Victoria’s Secret history starts with an embarrassed husband, not a supermodel. Halloween night, the city is full of angel wings, and almost nobody in those costumes knows the story behind them. Here it is, from first principles, with sources.
Who founded Victoria’s Secret?
Roy Raymond and his wife Gaye founded Victoria’s Secret on June 12, 1977, with a first store at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California (Wikipedia). Raymond told Newsweek in 1981 that department stores offered “racks of terry-cloth robes and ugly floral-print nylon nightgowns,” and that saleswomen treated him like “an unwelcome intruder” (TIME). He borrowed about eighty thousand dollars, half from family and half from a bank, to build a store where men felt comfortable buying lingerie (Slate).
Why is it called Victoria’s Secret?
There was no Victoria. The name points to Queen Victoria and the refinement of the Victorian era, and the “secret” is what was hidden underneath the clothes (TIME). The stores were dressed like a Victorian boudoir: dark wood, rugs, silk drapes (Slate). Customers even mailed letters to “Victoria.” Raymond told WWD in 1981 that one person sent her a gift certificate.
The Wexner turn
By 1982 the company had five stores and a catalog. Raymond sold it to Les Wexner of The Limited for about one million dollars (Academy of Achievement; Slate). Wexner flipped the audience from the nervous husband to the woman buying for herself, and rolled the format through American malls. By the early 1990s it had about 350 stores, roughly one billion dollars in sales, and was the largest lingerie retailer in the country (Wikipedia). The catalog even listed a London address while the real headquarters sat in Columbus, Ohio.
Where did the Angels come from?
The first runway show, at New York’s Plaza Hotel in August 1995, was opened by Stephanie Seymour (Wikipedia). Karen Mulder got the contracted Angel title in 1996, and in 1997 Seymour, Daniela Peštová, Tyra Banks and Helena Christensen joined the first official class (Teen Vogue). The wings arrived in 1998. Gisele Bündchen and Heidi Klum debuted in 1999 (Elle).
The Angel was the oldest trick in branding, done beautifully: give the product a face, then a name, then a myth.
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The fall and the comeback
In 2019 the parent company confirmed the show was cancelled, citing falling viewership (Wikipedia). In 2021 Victoria’s Secret was spun off as its own public company (Wikipedia). The show came back in 2024, and on October 18, 2026, it streamed free on YouTube from Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles (YouTube Blog).
Read the rest of the series: how the show became the sexiest night on television and how the Victoria’s Secret money actually works.
FAQ
Who founded Victoria’s Secret? Roy and Gaye Raymond, in 1977, in Palo Alto, California.
Was Victoria a real person? No. The name nods to Queen Victoria and Victorian refinement.
Who bought Victoria’s Secret? Les Wexner’s company, The Limited, in 1982, for about one million dollars.
When did the Angels start? The first official Angel class was 1997; Karen Mulder held the title a year earlier.
Want the full story behind the story?
Every empire runs on a myth and a structure. That’s the subject of our new illustrated book, The Way of the Republic: a thirty-dollar book, free for you. Get it here, or read along with members on Patreon. Want to be photographed like an Angel? Book a shoot at lillith.vip.
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