OPINION: Why Victoria’s Secret Suddenly Lost Its CEO
Victoria's Secret Brand CEO Amy Hauk has resigned and will walk away sometime in March; however, she has not specified why she decided to leave the company.
There’s something up at Victoria’s Secret. The brand and its subbrands, just don’t get it. And frankly, it’s not that hard. As the brand faltered because of its ties to Jeffrey Epstein (yup, that same exact Jeffery Epstein) and was slow to embrace how women actually look like, slim and curvy customers alike, turned their backs. And now, the brand CEO has resigned a little less than a year into the job. Weird, right?
According to CNN, CEO of Brand, Amy Hauk has stepped down and resigned. Her last days at Victoria’s Secret will be sometime in mid-March. It’s unclear why she resigned, but she said she was looking forward to spending more time with family. Is this code for “working at VS was a nightmare, and it doesn’t know what it wants?” Who knows. Maybe.
As Victoria’s Secret slowly started featuring plus size (read, normal size) models, it seemed they were a bit slow to match their clothing to the images. The brand did try to bounce back from the COVID shutdown by creating a Victoria’s Secret page on Amazon, but it’s questionable how successful that move was.
This ping-ponging back and forth between the debate of who the customer is, is really kind of ridiculous and, at this point, self-made. The brand made its mark in the 90s when heroin sheik slim was in, and the term “body positivity” would’ve been absolutely ridiculous. Everyone hated their bodies, and everyone was starving. Thank the fashion gods, we’ve evolved.
But, Victoria’s Secret dragged its angel wings begrudgingly to the “real world” curves now embraced by so many. And it’s not that we don’t want to wear Victoria’s Secret or even mind spending a ludicrous amount on some panties. It’s just that the brand won’t let its angels fly away so quickly.
As we look back to the Victoria’s Secret fashion shows that were emblazoned across our TVs in the 2000s, it should not have come as a surprise that they were finally canceled in 2018. The brand said it was evolving. Was it because the previous year women were dressed as animals wearing their lingerie?
Yes, women dressed up as literal giraffes and tigers walked the runway. They were really skinny giraffes, though. That was the year when Victoria’s Secret seemed to be saying, “women aren’t enough. Angels are not enough! NO! We need beasts from the Serengeti. But don’t feed them.” Clearly, we had enough.
But after that, nothing really happened. The pictures in the store changed… a bit. We went from a size 0 to a size 8, maybe. But what did that do? Because nature abhors a vacuum, a brand popped up from middle America. The unexpected hero? Walmart. Yes, that Walmart.
The store saw an opportunity to gussy up its unkept exterior and put its knock-off Loubitons on. And, rightly so because it started to see a different type of customer. A customer who had some disposable income, but knew they had to save. Walmart started to meet people where they were at. Bravo!
So, Walmart rolled out Secret Treasures. It’s Victoria’s Secret-esque sleep and lingerie brand. It’s fun, it’s cute, it’s a bit sophisticated, and it seems to be where we’re at these days. No stopping Walmart, it recently rolled out JoySpun. This sub-brand is on par with VS’s Pink. But, one thing differentiates it. Body diversity.
This brings us back to Amy Hauk, Victoria’s Secret-shamed sister to step down. We don’t know why. But as she stepped down, she brought the rest of the stock numbers with her. Will the recent purchase of Body positive Adore Me make a difference? Or will our angels and animals go out to pasture?
