Razek came under fire for comments he made about trans models last year
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Russell James It looks like the tides are finally changing at Victoria’s Secret. Just days after word spread that the company was hiring Valentina Sampaio as its first transgender model, Ed Razek, the longtime CMO of its parent company L Brands, is leaving the the company. According to the New York Times, a memo was sent around to employees on Monday, August 5 announcing his retirement.
The timing is particularly interesting as Razek and the lingerie retailer have faced mounds of controversy in recent months. First, for Razek’s offensive transphobic comments that he made to Vogue in November 2018. Though Razek claimed that the company “considered putting a transgender model” in its annual fashion show, he said that he didn’t think there should be, because “the show is a fantasy.”
Secondly, Razek is leaving during a time when the brand is facing scrutiny for the relationship between L Brands CEO Les Wexner and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In 1997, Epstein allegedly tried posing as a recruiter for the brand. Wexner claims to have severed ties with Epstein years ago. Since joining the company in 1983, Razek was known to have helped launch the careers of Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, and Gisele Bündchen. He also had a huge part in cultivating its signature airbrushed and overly sexualized identity, something that is becoming more passé as diversity and body-positivity are dominating the culture.
The company does not seem to hold the same retail power it once did as its suffering from decreased sales, experiencing a decline in viewers for its once-popular fashion show and has announced the closing of more than 50 of its brick-and-mortar stores. Perhaps Razek’s departure and the hiring of Sampaio are part of Victoria’s Secret’s plan to attempt some sort of comeback, but there’s undoubtedly a long road for the brand ahead.
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