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.

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

“This is the rare business book that examines the cultural impact of one of the most important brands of our time—and reads like a thriller.”
—Marisa Meltzer, New York Times bestselling author of Glossy

“A fully engrossing history that reveals how business and commerce shape our aesthetics, norms, and libido.”
—W. David Marx, author of Ametora

“Selling Sexy peels back the layers on the brand that brought ‘sexy’ out of the boudoir and into the fluorescent-lit American mainstream. Bravo to Lauren Sherman and Chantel Fernandez, who expertly weave together sharp business insight, tantalizing cultural history, and juicy insider anecdotes to get at why Victoria’s Secret’s bombshell babes and their ‘Jello-mold cleavage’ still live rent-free in all of our brains—even years into a decline that was all but inevitable.”
—Maggie Bullock, author of The Kingdom of Prep

“One of the great cautionary tales of modern retail, Selling Sexy packs an MBA's worth of lessons into a riveting page-turner punctuated by personal tragedy and corporate excess.”
—Jason Del Rey, author of Winner Sells All

Informative

Most of the story is good, but the fact that the writer of the book has a leftist vision, kind of ruins, then enjoyment. It would’ve been better if it was written neutrally and more in line with reality. Humans are an opposite sex reproducing species, and it is weird to hear about how Victoria’s Secret mainly catered to straight women as a negative thing. Also, the country is a majority white European country even to this day and constantly talking about how Victoria’s Secret was unfair to not hire a mixed bag of models was weird. It’s like she didn’t really understand what was the point of Victoria’s Secret and she wanted it to be more like what she wanted instead of what reality is.

Excellent storytelling. Exceptional narration.

This was an incredible book that takes you through the story of Victoria’s Secret, the rise of mall culture, the evolution of fashion branding and clothing, the impact of Epstein, and how public perception and expectations around fashion have changed over time. I highly recommend it.

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.

Better business books - read one of those

Nothing new. Key people not involved with book so all info/insight seemed to be gathered from public records. Not worth the time.