Addressed to
John Mehas
CEO, Victoria's Secret LLC
Three Limited Parkway
Columbus, Ohio 43230
Read the RESPECT Program overviewOpen Letter to Victoria's Secret
This page presents an original summary of Model Alliance's public appeal for concrete protections after reports of harassment, retaliation, and workplace abuse connected to Victoria's Secret.
Campaign overview
What this letter argues
The central argument is straightforward: listening is not enough. The campaign calls for a binding program that sets expectations for agencies, executives, photographers, vendors, and all others involved in the work environment around models.
The letter points to reporting that described a pattern of misogyny, intimidation, body policing, and retaliatory behavior around people who raised complaints.
It also states that prior conversations with company leadership did not result in enforceable action, which is why the appeal was made publicly and with greater urgency.
The message reframes the moment as an opportunity for structural change rather than a branding exercise.
Research guide
Key issues behind the Victoria's Secret open letter and the RESPECT Program
Victoria's Secret allegations and the open letter
Readers searching for Victoria's Secret allegations, abuse reporting, or the company's accountability response are usually trying to connect the public letter to the wider pattern of complaints. This brief does that by organizing the reported harms, the requested remedies, and the reason advocates pushed for a public commitment instead of informal assurances.
What the Model Alliance RESPECT Program is
The RESPECT Program is presented here as a workplace accountability framework rather than a slogan. It combines a code of conduct, independent reporting, education, and consequences, which makes it relevant for searches around what the RESPECT Program does and how it is supposed to protect models and other fashion workers.
Model safety in fashion shoots, fittings, and backstage work
People researching model safety in fashion often need specifics: where abuse can happen, why freelancers and contractors complicate responsibility, and what protections have to follow the work across studios, sets, castings, and travel. The page now addresses those questions directly.
Retaliation and complaint systems in fashion workplaces
Long-tail searches around retaliation, reporting harassment, or independent complaint systems usually point to the same core problem: workers cannot safely report abuse when the complaint process is controlled by the people or institutions being accused. That is why the call for independent oversight is central to this campaign.
Sourced timeline
How the reporting, executive names, and accountability debate came together
2018
Allegations tied to the Victoria's Secret fashion show remain part of the later reporting record
The New York Times investigation later described allegations involving Ed Razek around the 2018 Victoria's Secret fashion show, using that period to illustrate how power operated across company events and casting decisions.
The New York Times investigationFeb. 1, 2020
The Times publishes a major investigation into Victoria's Secret culture
The reporting by Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Katherine Rosman, Sapna Maheshwari, and James B. Stewart put named executives, alleged retaliation, and institutional culture at the center of the public conversation.
The New York Times investigationProgram response
Model Alliance positions the RESPECT Program as the structural answer
The Model Alliance describes the RESPECT Program as a binding standards framework with a code of conduct, training, independent reporting, enforceable commitments, and economic protections for models.
Model Alliance RESPECT Program overviewWhat the reporting described
The campaign is responding to a pattern, not an isolated incident.
Body shaming and sexualized misconduct
The source material describes a working culture in which degrading comments about appearance and sexually inappropriate behavior were treated as routine rather than exceptional.
Retaliation after people pushed back
One of the sharpest concerns in the letter is not only the misconduct itself, but the cost imposed on people who resisted it, documented it, or tried to raise complaints.
Image use and pressure outside clear boundaries
The campaign also points to alleged misuse of model images and pressure to participate in shoots or nudity beyond fair, transparent, compensated working conditions.
Core demands
What action is being requested
- Join the RESPECT Program and make the commitment binding rather than voluntary.
- Apply a code of conduct across employees, agencies, vendors, photographers, and contractors.
- Provide an independent and confidential way for models and workers to report harm.
- Back complaints with timely resolution, training, and meaningful consequences for abusers.
Why it matters
Safety has to be enforceable to mean anything.
Creative work cannot be separated from working conditions; safety is part of the job, not an optional add-on.
