My cosplay feature actually went down pretty well on here so I thought I would share with you all another one of my opinion based articles. Since the Victoria Secret fashion show took place this month I thought I would modify an old piece of mine to bring it up to date. I wrote this last year when the Victoria Secret fashion show took place in London as a sort of mix of news and opinion all rolled into one feature. Just a little foot note I have referenced all of my quotes within the text itself but please keep in mind that this was written a year ago so some references may be outdated. I hope you enjoy! Remember to let me know if you like these sort of posts. Also you can catch the Victoria's Secret fashion show on TV on December 8th in the UK!
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past month you probably know all about the angels of Victoria's Secret gracing us with their presence for the annual lingerie extravaganza in New York city. For those of you that are less fashion conscious or simply have been living in solitary confinement for the past decade and a half, Victoria's Secret is an American brand of lingerie that is worth over five billion US dollars. The catwalk show boasted acts and celebrities such as Selena Gomez, Ellie Goulding and the Kardashians. Yes it's that big of a deal!
I don't know about you but everything about the show; the glamour, star studded cast and glitter (of course!) always gets me hyped up. When a renowned fashion brand that big puts on a show this spectacular you cannot help but be excited. However what doesn't make me excited is the negative reception that the angels receive about apparently supporting "blatant and destructive objectification" (tumblr.com, 2014) of woman from many so-called feminists.
As a handful of angels strut down the catwalk showing off the latest Victoria's Secret lingerie sets, press and bloggers took to the internet to voice their personal opinions of the models and what they stand for. One blogger wrote that the models "glorifiy women as sex objects" (Wilson, 2014). Many other critics slated the angels explaining that they promote objectification of women or bend to the expectations of what men want women to look like. Yes, these angels do work extremely hard to get their "sexy" bodies however it is not to support a gender inequality quota or bend to the expectations of men. It is for their careers as models. Yes readers, being a model is in fact a career!
Many supermodels say that the Victoria's Secret fashion show is the Olympics for their industry. They compare the experience of being in the show to winning a gold medal. Being sexy is a part of getting them to this career propelling show just like being strong will get any athlete to the Olympics.
In addition to the show boosting some models careers many models that have taken part in the show have said they felt empowered and would definitely described themselves as feminists. Original angel, supermodel and TV personality Tyra Banks was the first black American angel to take part in the catwalk show and was the first black American female on the front cover of Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Issue. Tyra rightly describes herself as "fierce and feminist" in relation to all of her achievements regarding the Victoria's Secret show. If that is not empowering to woman alike all over the world I'm not sure what achievement is. (The Huffington Post, 2014).
Furthermore Tyra was not the "typical" angel. She describes her body as "thicker" than the average model. In her words her strutting down the catwalk at the Victoria's Secret fashion show "really meant something" in the fashion world. She was changing things and breaking the typical lingerie model stereotype in the fashion industry for women everywhere and the Victoria's Secret fashion show helped her do this. All over the world women of all shapes and size were praising Tyra for going against the model "norm" and felt like Tyra and the Victoria's Secret fashion show had made them finally love their bodies for what they are. (The Huffington Post, 2014). Victoria's Secret even stated that putting Tyra on their runway helped them "sell more bras and panties than any other model" (Mic, 2014) despite her being at least 20 pounds heavier than all of them.
Unfortunately even though this show has brought so many positives to many models' and other women's lives this still brings up many negative but complicated issues throughout the feminist world. Other women are still suggesting that a woman can't dress sexy or show off her own body proudly without bending to the expectations of men or supporting objectification. As stated by previous Victoria Secrete angels a woman can feel so empowered and confident when dressed in a sexy set of lingerie. It has also been proven that many other women feel this way too.
In a recent scientific study undertaken at the University of Manchester women were observed to see if wearing a cleavage enhancing bra had any effects on their social behaviours. Professor Geoff Beattie, head of Psychology stated that: "the study showed emphatically that wearing the cleavage-enhancing bra in comparison to an everyday bra had a significant effect on non-verbal behaviours that are crucially associated with levels of self-confidence". Women were smiling more and their body language was perceived as being more friendly and open (Mail Online, 2012).
Self-confidence is so important especially as majority of the media skew our perceptions of what the perfect female form should look like. If putting on some sexy lingerie like the Victoria's Secret angles makes us feel better about ourselves then why shouldn't we stick our fingers up at so called feminists and celebrate our bodies and sexuality without being an "object" or "bending to a man's will"?
By wielding the Victoria's Secret fashion show as an weapon woman are knocking other woman down for dressing a certain way and this is not right. Women dress sexy majority of the time for themselves. It gives us a boost of self-confidence. As a feminist I do not understand why another woman would criticize or judge another woman for boosting her own self-esteem. This just gives men another excuse to do it to us as well. If we don’t all stick together on this issue we will never be able to achieve gender equality in our society.
