Victoria’s Secret Has a Mean-Girl Problem
For generations, fashion brands were free to set strict standards for feminine appearance. Then social media happened.
When Victoria’s Secret deigns to speak at all, it does so in a British accent. The lingerie store, the largest division of the retail giant L Brands, is based in Ohio, but in its commercials and videos, an unseen-woman’s voice always speaks the Queen’s as models pose in incongruous settings, strutting in thigh-highs and silk robes through Roman ruins or a remote Colorado ranch.
Victoria’s Secret doesn’t say much of anything out loud, though, which is sort of the point. It looms instead of verbalizes. The models are seen but not heard in most of their official duties, performing a silent, stylized perfection so invariable that it’s hard to interpret it as anything other than.
