With one strategically cast campaign, Kim Kardashian's SKIMS managed to obliterate Victoria's Secret.
In a very cheeky marketing move, the reality star's shapewear line that I simply cannot stop writing about recruited former Victoria's Secret Angels to promote the "Fits Everybody" collection, a range of Kardashian-approved bras and underwear.
Once the faces of the controversial and now-canceled Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Candice Swanepoel swap their wings for flesh-toned thongs, a SKIMS speciality.
"Introducing Tyra, Heidi, Alessandra and Candice in their first ever joint campaign," SKIMS captioned a shot of the supermodels. "...it doesn’t get more iconic than this."
Indeed!
Launched in 2018, the birth of SKIMS prefaced a number of PR nightmares for Victoria's Secret — namely, sexual misconduct allegations against former Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek, not to mention revelations regarding former owner Leslie Wexner's ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
As the lingerie giant struggled to maintain relevance in the wake of controversy, SKIMS (founded in 2019) — and Rihanna's Savage X Fenty (est. 2018) — stepped in.
Despite Victoria's Secret's best efforts to rebrand as more inclusive and forward-thinking (see: the VS Collective), the brand has lost much of the prestige it once enjoyed.
With its latest campaign, SKIMS sticks a diplomatic finger to lingerie's former First Lady. And it has every right to — when was the last time Victoria's Secret moved $1 million in product in one minute?
SKIMS knows it's hot shit, and has the receipts to back it up: between releasing a genius swim collection, collaborating with Fendi on an unexpected luxury crossover, and continuing to partner with the Olympics, the brand is killing it.
