The Victoria Secret Fashion Show is known for its extraordinarily beautiful yet slim models showcasing skimpy and supposedly ‘sexy’ underwear to live performances of well-known musical acts in front of millions of viewers who all ignore the fact that inclusivity is nowhere to be seen on the catwalk or the brand full stop. *Not sorry for the rant*
The show this year however will not be aired, and hasn’t even been considered, for this very reason. Les Wexner, the chief executive of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, said:
“We have decided to re-think the traditional Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. In 2019 and beyond, we’re focusing on developing exciting, dynamic content and a new kind of event”.
2018 was its lowest-watched show to date. It had an audience of just 3.3 million. It would be interesting to know just how many of those viewers were men…
Are women finally realising what the show, and brand, really is? Women, who essentially have the exact same hair, height and weight, taking a walk on a runway in next to no clothing while carrying very heavy ‘wings’ on their backs.
Alexina Graham became the company’s first ever red-haired angel THIS year, yes you read that right.
Thankfully, it would appear that the brand are trying to change this, as earlier this year they hired Ali Tate and Valentina Sampaio: their first ever plus sized and transgender models, respectively.
Just days after Valentina announced the news, the brand’s former senior creative, Ed Razek, decided to resign.
Last year he got both himself and the brand into trouble by saying:
‘It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should.
Why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is.
“It is the only one of its kind in the world, and any other fashion brand in the world. The competitors are carping at us, and they carp at us because we’re the leader. They don’t talk about each other. I accept that. I actually respect it. Cool. But we’re nobody’s third love. We attempted to do a television special for plus sizes [in 2000]. No one had any interest in it. Still don’t’”
In ‘Road To Runway’ which is the brand’s YouTube docuseries Ed can be seen having an extensive role in the show’s castings. Does his departure mean the introduction of various types of women on the runway?
I should think so.
Thanks to social media the world is now much more accepting and understanding of the fact that – excluding identical twins/ triplets/ etc – literally no one looks the same. We are all, both men and women, unique and that isn’t just in our personalities.
The most common dress size in the UK is a 16 (US 12). Why wouldn’t the brand showcase what their products looks like on women of that size, or any other size to be truthful, seeing that we are the people who actually buy them? Or are supposed to, at least – it’s no secret that the brands sales are dwindling too.
Victoria’s Secret need to realise that the world, its morals and its values have increased since the initial 1995 show.
The real question is, is it a case of too little, too late? I would love to know what you think, leave your comments below.