Publisher's Synopsis
"The story of how Victoria's Secret skyrocketed from a tiny chain of boutiques to an intimates monolith with annual sales in excess of $6 billion-all the while defining female beauty and sex standards for generations of Americans-and how the brand's grip on the industry slipped. Victoria's Secret is one of the most influential, and polarizing, brands to ever infiltrate the psyche of the American consumer. The company's catalog made national headlines in the '70s for its glamorization of lingerie, which was, in the post-bra burning era, sold either by puritanical department stores or tawdry, red-light district shops. By 1984, the owners were forced to sell to Columbus retail magnate Les Wexner, who was swiftly building an empire that would shape retail as we knew it for the next 40 years. Just a decade later, Victoria's Secret was a billion-dollar brand, selling the majority of bras bought in the US. However, its ubiquity in underwear dr
