Victoria’s Secret has officially announced the end of its famous fashion show which has contributed to launching many of the best top model’s careers. The news had been speculated for months after Shanina Shaik leaked the information to the public at the start of the year. The decision comes after reports of a fall in sales and a wave of bad press which hit the brand. First Ed Razek, the Chief marketing officer at VS, made some shocking comments about not wanting transgender or plus-sized models to walk the show as they do not ‘fit’ the fantasy that the brand represents. Following these remarks Razek left the company and Valentina Sampaio, a transgender model was featured for the first time in one of the brand’s campaigns.
The problem with VS is that it represents a fantasy that is dated. Today, young girls dream of being CEOs and powerful activists who are self-made and have a strong impact on the world. They don’t turn heads because they are naked but because they are so confident in themselves that people are naturally drawn to them. On the runway, however, models wear super elaborated outfits that scream ‘cute’ rather than ‘sexy’.
VS is also famous for having ‘angels’, who are models directly employed by the brand. This is part of the dated fantasy as women are tired of being considered angels and princesses while men are engineers and prime ministers.
Another big issue with Victoria’s Secret is that, especially thanks to social media, it became obvious how much preparation the models go through to look like they do on the runway. If you follow models on social media you already know how much they take care of their bodies on a normal day, close to the show, you see them working out maybe twice a day, not eating anything slightly unhealthy and getting massages and facials every day. Models are so dedicated that they’ll get pizza or burgers delivered to the venue of the show which is devoured as soon as the cameras stop clicking. I respect models and disagree with anyone who claims that they are not ‘real women’ but seeing how much stress there is for people who are already a size 0 to be even more fit makes the fantasy so far away from the average woman that we end up abandoning it. Today, brands like Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty are the new fantasy simply because they are not one.
