Earlier this month, Victoria’s Secret introduced a new angel to their franchise. Her name is Ali Tate-Cutler, she is the first ever plus-size model to represent the brand and she’s working with them in their collaboration with Bluebella Lingere.
Over the past year, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the iconic lingerie brand after Ed Razek, the former L Brands CMO told Vogue Magazine that the company had little interest in recruiting plus-size or transgender models for the fashion show. Not long after his comments hit shelves, it was announced that there would be no 2019 fashion show. Razek resigned after 15 years and Ali Tate-Cutler was introduced as a new face of the brand.
Although this appears like a step in the right direction for the brand, many people are still not satisfied. People are unhappy that Cutler was debuted as part of a collaboration campaign and think she should have been introduced to the world before Razek’s hurtful interview and resignation. Tyler McCall, the Editor-In-Chief for fashionista.com, tweeted that Cutler has worked with Bluebella before, so the legitimacy of her being chosen by Victoria’s Secret is questionable.
Some comments that Cutler has made in the past have also been revisited. In 2016, the model responded to an article shared online by Everyday Feminism Magazine. The article, “11 Reasons Your Phony ‘Concern’ for Fat People’s Health Has Got to Stop,” is controversial in nature and sparked a comment from Cutler.
Sorry, but I don’t care about people’s health who are fat, that’s their own prerogative and their own life to lead,” Cutler wrote. “They are free to make their own choices. I am a staunch feminist, followed by a close second environmentalist. While some people are genetically obese and are vegetarian, and eating relatively low carbon foot print foods, most obese people are not.
It seems that three years later, Cutler has done a 360. She is aware that she is receiving negative backlash for her old comments and previous modeling jobs and responded briefly to it in an exclusive interview with E! News.
The way I like to think about negativity is that no matter what you do — it can be the best thing ever — someone will take an issue with it and you will get criticism no matter what you do,” says Cutler. “All we can do, is strive to be more conscious and make better decisions and help people. If someone wants to criticize you about that, let it be water under the bridge and let it go. At the end of the day, what sticks in my mind is the positive comments, they stay with me and make sure that I am on the right track. If I can even help one person, that is a win for me. Forget all the haters.
Her most recent posts on Instagram have blocked other users from commenting.
Cutler made it clear that she is in fact comfortable with the term “plus-size,” as it is not a term that she gets hung up on.
“Size 14 is actually the average size of women in America and I do think that we need to see more of it in media and fashion because most women are that size,” says Cutler. “So, we need to be accurately represented in brands and media. For Victoria’s Secret I am so excited that they decided to put a size 14 woman like me on the wall … I think if they continue to head in that direction they will be on to a jackpot because that is reflective of what the average woman is in America.”
Later in the interview with E!, Cutler expressed her concern that women around the world have a preconceived idea that they are only beautiful if they have a specific body type.
We were told time and time again that you can only be beautiful if you are tall skinny … which has changed so much in the last 10 years. I think it took so long because we needed disruption in the industry. We needed people to step up and be the whistle-blower of the fashion industry.
Beauty comes in all different looks, shapes and sizes. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. Ali Tate-Cutler is (hopefully) just the beginning of welcoming every type of Angel to the runway with open arms.
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