Retaliation discourages reporting, which allows abusive behavior to remain embedded in powerful institutions.
Industry-wide standards matter because many fashion jobs rely on networks of freelancers, agencies, and outside contractors.
What a real accountability program would change
Policy matters only if it changes how the work actually happens.
Independent reporting
A complaint system only works when workers do not have to report abuse back into the same chain of power that failed them in the first place.
Shared standards across the job site
Fashion work often moves across agencies, studios, backstage spaces, hotels, and freelance crews. A useful policy has to follow the work wherever it happens.
Real consequences and training
The brief argues that rules without enforcement become public relations language. Prevention training, documented processes, and consequences are what turn policy into practice.
Why this extends beyond one company
Fashion work is networked, and that changes what protection requires.
Fashion labor is fragmented. A model may answer to an agency, work for a brand, be booked by a producer, and shoot with outside photographers or stylists all on the same assignment.
That fragmentation makes it easy for responsibility to disappear unless standards are explicitly written across every participant in the job.
For that reason, this campaign matters beyond one brand. It raises the broader question of how power is distributed and checked throughout the fashion industry.
Named entities
People, organizations, and frameworks that shape the search landscape around this issue
CEO of Victoria's Secret LLC
John Mehas
The open letter is addressed to Mehas as the senior executive being asked to authorize a binding accountability response.
Advocacy organization behind the RESPECT Program
Model Alliance
Model Alliance frames the issue as an industry labor and safety problem and presents the RESPECT Program as the proposed remedy.
Fashion brand at the center of the brief
Victoria's Secret
The page targets searches around Victoria's Secret allegations, model safety, executive accountability, and brand-level workplace reform.
Parent company named in the 2020 reporting
L Brands
Broader search traffic often uses the older corporate name, so including it helps connect the brief to the reporting context readers are actually searching for.
Former L Brands executive named in The New York Times investigation
Ed Razek
Razek appears in many search queries tied to Victoria's Secret harassment reporting, making him a key entity for non-branded discovery.
Founder and chief executive of L Brands at the time discussed in the reporting
Leslie Wexner
Wexner is a major named figure in the investigation and helps connect this page to wider corporate-governance searches.
International framework cited on the RESPECT Program page
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
This gives the page an additional bridge to labor-rights and human-rights search intent beyond fashion gossip or scandal coverage.
Reader questions
Common questions about the Victoria's Secret open letter and model safety
What is the Victoria's Secret open letter about?
It is a public demand for Victoria's Secret to adopt binding worker protections after reporting described harassment, retaliation, and abusive conditions connected to the company's fashion work. The letter argues that the response needs independent enforcement, not just public concern or private meetings.
What is the Model Alliance RESPECT Program?
The RESPECT Program is a workplace accountability framework promoted by Model Alliance. In practical terms, it centers a code of conduct, an independent complaint channel, training, and real consequences so workers can report abuse without having to rely only on internal company hierarchy.
Why does retaliation matter in fashion abuse cases?
Retaliation is one of the strongest deterrents to reporting in fashion because future bookings, agency relationships, and reputation can all be affected by whether a worker is seen as difficult. If people believe speaking up will cost them work, misconduct stays hidden and repeat harm becomes easier.
Why is independent reporting important for models and fashion workers?
Independent reporting matters because the work is spread across brands, agencies, contractors, photographers, and producers. A complaint system that sits outside those immediate power relationships is more likely to be trusted and more capable of handling abuse that crosses company boundaries.
Why does this page matter beyond Victoria's Secret?
Because the underlying issues are industry-wide. The same questions about model safety, complaint systems, anti-harassment enforcement, and accountability across freelance fashion work apply well beyond a single brand.
Sources
Reference points used to frame this brief
The New York Times: Angels in Hell: The Culture of Misogyny Inside Victoria's Secret
Used here for named entities, publication date, and the reporting timeline.
Open sourceModel Alliance: The RESPECT Program
Used here for the program mechanics, enforcement model, and international-framework language.
Open source