WHY I WON'T BE WATCHING THE VICTORIA'S SECRET FASHION SHOW
- Erin Sullivan
- Dec 5, 2018
- 4 min read
Growing up, I religiously watched the Victoria's Secret Fashion show. I always admired the apparel my friends sported from the brand and I truly believed that the Victoria's Secret Angels came down from heaven. With all this being said, the iconic brand has found itself in some hot water recently and as much as it pains me to say it: I won't be watching the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show this year. Neither should you, and here's why.
The Victoria's Secret Fashion show held it's premiere event in 1995 with major networks deeming it "the lingerie event of the century". The event started to gain even more traction and in 1997 Tyra Banks was the first woman of color to wear the Fantasy Bra on the runway. The Victoria's Secret fashion show remains one of the most widely viewed events. As a young girl who loved fashion but couldn't afford the prices of Givenchy and Gucci, this was finally something I could get behind. From the first show I ever watched I was hooked.
It seemed as if the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show brought people together in a way. Family and friends would gather around in their pajamas with a fresh bowl of popcorn to cheer on the models strutting their stuff on the runway. I would drool over the newest collections and tightly squeeze my best friend's hand as the Fantasy Bra made it's fantastic debut. Even when I went to college, squeezing into twin extra long dorm beds with a tiny television propped up against the radiator, I made sure to watch this show.
So why after all these years would I suddenly change my mind? It's a decision that did not come easy but is necessary.
The original appeal behind the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for many is the models. The masses fell in love with Adrianna Lima who graced the stage of the show for almost 20 years. Yet times are changing. Not every girl can workout for hours on end in order to be stick thin to fit into the coveted Fantasy Bra. It's toxic to keep impressing this image that the ideally beautiful woman is dangerously underweight. Society needs to start celebrating health and happiness rather than valuing those who must strive for eating disorders to make it in their career. Every year new models will grace the runways of Victoria Secret yet none of them are anything close to curvy. We would never in a million years see plus size model Ashley Graham who recently walked for Michael Kors, grace Victoria's catwalk.
Victoria's Secret has been consistently known as a brand that flaunts airbrushed perfection rather than body positivity. While new brands such as Fenty by Rihanna chose to embrace body positivity when she had two pregnant models walk her runway. It seems as if Victoria's refusal to embrace this new era is doing damage to the brand, with plummeting stocks after weak sales in the past year.
The chief marketing officer of Victoria's Secret, Ed Razek, stated in an interview, "We market to who we sell to, we don't market to the whole world". Later stating that when they slap their logo onto a product it gets love from their audience. When asked about bringing transexuals into the show he answers with, "I don't think we should". He claims that the fashion show is a fantasy and an entertainment special, that's all it is. It brings up the question: is it Victoria's Secret's job to please everyone? Yes and No. Of course a massive corporation like this can't please everyone out there, but they should not be an inclusive brand that gets off on bashing those unlike them.
Although he later apologized on Twitter for his remarks, he claims that transgender models have come to castings for the show but have not been chosen. Victoria's Secret remains under fire for promoting a false sense of what beauty is to the public. Transgender models and activists later spoke up against the brand and posted videos on popular web sites such as YouTube and Out.com as open letters to the company.
These standards of beauty affect everyone including myself. I've always looked at myself as being fatter. It's not only because of these gorgeous models on stage but they do play a role in my turmoil and that of others. It's not the job of the models to make me feel better, it's the job of the corporation and the brand itself to include models of all shapes and sizes to make everyone feel included. Razek says that he isn't marketing to the whole world, but shouldn't he be? Rather than exclude woman from his lingerie line solely because of their size.
Victoria's Secret as a brand lacks imagination and vision and not only that but they're also missing human decency. A person is still a human being regardless of whether or not they are a size 2 or a size 24. They still deserve to be included rather than cast aside as an afterthought. The brand is strong when it comes to racial diversity, but what about size diversity.
In conclusion, I will not be watching the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show this year and I'm sure I won't be the only one.
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