Preface: This was written in collaboration with Gemini.

When I first went to Victoria’s Secret as a teenager, I thought it was a very nice experience. I went in, I wasn’t sure what my size was, an associate helped me. While I was trying on some bras, she came by and asked me what sizes I needed. I wasn't sure, so she came in and took a look. I didn’t know what cup I was up to until that point. It felt safe, comfortable, and in the end even though the quality of the bras weren’t supreme, they were good enough, and certainly looked cute, though I’m not sure if wearing that kinda push-up bra was a good idea for a teenager. It was recommended by the sales associate, and I did wear it for a while. It struck me like kinda rich wife shopping for lingerie, but it was made to cater younger girls with Pink. Thinking back, no one should be recommending a 17-year-old pushup bras (I was 17 freshman year), yet they did, and they did it in a way that was non-invasive way, through which they were able to sell me this concept of I needed it to look better, and they were the experts on this, and I paid them for that service I didn’t need. I wore those bras for a year or so, and eventually gave up on them, since they were not that comfortable, and I didn’t think I needed to make my boobs big. I wasn't sure which aspect of my life it was going to help with.

Either way, Wexner seemed to understand women better than men. He understood women’s position in society: pretty, useless, well-behaved dolls, and in his opinions, it seems, it would be toward their best interests to stay vain, superficial, dumb, inconsiderate and all they cared about should be who’s sexier. The business model spoke to me as “do your squats, and eat your vegetables, don’t let the boys be mean to you”, aka, enjoy your time, and spend your boy’s money on looking pretty, so you can make them spend more money on you. Wexner “understood” girls in such a matter-of-fact, superficial kind of way. He realized that to sell underwear to every woman in America, he couldn't just sell a garment—he had to sell a lifestyle. So back in the 1990s, he and his chief marketing officer, Ed Razek, transformed Victoria's Secret from a mall store into a global entertainment brand by creating the "Supermodel" era. In 1995, Wexner launched the first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Early shows were modest (think satin slips and cardigans), but Wexner quickly realized that the more "theatrical" the show became, the more the brand's sales spiked. By 1999, he bought a $1.5 million Super Bowl ad to announce a 72-hour countdown to the show’s first webcast. It was so popular it famously "broke the internet," with 1.5 million people trying to watch at once—overwhelming 1999-era servers. In 1997, the brand launched a line called "Angels." It was so successful that they decided to make the name permanent for their top-tier contracted models. Wings didn't appear until 1998, when Tyra Banks wore the first pair. Wexner loved the visual because it made the models look like "ethereal beings" rather than just catalog models. Unlike other models who worked for many brands, "Angels" were signed to exclusive multi-million dollar contracts. They became the public faces of the company, doing talk show circuits and ribbon cuttings. Wexner’s "Golden Era" was defined by names like Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Gisele Bündchen, Adriana Lima, and Alessandra Ambrosio.

Wexner was also a marketing genius, who pioneered several marketing "stunts" that are now legendary in retail history. Starting in 1996 with Claudia Schiffer, the brand began featuring a "Fantasy Bra" encrusted with real diamonds and rubies. By 2000, Gisele Bündchen wore one valued at $15 million, earning a Guinness World Record. To make the Ohio-based company feel more prestigious, Wexner insisted the catalogs and stores feel like they were based in London. He even gave the models "English-sounding" backstories in early press materials. Wexner designed the stores to feel like "the world’s most beautiful bedroom," using specific lighting and a signature "Victoria’s Secret" scent pumped through the vents to trigger an emotional response in shoppers.

While this strategy made Wexner a multi-billionaire, it eventually led to the brand's decline in the late 2010s. The "fantasy" that Wexner built was increasingly criticized for being unrealistic, non-inclusive, and catering more to the "male gaze" than to the modern woman’s needs. This, combined with his ties to Jeffrey Epstein (who reportedly used his connection to Wexner to pose as a Victoria's Secret talent scout), eventually forced the show's cancellation in 2019 and Wexner's departure from the company in 2020.

After Leslie Wexner stepped down in 2020, Victoria’s Secret faced a massive identity crisis. The "Wexner Model"—which relied on ultra-thin supermodels and a "male fantasy" aesthetic—was no longer selling. To save the brand, the new leadership (now under CEO Hillary Super as of 2025) launched a radical, "woke" rebrand that moved away from Wexner's legacy. In 2021, the brand officially "retired" the Angels. In their place, they created the VS Collective, a group of women chosen for their accomplishments rather than just their looks. Instead of Gisele and Heidi Klum, the brand signed women like soccer star Megan Rapinoe, actress Priyanka Chopra, and world-class skier Eileen Gu. They integrated models of all sizes, ages, and backgrounds, including Paloma Elsesser (plus-size), Valentina Sampaio (the first openly transgender model), and Sofía Jirau (the first model with Down syndrome).

