Victoria's Secret is Replacing the Angels with Spokeswomen Like Megan Rapinoe and Other 'Changemakers'

As Bob Dylan famously put it, "The times," and I cannot emphasize this enough, "they are a-changin'." 

I'll leave it to sociologists to argue over whether or not our culture is undergoing a more radical shift now than when Dylan intoned those words through his nasal passages. But I will point out that a lot of iconic American cultural institutions survived even the radical upheaval of the 1960s social revolution. 

Yet in our time, everything is being reevaluated. Nothing and no one is off the table as we reassess them through a contemporary lens. Great American icons are all being put under a new scrutiny and none of them have immunity. Historic figures. Politicians. Business leaders. The arts. Symbols. Language. The names we've given to places and things. Our once sacred archetypes like the Cowboy, the Pioneer, the Astronaut - once sources of pride and part of our national identity, are being looked at through a different lens and found lacking. 

Including, it would appear, that most noble, revered and respected of all our icons, the lingerie model. Yesterday considered the idealized version of who we are and what we stand for as a people, as of today the greatest of them all, the Victoria's Secret Angel, is no more. 

Source - Victoria’s Secret has signed soccer World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe and actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas in a desperate bid to rebuild its brand and appeal to a broader market, Page Six has exclusively learned.

The beleaguered lingerie giant is relaunching and moving away from its traditionally rail-thin models by introducing The VS Collective with diverse “leading icons” and “changemakers” — including Jonas and Rapinoe — to “shape the future of the brand,” an industry insider told Page Six.

But don’t expect to see “White Tiger” star Chopra and Rapinoe — who has been a preeminent voice in the fight for women’s equal pay in the soccer world — posing in the firm’s famously flimsy, barely-there briefs.

We are told they are both being hired as spokeswomen and will instead appear on a podcast and in marketing materials for the recovering brand.

Chopra and Rapinoe will join Sudanese-Australian model Adut Akech, freestyle skier Eileen Gu, Brazilian transgender model Valentina Sampaio, plus-size model Paloma Elesser, and journalist Amanda de Cadenet, who will host a 10-episode podcast where each of the women will share their stories.

“It’s a group of women inspiring change and positivity. It’s another step they’re taking towards transforming the brand. The entire industry thought Victoria Secret was done,” an insider said.

And that is how progress is made. One step at a time. Once those steps were made on a runway in 4-inch stilettos wearing a lace bustier and bird wings. Now they're being taken by spokeswomen on a podcast and marketing materials. Who's to say that it's a good thing or a bad thing. Victoria's Secret will do what Victoria's Secret will do. They're a business making a business move. And the profit/loss statement will be keeping score. 

Maybe this is the way to go. Perhaps they'll be better off marketing sexy underwear by having "changemakers" "share their stories" and inspire "change and positivity." It could work. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Megan Rapinoe, Adut Akech, Eileen Gu, Valentina Sampaio, Paloma Elesser and Amanda de Cadenet could just be the beginning. Perhaps to be later joined by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and acting legend Betty White. And their life stories might inspire millions of women to order bras and panties, thongs and teddies by the truckload. It's a bold strategy. And it will be fascinating to watch it unfold. 

But I believe we all need to pause for a moment and pay tribute to those other empowered women who are being marginalized in all this. The Victoria's Secret Angels themselves. Never let it be said that they too weren't inspiring in their own right. Strong, independent females who worked hard, believed in themselves, overcame the odds and made their dreams come true in a difficult and extremely challenging world. We'll never know how many lives they touched. How many young women looked up to them and aspired to be like them. How many kids ran to the mailbox hoping to get ahold of their catalogue for a while before mom took it away. How many relationships they helped. Or how many boxes of lingerie they shipped. They brought people together for decades and are heroes in their own right. Let us not forget that as we move forward into this brave, new world. 

Thank you Angels. And godspeed.