Ex-Victoria's Secret Model Bridget Malcolm Slams Brand's 'Performative' Image Overhaul

Former Victoria's Secret model Bridget Malcolm called out the lingerie giant in a recent TikTok where she recalled her own experience working with the retailer, having walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2015 and 2016. In her video, Malcolm tries on the size 30A bra she wore backstage at the 2016 show, using it to demonstrate how underweight she was at the time.

"I found my bra from the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. It is a size 30A. I am now a size 34B, which is healthy for me," her TikTok read as Malcolm tried the bra on over one she was wearing in a new clip that was interspersed with photos of herself during the Victoria's Secret show. "Look how big it was on me. The sadness behind my eyes from the 2016 show breaks my heart."

@bridgetmalcolm

too little too late Victoria’s Secret #victoriassecret #victoriasecretshows #CompleteMyLook #MyColoredHair

♬ original sound - Bridget Malcolm

Malcolm continued by sharing that she tried out for the show in 2017 but was rejected by former Victoria's Secret CMO Ed Razek, who stepped down from his position in August 2019 and was accused of sexual harassment, bullying and creating a culture of misogyny in a 2020 New York Times report. "I was rejected from the show in 2017 by Ed Razek," she wrote. "He said, 'My body did not look good enough.' I was a size 30B at that point."

"Victoria's Secret your performative allyship is a joke," Malcolm concluded. In response to Malcolm's TikTok, a Victoria's Secret spokesperson told PEOPLE, "There is a new leadership team at Victoria's Secret who is fully committed to the continued transformation of the brand with a focus on creating an inclusive environment for our associates, customers and partners to celebrate, uplift and champion all women."

In June, Victoria's Secret announced the launch of the VS Collective, a group of women including Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Megan Rapinoe that will replace the brand's longtime Angels. Described in a press release as a "group of accomplished women who share a common passion to drive positive change," the VS Collective also includes model Adut Akech, journalist and photographer Amanda de Cadenet, skier Eileen Gu, model Paloma Elsesser and model Valentina Sampaio, who became Victoria's Secret's first transgender model in 2019.

Speaking to the New York Times, Victoria's Secret's recently-appointed chief executive Martin Waters admitted that the brand had been "too slow to respond" when the "world was changing." "We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want," he said, adding that Victoria's Secret mainstays like the Angels are no longer "culturally relevant."