Sunday night my friend and I turned on the TV in my dorm room and tuned into the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, held in New York City this year. We couldn't wait to watch the models we love, Bella Hadid, Elsa Hosk, and Adriana Lima take the runway. For years I've watched the runway show, as have so many other young women because it is like you are experiencing what it is like to be a model. This year, I loved seeing the women talk about how empowered they felt as they walked in the show, but I was left with a little doubt about the purpose behind the show. Victoria's Secret has been under fire lately for their lack of diversity of different races, and LGBTQ women. Comments have been made by the company that these women do not "represent" the Victoria's Secret image or brand, and they are not looking to be inclusive of these people anytime soon.
As I was watching, I thought about how these beautiful, skinny, tall women are role models for young girls, but there is not much inclusiveness within the brand or show based off looks and body types. Little girls watching who may not look like any of these models, whether it's because race, ethnicity, or body type, may feel like the must look like them in order to be considered beautiful. What we don't need in society, especially in the age of social media promoting unhealthy body image, is for women we look up to follow this same path and promote this unhealthy behavior.
If Victoria's Secret really wanted to empower women, like they said they did in the beginning of the fashion show, then they would find a new approach in marketing towards younger women. We've recently seen success in companies like Aerie because they are representative of many different body types and races. We've also seen the rise of the body positivity movement and models like Iskra Lawrence and Ashley Graham take the modeling industry by storm.
Why then, is it so hard for Victoria's Secret to adapt to the positive changes happening in our society? We want young women to grow up to feel strong and empowered in their own skin no matter what they look like. We're reshaping the way we define beauty- and it's time for Victoria's Secret to realize that.
