Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, a three-part investigative docuseries and exposé by award-winning film director Matt Tyrnauer, is only the beginning. Les Wexner, the CEO and business magnate of lingerie company Wexner Group, and Jeffrey Epstein, a financier and convicted sex offender, have a too-close-for-comfort connection that is exposed in Tyrnauer’s documentary, which premieres on Hulu on July 14. Angels and Demons takes a look at the darker side of consumerism through in-depth interviews with former Angels as well as archival material and internal L Brand video.
Hulu has just unveiled the teaser for their next docuseries, which may raise more concerns than it can answer. Tyrnauer’s provocatively titled documentary, Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, brings to the table a trove of solutions to the perplexing issues posed by Tyrnauer’s provocatively titled film. The lingerie industry was formerly dominated by Victoria’s Secret, back when shopping malls still drew the attention of the majority of young people. Wexner’s L Brand, which included Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Bath & Body Works, dominated the malls of the United States for a period of time.
In a highly dating age in the fashion world, he was the marketing genius behind sex and glamour’s unrealistic standards. There are going to be “a number of red lights” in a company established on the myopia of uninformed aesthetic standards that, in this day and age of deconstruction, just do not fly. Documentary filmmaker Tyrnauer takes a closer look at what went wrong with the firm, and how it came to a near-comical end, prior to its most recent drastic makeover. Victoria’s Secret has shifted its marketing strategy from promoting women’s underwear as a male dream to one that focuses on women and empowerment.
In an interview with WWD, Tyrnauer talked about the film, saying:
This is a complicated subject including not only fashion but also the realm of power and influence and what I like to call the fashion industrial complex. Fast fashion, design, and marketing, as well as the individuals behind it and their power and influence, are all covered in this book. As a result, it’s a tale about style, clout, and sway, as well as the corporate ethos. To me, this was intriguing since a lot of my films deal with the manipulation of power and influence by specific individuals.”
A parade of VS Angels, including Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, and Miranda Kerr, walked the Earth in their glittering underwear and fragrant lotions and fragrances. L Brand’s billionaire creator Wexner was leading the “7.5 billion dollar corporation,” and his dubious association with fellow billionaire and sex criminal Epstein raises some legitimate issues. “There wasn’t a portion of Wexner’s enterprise that Epstein didn’t have access to,” Wexner said in 1991 when he handed Epstein power of attorney.
Everything was available to him, and the teaser wonders how a clever guy like Wexner could have been so close to a child predator and sex trafficker like Epstein without knowing the truth about him. This is especially true in light of the revelation that Victoria’s Secret contacted Epstein’s legal team to share information about one of the man’s accusers, a former employee.
Cindy Fedus-Fields, the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret Direct, reportedly told The Daily Beast:
It was reported to Les [Wexner] that in the spring or summer of ’93, a guy was circling New York City pretending to be a recruiter for Victoria’s Secret catalogue models.” Jeffrey Epstein was the culprit. And Les promised to put an end to it. In my opinion, it has not. “I think it went on,” he said.
In the fashion industry, director Tyrnauer is well-versed in gossip, secrets, and scandal. For his previous work, the director is most known for Studio 54: The Rise and Fall of Disco, as well as his first feature-length documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor, in which he filmed with celebrities like Valentino Garavani, Anne Hathaway, Tom Ford, and many more. Film 45’s Matt Goldberg, Peter Berg, Brandon Carroll, and Jenny Ewig will also serve on the executive producing team, along with Tyrnauer’s Altimeter colleague Corey Reeser.
On the 14th of July, Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons will air exclusively on Hulu.