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Victoria's Secret used to think moms weren't sexy. Now, the lingerie brand is celebrating Mother's Day in a big way.

Victoria's Secret launches latest Mother's Day campaign. (Photo: Victoria's Secret)
Victoria's Secret launches latest Mother's Day campaign. (Photo: Victoria's Secret)

Victoria's Secret is celebrating "hard-working, never-stopping, do-it-all moms" for its first Mother's Day since announcing its rebrand.

The lingerie company famously overhauled its image in June 2021, revealing that it would be retiring the Angels in favor of a collective of women in support of a new mission of inclusivity. Most notably, the company would be embracing the beauty of motherhood, which was seemingly off limits for Victoria's Secret in the past. (CEO Martin Waters told the New York Times that in the past, "the brand never celebrated Mother’s Day” because "the Victoria brand had a single lens, which was called ‘sexy.’”)

For Mother's Day 2021, just a month before Victoria's Secret made its new marketing intentions public, the lingerie company featured a pregnant model for the very first time in honor of Mother's Day 2021. Nearly one year later, Victoria's Secret is doubling down on honoring parenthood with the launch of the Real Love campaign.

"No matter how you mom, how you were mothered, or how your narrative came to be, we’re excited to celebrate the multifaceted relationships that instill real love," the tagline for the new campaign reads.

Faces featured include Victoria's Secret models new and old, including former Angel Lais Ribeiro with her son, Chanel Iman with her two daughters and Paloma Elsesser with her mother and grandmother. Model Hari Nef also appears alongside her mother as well as Yumi Nu and her family. Nu even praised VS's diversity, telling V magazine, "I absolutely love that the fashion industry now embraces diversity because I think it is the truest representation of what it means to be beautiful. We are all different – and it is so important to celebrate the beauty of that. This may not have been the case in my mother’s experience growing up, but today, I am proud to say that this industry is evolving. It is an honor to be a part of this change by having my mother and sister by my side throughout this campaign. Our unique love, along with the amazing women that Victoria’s Secret has presented, really captures what it means to be yourself – and that is beautiful."

Brooke Shields is also included with her 15-year-old daughter Grier Henchy, which she told InStyle was an "emotional" moment.

"It was as if I was watching my baby girl grow up right in front of my eyes," the 56-year-old model and actress told the publication. "I would absolutely love for Grier to continue to participate in meaningful and inspiring campaigns like this, that empower the love that women have for each other."

She continued, "Victoria's Secret is truly capturing this message and I couldn't be more excited for this campaign to be a part of her very own modeling journey."

Video: Victoria’s Secret introduces its first model with Down syndrome

Others praised Victoria's Secret for the "beautiful campaign" in the comment section on Instagram and spoke to the "adorable" moments between the mothers featured and their children. Still, it marks a new milestone for the brand that hadn't always embraced this role.

In fact, the company's 2021 announcement to rebrand included an expansion into the maternity category, which wasn't deemed sexy enough to be featured in catalogs prior. Now, the brand's website includes images of a woman breastfeeding to advertise its new nursing bras.

The company's progress was also celebrated during the launch of the Love Cloud Collection in late February when the campaign included a model who was 38 weeks pregnant.

"Finally!!!! I remembered going on looking for maternity bras 6 years ago and yall didn't have any..." a commenter wrote. "We can have our baby bump and still be sexy."

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