After a six-year hiatus following the Wexner/Epstein scandal, the iconic Fashion Show returned in October 2024, followed by an even larger production in October 2025. The 2025 show was livestreamed on Amazon Live and featured a mix of "OG" Angels (like Tyra Banks and Adriana Lima) and modern icons (like Ashley Graham and Alex Consani). To distance themselves from the old "male gaze" criticism, the 2024 and 2025 shows featured all-female musical lineups, including Cher, Missy Elliott, and K-pop stars Twice. In 2025, the brand leaned heavily into sports culture, signing WNBA star Angel Reese as a major face of the brand, signaling a shift toward athleticism and strength over "fragile" beauty.

To fully escape the shadow of Leslie Wexner’s personal controversies, the company underwent a major structural split. In 2021, L Brands split into two separate public companies: Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret & Co. This effectively severed the lingerie brand's formal ties to Wexner's other businesses. Under Wexner, the board was criticized for being "too male and too white." Though, I wouldn’t say it was too “male”, it was definitely very “female”, yet it’s “female” in a way that positions “female" in a “male-centric” economy, when in reality it could just be a “human-centric” economy, females and males alike. However, today, the board is majority-female, a symbolic and practical move to ensure the brand's products are designed by women for women.

While the rebrand initially struggled (sales dropped by nearly $1 billion as loyalists were confused and critics felt it was "performative"), the company began seeing a financial turnaround by early 2026. In February 2026, the company reported a 4% uptick in same-store sales—the first sustained growth since the pre-2017 decline. This current strategy focuses on "high-emotion storytelling" and less frequent discounting, moving Victoria's Secret back toward being a premium brand rather than just a mall commodity. As of today, Victoria's Secret is in a "hybrid" state. It has kept the "glamour" of the Wexner era (the wings and the big shows) but stripped away the "exclusive" feeling. It is trying to be "The World's Leading Advocate for Women"—a far cry from the Victorian boudoir Roy Raymond started and Les Wexner built. Is it going to succeed in rebuilding this brand and turn everything around? I’m not so sure.  

Beyond his retail empire, Leslie Wexner’s life has been defined by his role as a "master builder" of communities and a significant force in philanthropy. His influence is most visible in his home state of Ohio, where he has reshaped the physical and cultural landscape. In the mid-1980s, Wexner and developer Jack Kessler founded The New Albany Company. What began as Wexner’s desire to build a "home in the country" evolved into one of the most successful planned communities in the United States. Wexner scouting locations around Columbus but chose New Albany because it was "unbuilt" and could be changed. He implemented a master plan that required thousands of homes to be built in a specific Georgian architectural style. He developed the New Albany International Business Park, a 6,000-acre site that has attracted over $8 billion in private investment and major employers, including a massive "Beauty & Personal Care Campus" where products for his brands were manufactured.

Wexner is the primary benefactor for several major institutions at The Ohio State University (OSU), his alma mater. He has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to OSU’s medical wing, now one of the highest-ranked academic health centers in the country. Opened in 1989, "Wexner Center for the Arts" was designed by architect Peter Eisenman. It was a pioneering multidisciplinary contemporary arts center on a university campus and helped turn Columbus into a cultural destination. Wexner was the visionary and primary funder for National Veterans Memorial and Museum, in Columbus, which focuses on the personal stories and memories of veterans.

Established in 1984, The Wexner Foundation has invested hundreds of millions into developing Jewish leaders. Provides intensive Jewish learning for North American volunteer leaders to deepen their understanding of history and values. Every year, the foundation sends mid-career Israeli public officials to Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government for leadership training. Alumni include top generals, advisors to Prime Ministers, and government directors. Wexner has been a fixture in elite corporate and cultural boardrooms for decades, serving on the boards of Sotheby’s (the auction house), The Whitney Museum of American Art, The American Ballet Theatre, and Hollinger International (alongside figures like Henry Kissinger).

While his business career is what made him a billionaire, Wexner often describes himself as a "specialist" who applied the same rigorous focus to architecture and community building that he did to selling sweaters. He attended Bexley High School and graduated from Ohio State in 1959. Though he briefly attended law school, he dropped out to help with his family's clothing store. He served in the Air National Guard after college. He has received prestigious awards including the Woodrow Wilson Award for Citizenship and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France. When Leslie Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein first met in the late 1980s (specifically 1987, when Epstein began serving as his financial manager), Leslie Wexner, born September 8, 1937, was 50 years old, Jeffrey Epstein, born January 20, 1953, was 34 years old. By the age of 50 in 1987, Leslie Wexner had already become one of the most powerful and wealthy figures in the history of American retail. By 1987, Wexner was widely recognized as the "richest man in Ohio." He had reached a level of success that allowed him to hire a personal money manager—which is exactly when he met and hired Jeffrey Epstein. ☀️