The Cultural Revolution has claimed some very attractive new scalps. The Victoria’s Secret Angels and the brand’s signature “miracle bras” are history. As The New York Times recently noted, Victoria’s Secret’s parent company, L Brands, was unacceptably “out of step with the broader culture” but is now “trying to redefine what we consider sexy.”
The move comes after 2019 revelations that Leslie H. Wexner, the founder and chairman of L Brands, helped the late child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein meet some of his victims, and presided over what the Grey Lady called “a misogynistic corporate culture that trafficked in sexism, sizeism and ageism.” It also comes as the fat acceptance movement gains currency and at a time when insurgent competitors like Cuup, Skims, Parade and others compete to out-woke each other.
“When the world was changing, we were too slow to respond,” said Martin Waters, who was appointed chief executive of the brand in February. “We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want.”
As the Journal reported in a recent piece on sea changes in women’s intimate apparel, “women young and old” now want “inclusive sizing and non-objectifying advertising imagery featuring a diverse group of models.”
But Victoria Secret’s recent introduction of seven new woke brand ambassador models, called the VS Collective, appears to be more about pushing left-wing politics and checking identity-politics boxes than producing better products. Consider some of VS’s new arrivals. Start with Megan Rapinoe, a soccer star/ left wing activist who kneels during the National Anthem and is described by VS as a “LGBTQIA+ Activist and Pay Equity Crusader.” She told The Times that VS’s old “patriarchal, sexist” marketing was “really harmful” to women.
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Then there’s Amanda de Cadenet, who is described as a journalist, but based on her writings and social media posts appears to be more of a professional Kamala Harris cheerleader and Trump hater than anything else. (Come to think of it, perhaps journalist is the correct description given the times.)
After the 2020 election, Cadenet posted on Instagram that she “couldn’t get enough of Kamala Harris.” She also posted a video of someone flying an expletive (f***) Trump flag with the caption, “Pure joy !!!! Seeing so many people joyous, laughing, dancing, celebrating and loving this moment with all their hearts is everything I need today.”
The woke lineup also features a pair of plus size models and fat acceptance advocates. There’s Simon Mariposa, a Los Angeles influencer who wears a size 22-24 and calls herself “superfat,” and Paloma Elsesser, a biracial plus-size model who on Election Day last year posted on Instagram, “sending love to everyone but Trump supporters, (f***) y’all…black, indigenous and POC friends in recovery please don’t hesitate to reach out for meetings and spaces for support.”
Rounding out the collective are a trio of skinny women who are apparently spared the woke guillotine since they satisfy several identity politics boxes. They are Eileen Gu, a 17-year-old freestyle skier who was born and raised in the United States, but became a Chinese citizen in 2019 in order to represent China, Valentina Sampaio, a transgender activist from Brazil, and Adut Akech, a refugee from South Sudan turned model.
If Victoria’s Secret really wanted to go all-in on inclusion, shouldn’t they have models with acne or other skin problems? Why are there no Albinos, no Native Americans, no women in hijabs or burqas, no dwarves, no one with cleft palates, club feet, or other deformities? While we’re at it, how come none of the models are ugly and how long will it be before an ugly acceptance movement takes shape and attractive models become unemployable pariahs?
I’m well aware that some models starve themselves and suffer disproportionately from eating disorders. I don’t prefer the waif look; I like to see women who look healthy. But having sat through countless lectures from leftist public health scolds about “trusting science,” during the pandemic, I wonder why the same people promote morbid obesity as normal given the dire health implications?
American women overtook men in obesity rates in 2015 and, according to the CDC, have a severe obesity rate of 11.5 percent compared to 6.9 percent for men. The New England Journal of Medicine estimates that by 2030, severe obesity will be the most common BMI category at 27.6 percent. Despite this trend, you rarely hear anyone on the left sounding the alarm about these numbers.
Aside from the public health implications, I also resent that another blue-chip American corporation is trying to “redefine” what beauty is while jamming its progressive politics down our throats as an offering to the woke intelligentsia as penance for its founders Epstein-related sins. It’s true that men can be shallow, but studies have shown that women—or should we call them birthing people— can be just as superficial. A 2017 Royal Society study, for example, showed 160 women photos of men with their shirts off. Zero women surveyed showed a preference for weaker men. Other studies have shown women prefer men who are tall and affluent.
Men might moan about these issues, but I don’t expect to see companies scrambling to find pot-bellied men with sunken chests to fill catalogs anytime soon. L Brands doesn’t care what men think of their woke marketing efforts, but I recently visited a VS store at my local mall to see what the changes were all about. There were indeed posters of multiracial plus size women, but a salesperson told me the largest underwear size they carry is XL.
“We can order up to XXL,” she said. “But we don’t carry them in stores.” My visit confirmed what I already suspected: like many other companies, VS’s woke messaging is created for and by guilty, fit, white liberals, rather than people who actually need plus-size underwear.
Dave Seminara is the author of Mad Travelers: A Tale of Wanderlust, Greed & the Quest to Reach the Ends of the Earth and Footsteps of Federer: A Fan's Pilgrimage Across 7 Swiss Cantons in 10 Acts
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