For years, Josephine Skriver and Jasmine Tooker have been cogs in the machinery of the Victoria’s Secret empire. Now, four years after the fall of the world’s largest lingerie label, the models have broken their silence on the machinations behind the camera. On the Real Pod podcast with Victoria Garrick, the pair opened up about their experiences as Victoria’s Secret angels and dealt another blow to the brand’s ailing image.
The fact that an underwear company like Victoria’s Secret uses Photoshop to help with advertising images in order to present their models in their own collections as attractively as possible is nothing new. But Victoria’s Secret is said to have overdone it when it came to their bag of tricks. As Tookes and Skriver recount, their perfectly staged images were edited beyond recognition at the time, so that they didn’t even recognize themselves.
Skriver says, “Sometimes my mother would ask me, ‘Is that you? I didn’t know you could look like that’.” She could have stood next to the billboard for 30 minutes and no one would have recognized her. Tookes also confirms this. Both were signed in 2012 and 2013 – in the time when social media was just experiencing an enormous boom, they say. Fashion show fans have been obsessed with learning more about the infamous Victoria’s Secret angels and knowing every detail of their lives.
Until then, the models had been almost inaccessible to the outside world, and until 2019 they floated down the catwalks of the renowned “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” in time for Christmas in the latest bras and panties with oversized wings and were on advertising posters in the world’s metropolises to see. If a model made it to the fashion show, it was considered the elite of the fashion world. It was thus a role model for numerous young women who admired it for its optical perfection and flawlessness and emulated the supposed ideal. And social media brought her one step closer to the lifestyle of the models.
“They wanted to know what toothpaste I use,” says Tookes. Fans would still believe her life is “simple” and “perfect”. But Instagram is just a version of herself, she says. “When you see me waking up in the morning at my house, in the middle of the day, all over the baby, no makeup, that’s my real life,” says Tookes, who gave birth to her baby in February.
If you come from the fashion world, you know how “fake” everything is. Wear a “costume” of body make-up and get tuned up so much that you don’t resemble yourself anymore. But people still wouldn’t know how strong the staging really is. “It’s so crazy because it’s so obvious to me when I look at old Victoria’s Secret campaigns,” she points out.
When asked if they understood the negative impact their portrayal had on other women and society, Skriver says, “It was a weird time because you realize all eyes are on you.” This would have allowed her to understand the pressure from Victoria’s Secret at the time. But when social media came along, she tried to convey the “glamorous side” they were known for with aspects like “two and a half hours of hair and make-up” and “personal trainer” because of her body and the flawless appearance it was all hard work. Apparently, this was not understood at the time. But now – after the company’s realignment and the change in social ideals – you actually have the opportunity to give people realistic insights, she says.
The fact that Victoria’s Secret was criticized for its machinations at the time is nothing new. With the spread of the “Body Positivity” and “MeToo” movements, the company has increasingly come into the public eye in recent years – also due to transphobic statements by Marketing Director Ed Razek 2018, who spoke to the US ” “Vogue” said he doesn’t book transgender models because the show is “a fantasy” in which they “as well as plus-size models shouldn’t have any place”. He caused outrage around the world with this statement, it was the start of the downfall of “Victoria’s Secret”.
Leyna Bloom, who became the first trans woman to appear on the cover of Vogue India, wrote on Instagram at the time: “This is the moment when the masks come off. Now the brand is showing their true colors and their beliefs. They will continue to do so in the future regret when they realize what a mistake they made. When the world has changed and that change is celebrated everywhere, then Victoria’s Secret will not be a part of it. That moment cannot be undone.”
In 2022, the US television service “Hulu” released a documentary about the history of the lingerie company. Under the title “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons” the makers explained in detail about the rise and fall of the label. However, the label now wants to get away from the negative headlines once and for all.
After a four-year break, it replaces its world-famous fashion show with “The Victoria’s Secret Tour” in the form of a film that accompanies 20 international artists and designers from all over the world in the conception of four fashion shows in Bogotá, Lagos, London and Tokyo. However, it remains to be seen whether the company will be able to heal its broken wings.
What: “Real Pod”, “Vogue”, “People”
