Victoria's Secret - Does plus size matter?

VS are the worlds largest intimate apparel retailer with over 1,000 stores globally. Their annual fashion show is a huge deal. The show gets around 800 million views, making it the most-watched fashion event of the year, and costing them a huge $12,000,000 to put on (whilst the fashion week shows cost between £2,000 - £1,000,000, showing truly how huge the VS shows are!), and is aired in 185 different countries. The show brings together fashion, music, people and cultures.

Last year's show was labelled "more diverse than ever", with almost half of the models being of black, asian, or hispanic descent. However not a single of the 52 models were plus size! In an interview with Vogue, Razek defended his "brand point of view" by first saying that he had considered putting both transgender and plus models in the show. However, he hadn't because,"we market who we sell to, and we don't market to the whole world".

I feel as though VS are falling well behind the times by not having diverse models in their show. People aren't finding VS as exciting anymore because they're just not as relatable as upcoming lingerie brands such as Savage X Fenty. The models VS just all look the same - stick thin and theres only a small amount of people who look like this or want to look like this, and can therefore relate with the brand! Savage X Fenty use various different 'types' of

women, all different shapes and sizes, including pregnant women to model their lingerie! I think this is really successful as women all shapes and sized will feel welcomed into the brand and as a result may be more inclined to shop as Savage over VS because they feel like their body type is accepted there. I think in this day and age where everyone is being inclusive of everybody then Victoria's Secret are only making themselves look bad for not following this!

However, I do believe that 'plus-size' does have to end somewhere. Having models such as

the likes of Tess Holliday who wears a UK size 26, give off the impression that its okay to be obese and romanticise the idea of obesity - which is not okay, likewise having super skinny, almost anorexic looking models isn't okay either. I think the fashion industry needs to find a happy medium and that all woman from size 4-18 should be included.

A high street brand what I think is doing this really well is Pretty Little Thing, now on some of their item listings on their website they show how two different models look wearing the same item - one smaller model whilst one 'bigger' model. I think this is really helpful, especially as they're an online shop and being able to see the garment on someone with a similar body size to yourself can be really helpful, and may even encourage purchases! I also really like that the second model isn't labelled as 'plus-size' as I feel this is quite a toxic way of thinking and that everyones bodies should be considered as the same.