Livi Rae Lingerie is a store in Kennesaw, Georgia. It is run by Molly Hopkins and Cynthia Decker, who star in the Lifetime reality series Double Divas. The store specializes in custom lingerie for women of all body types, as well as women recovering from mastectomies, or who have disabilities. Their tagline is: “No bust too big or small, we fit ’em all.”
On March 9th, the store's Instagram posted a picture of their storefront, which features unedited pictures of lingerie-clad women of all shapes, sizes, and colors, including one in a wheelchair, and quotes from them. This was part of their in-store ad campaign, which aims to diversify the lingerie industry. Along with the picture came a less encouraging caption:
Body shaming is real. We experienced it first hand today when our landlord asked us to remove our window display. As you can imagine, we've received a lot of calls asking what people can do to help. Please share these images along with the hashtag #NoShameLiviRae to help us educate the community about body shaming.
Our campaign features women of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds. The media have been conducting interviews and we will be sharing those shortly to keep you updated. In the meantime, please let us know your thoughts. Are these images offensive or in bad taste to you? #noshamelivirae #RealBrasRealWomenRealStories #LiviRaeLingerie #bodyshaming
Cynthia Decker claims that they were told that the ad was in "poor taste," but "no one has explained what that means." Molly Hopkins added,
“We absolutely are not taking down our windows. We poured out our heart and souls along side these everyday women who bared their bodies to help women feel better about themselves. They were bold and courageous and we chose them to help us spread the word about our 'Real bodies, real women, real stories' campaign because when the clothes come off, stories spill out. We uncovered a lot of issues when we did the casting call with these beauties."
The story has gotten attention from several news outlets and support from many social media users, using the hashtag #NoShameLiviRae. Many supporters pointed out that this ad should not be different than the large and prominent ads on Victoria's Secret storefronts, which feature skinny women in lingerie as opposed to a more diverse grouping. The power that social media holds becomes apparent here, because on March 14th, it was announced in a Facebook post that the property manager would allow them to keep the window displays. The store thanked the public for their support, and will continue their exceptional campaign.