Justine Harmon

He was on a trip in Europe with his wife on a train.

And

Victoria was a fictitious name.

They just thought it up on the train.

And then they went into, okay, let's make it something secretive.

She has a secret.

She's going to hide.

She's hiding something.

All the while, Les Wexner, who was busy growing his company, The Limited Brands, and then later L Brands, couldn't get the idea of a place that sold lingerie, not just underwear, but lingerie, out of his mind.

He had spent two or three years, he said, looking all over the world for the shop of his dreams.

He looked in Paris and Zurich, Berlin and Vienna.

But nothing gave him that feeling, that emotional charge.

Whether you think this is a normal thing for a middle-aged guy to be into or not, we're not judging that.

But then, on one trip to the West Coast, while putting the finishing touches on a San Francisco location of The Limited, the shop girls told him about Roy Raymond's small, roughly 800 square feet, lingerie shop just down the street.

So the wheels were turning with Les Wexner getting interested in Victoria's Secret.

But at first, Roy Raymond didn't even want to meet Wexner.

So in this telling, Les saved Roy Raymond by buying Victoria's Secret.

In 1982, he acquired Roy's business, which had a catalog, five stores, focused on men buying lingerie for women for a million bucks, according to the New York Times.

More about Victoria and her secrets after the break.

Sabrina.