Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons

The uneven docuseries chronicles Victoria's Secret's meteoric rise as a popular global brand, and how sexism and scandal eventually brought it down. Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons discusses how CEO Les Wexner's focus on retail and mass consumption, and chief marketing officer Edward Razekto's push for strategies to elevate the brand, created a hugely profitable formula during the 1990s and early 2000s. It also looks at how they eventually failed to meet a new generation's consumer demands for inclusivity, body positivity, and anti-sexism while continuing to reinforce a patriarchal culture in the workplace. As part of this conversation, the evolution of the VS marketing narrative is showcased, and demonstrates how the brand transformed its story about a proper, educated fictive Anglo-French woman named (surprise!) Victoria to stories driven by male sexual fantasy and, in the case of tweens and teens, FOMO ("fear of missing out"). The role of fashion models throughout this process, and how they went from being iconic "Angels" to examples of how out of touch Wexner and Razekto became with the average consumer, is also addressed.

All of this is interesting, but the problem is that Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons tells two almost completely different tales by dividing each installment between this historical overview and the odd connections Jeffrey Epstein had to Wexner. In fact, by the end of the series, it is so focused on Epstein, and the many speculations about this relationship, that one almost forgets that the series is about Victoria's Secret. Nonetheless, if you like documentaries, particularly those focused on popular culture, you will appreciate much of what it has to offer.