We can all agree that Rihanna changed a lot of things in the beauty and fashion industry.
She started with Fenty Beauty and launched 40 foundation shades. That was a big deal. Women who had struggled to find their shade finally had options, and other beauty brands had to pay attention.
Then came Savage X Fenty. She applied the same inclusive strategy here too.
Suddenly, we were seeing models of different body types, shapes and looks taking centre stage in an industry that had spent years promoting one particular standard of beauty.
And this was happening at a time when Victoria’s Secret was facing growing criticism over its beauty standards and the pressure models were under to maintain certain body sizes.
People were starting to question the industry, and consumers were becoming less interested in supporting a brand that seemed to represent such a narrow idea of beauty.
Victoria’s Secret had spent years selling us a very specific idea of beauty.
The Angels. The wings. The supermodels. The glamorous fashion shows.
And for a long time, it worked.
But the world was changing, and Victoria’s Secret wasn’t changing with it.
Its fashion show was increasingly criticized for its lack of representation and narrow beauty standards. In 2019, the company cancelled the show after years of declining viewership and criticism.
Meanwhile, Savage X Fenty was getting attention for doing things differently.
The problem wasn’t that people suddenly stopped liking beautiful lingerie or glamorous fashion shows. The problem was that Victoria’s Secret seemed to believe there was only one way to sell those things.
And Rihanna had shown the industry that there was another way.
Here’s where the story gets interesting.
In June 2023, Hillary Super became CEO of Savage X Fenty.
She had an impressive retail background, having previously worked in senior leadership positions at companies including Anthropologie, Gap and American Eagle.
Then, in August 2024, Victoria’s Secret announced that it had appointed her as its new CEO. She officially started on September 9, 2024.
Think about that for a moment.
Victoria’s Secret had just hired the woman who had been running one of its biggest competitors.
Hillary had spent time leading a brand that understood what Victoria’s Secret had been struggling with: how to connect with modern consumers.
Now she was in charge of turning Victoria’s Secret around.
So, what did she do?
After years of trying to reposition the brand, Victoria’s Secret seemed to have lost some clarity about what it wanted to be.
It had spent so much time trying to respond to criticism that it risked moving too far away from the things people originally associated with it.
Hillary’s approach was different.
Instead of trying to turn Victoria’s Secret into Savage X Fenty, she wanted to bring back its identity; glamour, fashion. beauty, and sexiness.
But with a different understanding of what sexiness could look like.
Her argument was that sexiness shouldn’t be limited to one particular body type or appearance. It should be something women define for themselves.
I think this was an important decision.
Why compete by becoming another brand when you can give people a reason to love your brand again?
This is probably one of the most interesting parts of her strategy.
Victoria’s Secret is an established brand. It already has recognition, history and a huge audience.
But having a famous name doesn’t automatically mean people are paying attention to you.
Under Hillary’s leadership, the company has been shifting more of its marketing investment towards digital and social media.
This means more influencer partnerships, more social-first content and more entertainment-led campaigns.
The company has also experimented with formats such as TikTok Live.
In simple terms, instead of relying mainly on traditional advertising and big campaigns, Victoria’s Secret wants to show up more often in the places where its customers are already spending their time.
And there’s a difference between those two approaches.
A traditional campaign might get people talking for a week. Social content gives the brand more opportunities to keep the conversation going.
The company has also talked about making its marketing more focused on individual customers, reaching new audiences and bringing existing customers back.
That’s a much bigger job than simply getting people to like a campaign.
I love this part because it’s a good example of getting more value out of something you already have.
For years, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was a big annual event.
You watched the show, saw the models, talked about the outfits and waited until the following year.
Hillary wanted to change that.
Rather than treating the fashion show as one big night, Victoria’s Secret started building content around it.
Think about everything that happens before the actual show:
In 2026, the company took this further with Angels Among Us, a nationwide search for its next Angel.
More than 100,000 aspiring models responded to the casting search. Victoria’s Secret then turned the process into a YouTube docuseries, which premiered on September 27, 2026.
Think about that.
Instead of simply announcing the models who would walk in the show, the company created an entire story around finding its next Angel.
Now, people had something to follow before the fashion show even happened.
And that’s clever.
One event can become weeks or even months of content.
Another thing Hillary has been working on is making sure Victoria’s Secret and PINK aren’t trying to speak to everyone in exactly the same way.
Victoria’s Secret is the more glamorous, sophisticated brand.
PINK is younger, more playful and has a different personality.
They have different customers, different products and different reasons people buy from them.
So why should their marketing look identical?
This is something many businesses get wrong. They create one marketing message and try to use it for every customer.
But not everyone wants the same thing.
Understanding who you’re speaking to makes it much easier to create marketing that actually connects.
And this is particularly important for an established business with multiple brands. You don’t want your customers struggling to understand the difference between the products you’re selling.
Each brand needs a clear identity and a reason for customers to choose it.
Because here’s the thing.
You can have millions of views, a beautiful campaign and people talking about your brand all over the internet.
But are they buying anything?
Hillary’s strategy has also focused on connecting marketing activity to actual business results.
Victoria’s Secret reported that its Valentine’s Day campaigns generated more than 10.5 billion impressions in 2026, three times the previous year’s figure.
The social media activity around its fashion show documentary also generated more than 36 million views.
The company has also reported growth in new customer acquisition.
These are company-reported figures, but they give us an idea of the scale of its marketing activity.
The idea is simple: get people talking about the brand, give them a reason to engage, get them interested in the products and make it easier for them to buy.
Marketing should do more than make your brand look popular.
It should help the business grow.
This is where I think things get interesting again.
Look at the 2026 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
Victoria’s Secret brought back much of the glamour and spectacle that made it famous. We’re seeing familiar faces, the Angels and many of the traditional elements of its runway shows.
There is representation, but I don’t think the show has embraced the same broad approach to casting that made Savage X Fenty such a talking point in the first place.
And that raises an interesting question.
Did Victoria’s Secret genuinely change its idea of beauty, or did it simply learn how to market its original idea to a changing audience?
I don’t necessarily think a brand needs to copy its competitor to survive. In fact, I think Hillary understood that Victoria’s Secret didn’t need to become Savage X Fenty.
It needed to become a better version of Victoria’s Secret.
And perhaps that’s the biggest lesson here.
Rihanna showed the industry what consumers were responding to. Victoria’s Secret had to pay attention. Hillary came in and worked on rebuilding the brand, its marketing and its connection with customers.
Your competition doesn’t always have to steal your customers to become a problem. Sometimes, they simply change what your customers expect from you.
And when that happens, you have two choices: pay attention and adapt, or keep doing what you’ve always done and wonder why people aren’t as interested anymore.
Savage X Fenty challenged traditional lingerie marketing through its casting, fashion shows and broader representation of different body types. It gave consumers another vision of what a lingerie brand could look like and increased pressure on established competitors to reconsider their approach.
Hillary Super is the CEO of Victoria’s Secret. Before joining the company in September 2024, she served as CEO of Savage X Fenty and held senior retail leadership positions at several fashion brands.
Victoria’s Secret has been investing in digital marketing, influencer partnerships, social-first content, entertainment-led campaigns and experiences that encourage customers to engage with the brand beyond traditional advertising.