Hillary Super and a $50 Million Bra: Can Victoria’s Secret Win Women Back?

Victoria’s Secret didn’t skimp on the spectacle this year. At its Oct. 18 fashion show, Kylie Jenner made her runway debut wearing a $50 million diamond-studded Fantasy Bra, the first to appear in a Victoria’s Secret show since 2018. Meanwhile, 21-year-old Solange Omon earned her wings after winning a nationwide casting competition, securing a runway appearance and a contract with IMG Models.

For CEO Hillary Super, the two moments captured something she has spent the past two years working toward: bringing back the glamour that made Victoria’s Secret famous while broadening its appeal to women who may have written off the brand long ago.

Held at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif., the show featured an all-female musical lineup of Tate McRae, Megan Thee Stallion, Megan Moroney and KATSEYE. Legendary Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima returned to the runway, as did Barbara Palvin, who walked the coveted glittery, glossy catwalk just six weeks after giving birth. Omon’s debut culminated the brand’s nationwide casting search, documented in the YouTube series Angels Among Us. The series has released six episodes, with the finale scheduled for Nov. 22.

However, the Angels’ return predates this year’s extravaganza. In 2021, then-CEO Martin Waters retired the traditional Angels program in favor of the VS Collective, an ambassador initiative introduced amid backlash over the brand’s hypersexualization and lack of inclusivity. But the company’s attempt to redefine itself failed to produce a sustained financial turnaround.

Victoria’s Secret announced the return of its fashion show in May 2024, three months before Super was appointed CEO. That October, familiar Angels, including Lima, Tyra Banks, and Alessandra Ambrosio, returned to the runway. The show returned again in 2025, introducing new faces such as WNBA star Angel Reese alongside longtime Victoria’s Secret models.

Super has built on that revival, restoring the brand’s unapologetic sex appeal while making its definition of sexy more inclusive.

The business behind the wings

Super, previously CEO of Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty and global CEO of Anthropologie Group, came to Victoria’s Secret in September 2024 with an extensive background in women’s retail. Investors welcomed the leadership change, with shares climbing sharply following her appointment and a stronger-than-expected earnings outlook.

In March 2025, Super introduced the Path to Potential strategy, a plan to recommit to PINK, Victoria’s Secret’s younger-skewing apparel brand; strengthen the company’s bra business; expand beauty, sport and swim; and improve everything from production lead times to marketing.

In June 2026, Victoria’s Secret changed its New York Stock Exchange ticker from VSCO to VSXY, a symbolic move that underscored Super’s determination to embrace the brand’s identity rather than run from it.

“VSXY is a marker of who we are today. A company standing fully in our identity and committed to inspiring confidence, sparking joy and celebrating sexy in all its forms,” Super said in a company statement.

Strategy and optics aside, Victoria’s Secret’s financials show traction. In September, the company reported second-quarter net sales of $1.61 billion, a 10 percent year-over-year increase. Comparable sales rose nine percent, while adjusted operating income more than doubled to $124 million from $55 million a year earlier.

Perhaps more importantly, Victoria’s Secret raised its full-year net sales forecast to between $7.10 billion and $7.18 billion, up from its previous range of $7.03 billion to $7.13 billion. That would represent a notable increase from the $6.55 billion in sales recorded in fiscal 2025.

“Our Path to Potential strategy is working,” Super said in the company’s September earnings release, pointing to stronger brands, an expanding customer base and market-share gains.

The financial improvement gives credence to Super’s efforts to invite younger consumers back through PINK while rebuilding an emotional connection with longtime customers. Lifestyle partnerships with brands like JanSport, HydroJug and the NFL have also pushed the brand beyond its traditional lingerie offerings.

Five years after Victoria’s Secret became an independent publicly traded company, the retailer has returned to its roots. This time, however, the aim is to make sexiness and inclusivity part of the same proposition.

A new chapter for the Angels

The Angels Among Us docuseries and this year’s fashion show are also telling of Super’s digital-first marketing approach. Rather than relying solely on established supermodels, the company turned its search for new talent into a story audiences could follow online, complete with casting calls, eliminations and a runway debut.

Derek Warburton, celebrity stylist for Jessica Alba, Miranda Kerr and others, views the two productions as parts of a larger marketing effort that Victoria’s Secret can continue expanding.

“I think the show and docuseries are just one huge combined step for a bigger movement or campaign that they will eventually reveal,” Warburton, also the founder of Gurus Magazine, told Observer. “There’s a longer brand story piecing together.”

Warburton added that Super’s approach of highlighting compelling storytelling, easily accessible digital media and episodic narratives “works well to catch the eyes and hearts of online audiences.”

Omon’s selection offers a particularly visible example of that strategy. Rather than introducing another familiar face, Victoria’s Secret gave viewers an opportunity to watch an aspiring model work toward becoming an Angel. The brand’s revival is no longer just about revisiting its past, but also about creating new faces for its future.

Rebuilding trust

Despite the renewed enthusiasm surrounding Victoria’s Secret, its past controversies haven’t disappeared. The company spent years weathering criticism of its narrow beauty standards and workplace culture, along with scrutiny of former L Brands chief Les Wexner’s financial relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Former Victoria’s Secret marketing executive Ed Razek also faced backlash in 2018 after making controversial remarks about transgender and plus-size models.

Super has inherited the challenge of rebuilding trust without abandoning the image that once made Victoria’s Secret a retail powerhouse.

“Women have a love-hate relationship with Victoria’s Secret,” Shampaigne Graves, women’s consumer expert at Women’s Research Solutions, told Observer. “For years, the brand commodified women’s bodies, and women don’t forget that.”

Graves views Angels Among Us as a long-overdue apology to women, one intended to humanize the models and, subsequently, the brand.

As for the show, Graves sees a departure from previous iterations.

“It isn’t centered around the male gaze. The music lineup is all women. Fans win tickets every week. A woman from an open casting call walks the runway. What you see is a sincere community of women, with sincere intentions, and the goal is to make the woman watching at home feel seen.”

Of course, showcasing a $50 million Fantasy Bra raises its own questions about how Victoria’s Secret reconciles over-the-top glamour with a message intended to resonate with everyday women. The same spectacle that commands attention can also make the brand’s promises of inclusivity a harder sell.

Even so, Graves believes Super “moves VS from broadcasting at women to building with them.”

For Super, the financial recovery is already taking shape. The harder question is whether Victoria’s Secret can turn the attention surrounding its fashion show into lasting customer loyalty. The Angels have returned, sales are growing and the company has found new ways to tell its story. Whether women are ready to embrace Victoria’s Secret again remains to be seen.