Kim Kardashian Taps Ex-Victoria’s Secret Angels for Skims Ads

(Bloomberg) -- Kim Kardashian's lingerie brand is promoting itself with throwback iconography by hiring former “Angels” from Victoria's Secret for its ad campaign.

The reality star on Monday unveiled promotional photos for the brand's Fits Everybody line featuring Alessandra Ambrosio, Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum and Candice Swanepoel. Kardashian herself also appears in the campaign. (“I wasn't supposed to be in this Skims campaign but I stopped by and jumped in because it was too iconic,” she said in one tweet.) Apparel in the Fits Everybody collection ranges from XXS to 4X and come in at least nine colors. The fabric is advertised as stretching to twice its size.

The four models in the Skims campaign were Angels — the coveted title formerly given by Victoria's Secret & Co. to its contract models until a rebrand. (Now, Victoria's Secret brand ambassadors are known as the VS Collective, and include Olympians Naomi Osaka, Eileen Gu and Megan Rapinoe alongside models Adut Akech, Hailey Bieber and Paloma Elsesser.) Banks worked with the company for 10 years beginning in the mid ‘90s, followed by Klum. Both Ambrosio and Swanepoel still have the word “angel” in their Twitter handles, given their launches on the platform coincided with their winged tenures.

The campaign seeks to boost momentum at Skims, which in January was valued at $3.2 billion following a $240 million financing round led by hedge fund Lone Pine Capital. The brand has partnered with Team USA for two Olympics, centering Olympic and Paralympic athletes in its campaigns.

Brands are looking to attract new customers by aggressively redefining the narrow standard of beauty that was personified by the Angels. Rihanna's Savage x Fenty brand is also available in expanded sizes, and the brand has cast pregnant models in its shows and models with limb differences in e-commerce images. Bloomberg News reported last month that her company is working with advisors on an initial public offering valued at $3 billion or more. Last month, the singer Lizzo debuted Yitty, a line in collaboration with Fabletics LLC that will be available in sizes ranging from XS up to a 6X.

Even the brand that created the Angels is trying to be more inclusive. In February, Victoria's Secret unveiled a campaign for its “Love Cloud” collection starring 18 women including model and designer Sofía Jirau, who became the first model with Down syndrome to front a campaign for the brand. Creative director Raúl Martinez at the time called the campaign “an important part of the new Victoria's Secret standard we are creating.”