When Victoria’s Secret was announced in August 2021, it changed its brand name after years of declining sales and declining cultural credibility — it became a women’s empowerment champion and supermodel. Replacing a flock of angels with VS Collective, 10 women of great achievement, as well as various ages and shapes, the news generally (and of course) met with a frown.
The home of the former high kitsch male fantasy … was it about to become the new Betty Friedan? It was hard to imagine.
Well, now new Advertising campaign As a spokeswoman said, “celebrating Victoria’s secrets today” promises “we’ve changed” and “we’ll meet you”, with different skin tones and ages. Featuring women of shape, ability, simple silk bras and panties that look very comfortable.
And what do you guess? Many people don’t like the new look, twitter To complain.
It’s too “utilitarianism”. No one wants such boring underwear. According to one observer, the message it is sending is that inclusiveness is unattractive. Get the wings back — but put them on everyone!
Would you like to get your wings back? seriously?
Only two years after L Brands founder and Victoria’s Secret giant Leslie H. Wexner resigned as chairman and chief executive officer after his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was revealed. Years have passed. It’s only two and a half years since Victoria’s Secret canceled the famous Baby in the Tonland fashion show in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Still, with massive psychological events happening, half of the world seems to forget the conversation about why the currently known VS needs to change in the first place.
Wearing stiletto, bikini bottoms, and a push-up bra with a balloon skirt on high knees (as the model did in one show) wasn’t a dream outfit for anyone. I forgot that. Forgetting that the wings can weigh up to 30 pounds, it made an adult woman look like a naughty put. Such crazy costumes are one of those that created a culture in which powerful men (including Victoria’s Secret powerful men) saw the young women around them as toys related to what they wanted. It was a club.
Comprehensively regaining those costumes only advocates the objectification of equal opportunity, and there is nothing fascinating about it.
For those who need help to remember, there is “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Devil”. This is a three-part documentary directed by Matt Tillner, aired on Hulu just in time for the new campaign. It’s how the company reached from the mythical Victoria (a well-grown Englishman with a slightly sensual side) to an angel emerging from a spaceship in a silver bomber jacket with an Andy set matching a laser gun. Find out.
The documentary doesn’t really answer the question it raises, which has to do with Epstein, Wexner, and what their relationship was exactly (in most cases, Talking Heads is essentially ” “Who knows?” And raises an eyebrow. It makes sense), and it effectively tracks the progress of the brand. How did you move from a classy catalog company to an acceptable softcore entertainment vehicle and what it is today?
For all of our complex emotions and frustrations about exactly what “sexy” means, and how to break the patterns and ideas that have been created over the centuries. How it went from a psychological stalker horse. That’s why, in the end, the brand change hit that nerve.
The truth is, there is no single answer because it depends on each individual, and certainly no single brand has an answer to the sexy one. Still, the dominant image of lingerie is still binary and extreme images. It’s either Jessica Rabbit’s thong and naughty maid, or comfortable cotton underwear in many body neutral tones. Victoria’s Secret, old version, or pigeon and airy.
(For fairness, many feel naive, comfortable and sexy. VS Collective soccer player and activist Megan Rapinoe agreed to join the New York Times. The sexiest thing we can achieve in life. Sometimes the cool thing is also sexy. “)
In fact, brands that are often featured as alternatives, such as Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty and Kim Kardashian’s skim, fall into these two categories fairly well in style. The first is all the biggest provocations in gameplay, and the second is almost minimal awkwardness (Skims features a newly divorced Kardashian as wife of Stepford’s camp in California. Even if you have a swimsuit ad, it seems to be becoming more cinematic. Region).
And since those lines have celebrity female founders, they are somehow treated as something else because they are famously sexy themselves. The theory seems to be that the money she earns empowers women who publicly own her own sexuality, so its effectiveness drips on the consumers they serve.
perhaps. Or, the real point from all this is that no one can say anything sexy in brand, size, or shape — and that should be considered good.
After all, its sexyness has to do with comforting the skin, not a single piece of clothing. There are as many definitions of terms as people in the world. And that actual empowerment is not included in the bra and panties set. Then come out.
