?
You market to men and sell a male fantasy to women. But at ThirdLove, we think beyond, as you said, a “42-minute entertainment special.” Your show may be a “fantasy” but we live in reality. Our reality is that women wear bras in real life as they go to work, breastfeed their children, play sports, care for ailing parents, and serve their country. Haven’t we moved beyond outdated ideas of femininity and gender roles? It’s time to stop telling women what makes them sexy — let us decide. We’re done with pretending certain sizes don’t exist or aren’t important enough to serve. And please stop insisting that inclusivity is a trend.
I founded ThirdLove five years ago because it was time to create a better option. ThirdLove is the antithesis of Victoria’s Secret. We believe the future is building a brand for every woman, regardless of her shape, size, age, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation. This shouldn’t be seen as groundbreaking, it should be the norm. Let’s listen to women. Let’s respect their intelligence. Let’s exceed their expectations. Let women define themselves. As you said Ed, “We’re nobody’s ThirdLove, we’re their first love.” We are flattered for the mention, but let me be clear: we may not have been a woman’s first love but we will be her last. To all women everywhere, we see you, and we hear you. Your reality is enough. To each, her own. -Heidi @heidi
As you can see some of the inspiration for my post came from this.
@LyricalOne She says that so well!!!! I can def support her and her company. Reallove may have been trademarked by another company for some reason although I did not research it. But great idea!
She schooled Ed in this and he has been around VS for 25 year or so!
And there in is the problem. The vision Ed wants as CMO is not the vision that is one women are willing to embrace anymore. As i said, he is a dinosaur.
