What comes to your mind when you think about Victoria’s Secret? Maybe you get an image of a pink storefront in your mind. Or perhaps you think of the brand’s iconic marketing campaign with scantly clad angels. Odds are you don’t immediately think of a woman named Victoria, or sexual harassment, or even Jeffrey Epstein. But in Hulu’s new three-part documentary series Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, all of those things come to light.
(Courtesy of Hulu)
The debut episode, “Inventing Victoria,” traces the company’s origins and sets up the controversy that’s to come. It introduces Les Wexner’s rise as the founder of The Limited, the floundering Victorian-themed mail-order lingerie business, and how Les came to transform it into one of the most recognized brands in the world. Commentators include a few former models (including Frederique van der Wal and Lyndsey Scott), former employees (including CEO Cindy Fedus-Fields), and a team of journalists and authors. By the end of the episode, Les Wexner’s relationship to Jeffrey Epstein has begun, which takes over the narrative for the rest of the series.
Episode 2, “The Secret Friend,” is really focused on Jeffrey Epstein and his dealings with the company. Having become Les Wexner’s power of attorney, it charts many of the controversies, including a reported sexual abuse claim about Epstein, who had said he was telling women he was a casting agent for the brand’s iconic models. And it begins to post an important question: How much did Les Wexner really know?
The final episode, “Fallen Angel,” presents more damning evidence about how intrinsically linked Jeffrey Epstein was to the company and Wexner. The timeline of events makes the brand’s teenage-targeted label, Pink, seem all the more questionable as it tracks marketing executive Ed Razek’s refusal to listen to the advice of women executives, leading to the brand’s fall from grace in the Me Too era. And it all ends with a look at the present state of the company and its efforts to turn itself around.
A lot of journalists weigh in on the situation in their reporting. While captivating, the series’ main objective seems to be placing partial blame for Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes on Les Wexner. If nothing else, it makes the case that Wexner helped Epstein obtain the money to make his crimes possible. While there are many eyebrow-raising moments where it’s hard to believe Wexner was completely innocent, it also doesn’t make the case that he should’ve had to step down from the company for his association to Epstein. Curiously, it also repeatedly returns to Wexner’s sexuality, which seems irrelevant to the narrative. The series ultimately has to include statements from several lawyers, including one about Wexner’s refusal to be interviewed for the series. One from the lawyers of Epstein’s victims pretty much sums up what the series leads to; There’s no direct connection between Les Wexner’s personal and professional relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the crimes Epstein committed.
Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons is an intriguing watch, although it feels like the content was stretched a little longer than it should’ve been. While you can’t tell the story without the Epstein of it all, what you actually crave more by the end is a deeper dive into the brand’s impact on body image issues amongst women. Several experts in that area are interviewed, but the amount of screentime given to them feels disproportionate to data that could likely be proven in that area as opposed to the sexier narrative that the man behind the success of Victoria’s Secret may have aided in one of the biggest sex trafficking scandals of our time.
I give Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons 3.5 out of 5 clips from The Devil Wears Prada.
Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons is now streaming on Hulu.