Last year, nearly five million people tuned in to watch the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Many viewers then took to Twitter to share memes about eating and crying while watching the six-foot-something supermodels strut down the runway in less than imaginative lingerie. While it’s good that the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show celebrates the women underneath the wings, Victoria’s Secret appears out of touch with the initiative of accepting of all body types. For a show that takes approximately $12 million to put on, one would expect it to be less overrated.
Although the show has become more racially diverse, a popular criticism of the fashion show is that the “angels” set unrealistic body standards for women. Rihanna’s lingerie line, Savage X Fenty, debuted at the tail end of New York Fashion Week and featured women of all sizes, shapes and skin tones. As the most watched fashion event of the year, it is easy to see this as a wasted opportunity that Victoria’s Secret continues to keep their doors closed to plus-sized models.
Not only are the angels un-relatable, but the show is no longer even about the lingerie. It is a clever scheme that the company crafts to make each and every outfit to look different and original. Nevertheless, when you take away the heaps of lace, pounds of Swarovski crystals and the angel wings all you have left is the same push-up bra style you can find sitting on the store’s shelves, and even that is overpriced.
In the fashion world, the model often becomes a nameless face meant only for showing off the clothes. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show celebrates these models and rockets them from runway model to supermodel stardom. They work tirelessly for the label of “angel” and they deserve to be recognized for that. That being said, why can’t the everyday woman be the pinnacle portrait of an angel?
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has such potential for provoking thought, inspiring creativity and showing consumers worldwide that there is so much more to their lingerie. Yet, year after year we watch the same slew of supermodels sashay down the runway and wish we looked like that half- naked. Will anything change?
Related
Weighing In: The Unofficial Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Workout
Things to Remember While Watching the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
1 Comment