Overview

The story of how Victoria's Secret skyrocketed from a tiny chain of boutiques to a retail phenomenon with more than $8 billion in annual sales at its peak-all while defining an impossible beauty standard for generations of American women-before the brand's tight grip on the industry finally slipped Victoria's Secret is one of the most influential and polarizing brands to ever infiltrate the psyche of the American consumer. Almost right at its start in the late 1970s, the company developed a cult following for its glamorous catalogs. Back then, shoppers had few alternatives to the stodgy department stores that sold most of the nation's intimate apparel. By 1982, the founders of Victoria's Secret avoided bankruptcy by selling to Les Wexner, the fast-fashion pioneer behind the Limited, whose empire of mall brands would go on to dominate American retail for forty years. Wexner turned Victoria's Secret into a multibillion-dollar business, and the brand's cultural influence soared thanks to its airbrushed advertisements and annual televised fashion show, which drew millions of viewers each year. Its supermodel spokeswomen, the sweet but sultry Angels, personified a new American beauty standard. But as our definition of beauty expanded, Victoria's Secret failed to evolve and reached a crisis point. Meanwhile, Wexner became increasingly known for his complicated relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, his former financial adviser and confidant. Selling Sexy expertly draws from sources within Victoria's Secret and across the industry to examine the unprecedented rise of one of the most innovative brands in retail history-a brand that today, under new ownership, is desperately trying to seduce shoppers again.

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9781250850966

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Reviews

"""In elegant, tasteful prose, Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez's Selling Sexy tells the incredible story of the rise and fall of Les Wexner's once-dominant retail juggernaut. Thanks to Sherman and Fernandez's encyclopedic knowledge of the business of fashion, Wexner's successes and failures are put into highly readable and essential context. You won't be able to put the book down."" --William D. Cohan, author of House of Cards and Power Failure ""Sex, lies and measuring tape: Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon, by veteran fashion journalists Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez, has that and more. A rollicking romp that reveals in intimate detail the ascent and collapse of the world's most famous lingerie brand. Simply delectable."" --Dana Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster ""A must-read for anyone who has ever been at once fascinated and disturbed by the rise of a company that promised women so much--and sold us so little. Sherman and Fernandez reveal all of Victoria's secrets, from the brand's precipitous rise to its spectacular fall, in riveting detail."" --Amy Odell, author of Anna: The Biography ""No fashion mogul comes close to the visionary Les Wexner--the mercurial Ohio merchant kingpin whose mighty Limited Brands--starring the sultry Victoria's Secret chain--ruled U.S. shopping malls for decades. Selling Sexy is a deeply-sourced chronicle by two expert business journalists that unpacks Wexner's brilliant--and ultimately off-base--business maneuvers, with authoritative storytelling and style."" --Teri Agins, author of The End of Fashion and Hijacking the Runway ""This is the rare business book that examines the cultural impact of one of the most important brands of our time--and reads like a thriller."" --Marisa Meltzer, author of Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier ""A fully engrossing history that reveals how business and commerce shape our aesthetics, norms, and libido."" --W. David Marx, author of Ametora and Status and Culture"

"""In elegant, tasteful prose, Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez's Selling Sexy tells the incredible story of the rise and fall of Les Wexner's once-dominant retail juggernaut. Thanks to Sherman and Fernandez's encyclopedic knowledge of the business of fashion, Wexner's successes and failures are put into highly readable and essential context. You won't be able to put the book down."" --William D. Cohan, author of The Last Tycoons and Power Failure ""This is the rare business book that examines the cultural impact of one of the most important brands of our time--and reads like a thriller."" --Marisa Meltzer, author of Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier"

Author Information

Lauren Sherman has been reporting inside the fashion industry for more than 15 years. Now a special correspondent for news media venture Puck, she spent nearly a decade leading coverage for The Business of Fashion, and before that, was a staff reporter at Forbes. Along the way, she has contributed to various publications, from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times to Fast Company, Women's Health, and The Gentlewoman. Chantal Fernandez is a freelance writer covering fashion, retail, luxury, and beauty with a focus on business and culture. Her work has appeared in The Financial Times, New York Magazine, Elle, and The Business of Fashion.

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