Scanned picture of a 1998 cover of the Victoria’s Secret swimwear catalogue. The models are Stephanie Seymour, Daniela Peštová and Tyra Banks – the first generation of the VS Angels.
Victoria’s Secret opened its first store in Palo Alto in 1977. The company started using mail order catalogue as a sales method a year later, and it was a huge success. VS sent out 450 million copies a year at its peak in late 1990s. It became a pretty iconic publication in the United States.
Its influence faded in the internet age though. Mail order became a lot less prevalent, and social media took over the exposure role in recent years. And thus, the company stopped sending out these catalogues since 2016 to save cost – up to 150 million USD a year – during a major revamp.
Hat tip to Captain Bob for the image, I saved this from the Bellazon forum years ago if not mistaken.
Meanwhile, Angels is one of VS lingerie lines. It was a massive hit when launched in a commercial in 1997, and the term became synonymous with the brand’s contracted models soon after. Besides the trio above, the original Angels also include Helena Christensen and Karen Mulder.