Victoria's Secret: Angels And Demons - General Discussion

[DanaK]

Quote

A 3-part series streaming on Hulu, Matt Tyrnauer directs this searing and provocative story of the Victoria's Secret brand as well as their then CEO, the larger-than-life, enigmatic billionaire, Les Wexner. The underworld of fashion, the billionaire class, and Jeffrey Epstein are all revealed to all be inextricably intertwined with the fall of this legendary brand

Premieres on Hulu on July 14 2022

[WendyCR72]

Ah, a title change. (Probably works better in this category than the initial thread for it was, in Talk. So I have locked that. This fits better.)

[AnimeMania]

Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons — Season 1 — Investigated with journalistic rigor by director Matt Tyrnauer, this documentary tells the searing and provocative story of the Victoria’s Secret brand and its longtime CEO, the larger-than-life, enigmatic billionaire Les Wexner. The underworld of fashion, the billionaire class, and Jeffrey Epstein are all revealed to be inextricably intertwined with the fall of this legendary brand in Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons.

[Scarlett45]

I worked at VS in college. This looks interesting. 

[bilgistic]

I'm STRUGGLING to get through the first episode. This was billed as "the scandals behind Victoria's Secret", but the first episode is every painstaking detail behind the founding of the company (L Brands). I'm only halfway through and trying hard to hang in.

ETA: It gets better toward the end of the first episode. Jeffrey Epstein's affiliation comes to light. He was a known creeper at least 30 years ago, and nothing was done.

Edited July 15, 2022 by bilgistic

[bilgistic]

This was a waste of time. It was just another "expose" on Jeffrey Epstein and how he was enabled by everyone around him.

[TakomaSnark]

All things considered, I thought it was pretty good. Leslie Wexner is a shady, shady character. 

[Jillybean]

The third episode was pretty much all about Jeffrey Epstein. I FF through a lot of it. If they had kept it to VS, it could've just been an hour or maybe 90 minutes total.

[TakomaSnark]

I think it's impossible to separate Wexner/L Brands from Epstein, given how long Wexner allowed Epstein to be his POA and that Epstein was name dropping Victoria's Secret in an effort to recruit new trafficking victims (never mind living on Wexner's estate in New Albany). It's uncomfortable thinking back to how much money I spent at VS that was ultimately funding a pedo ring run by Jeffrey Epstein.

Unfortunately, we'll probably never know what on earth went on between those men unless someone from Wexner's inner circle blabs (and probably then not until after Wexner is dead). Amazing that he sided with Epstein over his own mother, to whom Wexner seemed 100% devoted until that point.

I was glad to see Frederique again, though she seemed to make a lot of excuses for what went on - but I wish they could have gotten the other face of the catalogue from the 'classier' days, Jill Goodacre.

[SlovakPrincess]

Interesting how much money Epstein got from Wexner.   And apparently Epstein was not actually some investment management genius, he was just manipulative and apparently leeched millions out of people like Wexner.  

One of the most horrifying parts was the woman assaulted and held against her will by Epstein and Maxwell on Wexner's property ... and she couldn't get the local cops to help her because they were already "guarding" the estate for Wexner.  

I'd truly forgotten how cringey the VS ad campaigns were in the 2000s, with the fake British accent and WHAT IS SEXY? silliness.    I laughed when the former executive (or was it Frederique?) talked about "what happened to the mythological sophisticated Victoria" the company initially built up as its focus ... "well, the space angels killed her."  Hee!

Edited July 19, 2022 by SlovakPrincess

[Sweet-tea]

On 7/18/2022 at 10:50 AM, TakomaSnark said:

I think it's impossible to separate Wexner/L Brands from Epstein, given how long Wexner allowed Epstein to be his POA and that Epstein was name dropping Victoria's Secret in an effort to recruit new trafficking victims (never mind living on Wexner's estate in New Albany). It's uncomfortable thinking back to how much money I spent at VS that was ultimately funding a pedo ring run by Jeffrey Epstein.

Unfortunately, we'll probably never know what on earth went on between those men unless someone from Wexner's inner circle blabs (and probably then not until after Wexner is dead). Amazing that he sided with Epstein over his own mother, to whom Wexner seemed 100% devoted until that point.

I was glad to see Frederique again, though she seemed to make a lot of excuses for what went on - but I wish they could have gotten the other face of the catalogue from the 'classier' days, Jill Goodacre.

Me too. I wish they would have talked to Stephanie Seymour too. She was a big model for them for a long time. 

I remember working at an engineering company long ago. I was the receptionist and sorted the mail. Some of the female employees got the VS catalog, and it seemed like it often ended up in a male employee’s office. They joked about it. This was when they were really sexy and posing in bras and panties. 

The Pink footage was very disturbing. I didn’t realize it targeted such young girls. The ads really sexualized them. It was sickening. 

I know the photos in the catalogs and on the website were touched up, but those women on the runway actually looked like that! Sigh. I’m many years past my prime but even in my best days in my early 20s, I never looked anything close to a VS model. 

Edited July 27, 2022 by Sweet-tea