Tomima’s Blog – Lingerie & Underwear Expert

Has Victoria’s Secret gone too sexy and lost it’s core business? Several blogs and articles are claiming this to be the case. Due to it’s success with "Pink," the stores now have a decidedly young and very sexy feel when you walk in. Many long-standing customers now feel they are "too old" to be shopping at Victoria’s Secret and are going elsewhere.

"We’ve so much gotten off our heritage … too sexy, and we use the word sexy a lot and really have forgotten the ultra feminine," said Sharen Turney, Victoria’s Secret’s chief executive. "I feel so strongly about us getting back to our heritage and really thinking in terms of ultra feminine and not just the word ’sexy’ and becoming much more relevant to our customer," Turney said. The new goals of Victoria’s Secret are to down-play "sexy" and focus on sophistication. "We will also reinvent the sleepwear business and focus on product quality," she said. "Our assortment will return to an ultra feminine lingerie brand to meet her needs and expectation." So what was the wake-up call for Victoria’s Secret? Their 4th quarter in 2007. Sales slipped and profits fell by 12%. Management has informed Wall Street to expect below expectation performance in the first quarter of 2008.

When a downward trend appears, management tends to go running back to the core concept. Victoria’s Secret was started in 1977 in San Francisco by Roy Raymond in an effort to create a lingerie shop that both men and women would feel comfortable shopping in. The idea was to give the store a British feel and make the customer feel like they were one of the "upper crust" shoppers. The stores were filled with dark woods, elegant fixtures, carpeting, furniture and thoughtful staff. A lot of change is going to need to take place to get Victoria’s Secret back on its original message.

According to an article on PRNewswire, a recent poll shows 80% of men want curvy voluptuous women, not rail thin stick models.  In the last 20 years, fashion models have gone from a size 8 to a size 0 for runway models. Within the same time period, the average American woman has gone from a size 10 to a size 14. Yet, American women, according to an online poll, see the super thin stick models and feel they are unattractive and are unhappy in their average or curvy bodies.

There are over 8 million people in this country who are anorexic, bulimic or have eating disorders. Most of them are young women. "Young women look at these magazines showing super thin models and think they should be like them in order to be attractive."Yet contrary to popular belief that skinny is desirable, a recent poll ran showed the truth that men like some meat on a woman!" says Nancy Hayssen author of "101 Sexy Secrets: How to Be Hot, Sexy & Beautiful at ANY Size!"

According to this same recent online poll of men ages 18-50 years and older, 80% of men are attracted to women that are curvy and voluptuous such as Jennifer Lopez or Queen Latifah, and an additional 15% are attracted to average bodies.Surprisingly, this leaves only 5% of men that actually find rail thin anorexic looking women like Nicole Ritchie and models we see on the runways as truly beautiful.Even more shocking when asked the question: "Who is the sexiest woman ever?" the winning response was "my wife," beating out historic beauty Marilyn Monroe, who came in second place.The average American woman is 5′4" and wears a size 14.

This also happens to be roughly the size Marilyn Monroe, considered one of the most beautiful women celebrities of our time would have been today. Size 14 is considered plus size, therefore, the average American woman is plus size. This is good news for women everywhere since men are really attracted to average curvy women."We’re being lied to everyday. The fashion industry and Hollywood have spread the MYTH that men want skinny anorexic looking women. The truth is–it’s plus size or curvy women that are considered beautiful," says Ms. Hayssen. She now speaks out about the reality of what men really want through the internet and the radio letting the public know what the "real skinny" is.The truth is you don’t have to be skinny to be beautiful…in fact it’s the exact opposite!

Around here, we extol the virtues of this panty style or that–they’re sexy, they’re smoothing, they’re comfy. According to this article on CNN, panties (the larger, the better) should probably be in every home’s emergency kit.