• Newsweek, Thursday, June 10, 2010 10:39 AM

Leslie Wexner's claim to fame and fortune is that he got American women out of the "pragmatic" pack-of-three panties manufactured by the likes of Fruit of the Loom and into lacy thongs and padded push-up bras. Through a visual barrage of sexy fashion shows, TV ads and catalogs -- as well as a presence in nearly every shopping mall in America -- he "took the secret out of Victoria's Secret," says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group.

Wexner, who was born to a retailing family (his parents named their chain, Leslie's, after him), is actually a reserved and reluctant shopkeeper who dresses conservatively, has been looking for the "purpose of life" since he was in his mid-30s, uses phrases such as "moral compass" and is a leading philanthropist, Carlye Adler reports in a fascinating profile.

Wexner bought four Victoria's Secret stores and a catalog from a Stanford M.B.A. graduate who was going broke in 1982 and turned the company into a juggernaut that has had enormous influence on the lingerie industry. But the modest Midwesterner doesn't quite see it that way. "I didn't invent anything. I didn't invent the bra or stores or the name," he says. "I just see things differently."

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