Tonight is the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show in London. Beautiful VS Angels will walk the catwalk proudly peacocking their perfect physiques.
Cue hundreds of girls flocking to social media to berate their own bodies. Girls with lovely figures already, claiming they need to get to the gym, they can’t believe how fat they are, they’re never eating again, and feeling generally pretty shitty about they way they look.
Now I’m not for one minute saying that I don’t find the Victoria’s Secret Angels absolutely beautiful, because I do. I have a particular penchant for Candice Swanepoel (babe). And I’m also not suggesting that I won’t watch it (and ogle), because I most certainly will.
But what I think people fail to remember is that Victoria’s Secret is a BRAND. You’ve got to hand it to their marketing team, their marketing strategy is so well-executed that consumers don’t even realise that they are being drip-fed an idealistic lifestyle through a corporate machine.
They have given their brand a face (or rather, many angelic faces), therefore young girls can idolise and connect to the Angels. The Angels are likeable so you can relate to them, you can have your ‘favourite’, you can follow each Angel on Instagram for little snippets of their daily life (‘Oh Adriana eats quinoa? Maybe I should eat quinoa. Wait, how do you pronounce quinoa?”). Meanwhile, VS are subliminally trickling their aspirational brand out to young women of the world through their models. And make no mistake, although this is essentially an underwear display, it is aimed at women not men. Men actually realise, and accept, that most females do not look like VS Angels. However, a woman will beat herself up over the fact that she doesn’t.
Victoria’s Secret are to underwear, as Apple are to technology – a lifestyle brand. And with a lifestyle brand, comes feelings of low self-esteem when you can’t quite reach the heights of their offerings. Oh, you don’t have the new iPhone 6? What phone do you have? In fact, what other phones actually exist? Hundreds, is the answer to that. Yet Apple smash other phone companies out of the park because they have crafted their brand to be so idealistic that you don’t even really consider an alternative.
Similarly, Vicky’s Secret can makes women feel worthless for not having rock-hard abs or a thigh gap. Remember, they are a brand with a specific image. There are alternatives. Face it, this fashion show is not about the products.
Just like you probably work 40-odd hours a week at your job, trying to carve out a successful career for yourself; the VS Angels spend that amount of time (or more) on perfecting the way they look. They work bloody hard at their bodies with grueling diets and fitness regimes, and they do look fantastic. But what I am trying to say is, their bodies are their money-makers – they look the way they do because, alongside a portion of good [great] genetics, they are paid to look that way.
So… Enjoy! And stop hating on yo’self.
by Kimberley White
A Curious Unicorn 