Selling Sexy

Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon

By: Lauren Sherman, Chantal Fernandez

Narrated by: Allyson Ryan

The story of how Victoria’s Secret skyrocketed from a tiny chain of boutiques to a retail phenomenon with more than $8 billion in annual sales at its peak—all while defining an impossible beauty standard for generations of American women—before the brand’s tight grip on the industry finally slipped

Victoria’s Secret is one of the most influential and polarizing brands to ever infiltrate the psyche of the American consumer. Almost right at its start in the late 1970s, the company developed a cult following for its glamorous catalogs. Back then, shoppers had few alternatives to the stodgy department stores that sold most of the nation’s intimate apparel. By 1982, the founders of Victoria’s Secret avoided bankruptcy by selling to Les Wexner, the fast-fashion pioneer behind the Limited, whose empire of mall brands would go on to dominate American retail for forty years.

Wexner turned Victoria’s Secret into a multibillion-dollar business, and the brand’s cultural influence soared thanks to its airbrushed advertisements and annual televised fashion show, which drew millions of viewers each year. Its supermodel spokeswomen, the sweet but sultry Angels, personified a new American beauty standard.

But as our definition of beauty expanded, Victoria’s Secret failed to evolve and reached a crisis point. Meanwhile, Wexner became increasingly known for his complicated relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, his former financial adviser and confidant.

Selling Sexy expertly draws from sources within Victoria’s Secret and across the industry to examine the unprecedented rise of one of the most innovative brands in retail history—a brand that today, under new ownership, is desperately trying to seduce shoppers again.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.

©2023 Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“An enthralling deep dive... a sharp assessment, this pulls no punches.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Sex, lies and measuring tape: Selling Sexy by two veteran fashion journalists is a rollicking romp that reveals in intimate detail the ascent and collapse of the world’s most famous lingerie brand. Simply delectable.”
—Dana Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster

“In elegant, tasteful prose, Selling Sexy tells the incredible story of the rise and fall of Les Wexner’s retail juggernaut. Thanks to Sherman and Fernandez’s encyclopedic knowledge of the business of fashion, it’s placed in highly readable and essential context. You won’t be able to put the book down.”
—William D. Cohan, New York Times bestselling author of House of Cards

“A must-read for anyone who has ever been fascinated and disturbed by the rise of a company that promised women so much—and sold us so little. Sherman and Fernandez reveal all of Victoria’s secrets in riveting detail.”
—Amy Odell, New York Times bestselling author of Anna: The Biography

“No fashion mogul comes close to the visionary Les Wexner, whose mighty Limited Brands, starring the sultry Victoria’s Secret, ruled shopping malls for decades. Selling Sexy unpacks Wexner’s brilliant—and ultimately off-base—business maneuvers with authority and style.”
—Teri Agins, author of The End of Fashion

80s and 90s Fashion History

This book is about so much more than Victoria’s Secret. It’s really about the fashion industry in the 80s and 90s, the rise of mall stores, and touches on how many of today’s ubiquitous brands got their start.

My one negative comment is about the performance on the audiobook. I even double checked to see if it was AI because there are several pretty bad mispronunciations of names of foreign brands. Still a valuable listen, but please don’t come away thinking that Givanchy is pronounced with a hard G and sounds like an Italian restaurant!

Not recommended

The summary epilogue is the best part of the book. It would have made a good magazine article, as would other chapters in the book. In my opinion, the chapters, timelines, etc do not hang together. I can’t recommend the book.