For years, Victoria's Secret has made a name for themselves from the large, lacy, overly padded bras that can make just about any woman's chest look larger. These bras have been marketed as necessary in order for a woman to be considered sexy. In other words, cleavage was "in" and being flat-chested was not an option. This style of marketing was unfair to women who were born with smaller chests, but the products in the store would at least work for most customers. The bras came in a range of sizes (with most styles being available in-stores at up to a DD size, with more sizes available for personal order), and you had choices when it came to the amount of padding you'd like in your bra.
Fast forward to today and Victoria's Secret has started a new campaign: "No padding is sexy now!"
Bralettes, which are small, padding-free bras that are commonly seen at festivals, have become quite a trend with the coming of music festival season. It is common for smaller-chested women to wear a bralette as their top when going to these kinds of events, and they have therefore become popular products at stores such as Aerie and Urban Outfitters. The new line of bralettes at Victoria's Secret comes in either small, medium or large sizes, which makes them have a less customizable fit in comparison to a traditional bra, which would be measured with band and cup sizes. Not only is it more limited, but the large size is arguably not large at all since it is marked to only be able to fit women with a size C chest.
By aiming their summer line strictly on padding-free bralettes, Victoria's Secret is ignoring the needs and wants of most of their customers. The average American bra size is a 34DD, which is a size that would never work with a padding-free and underwire-free bralette. Bras are designed in the first place for support, comfort and coverage. It just doesn't make sense to release a line of "bras" that have no padding and are made of sheer lace.
In addition to the new slogan of "no padding is sexy now," Victoria's Secret also recently released a commercial in which a model wearing a bralette says "The Bralette - It's all you need." This statement is entirely contradictory to the actual purpose of women's bras in the first place, since what you "need" in a bra is support and coverage. Personally, I don't know many women who wear a bra all day just because it's "pretty." In fact, most women dislike wearing bras at all. We wear them not because they're pretty and cute, but instead, we wear bras that give the support and also happens to be cute. There's a difference.
With their new padding-free campaign, Victoria's Secret is ignoring the needs of the majority of their customers. I, for one, would never be able to wear a bralette due to the fact that they simply don't fit my chest, which is ridiculous considering I'm not even as large as the American average. Other stores that sell bralettes, such as Aerie and Urban Outfitters that were mentioned earlier, at least have bralette options that include underwire, padding and larger sizes so that more customers can wear them. It's fine for Victoria's Secret to sell bralettes to the customers that they fit and to the customers that like them--it is not fine, however, for the store to claim that their bralettes are what is now sexy, since their current sizing and style goes against the needs of the majority of their customers and appeals only to one type of body shape.
