What is the perfect body?
Victoria’s Secret was forced to pull back from its “perfect body” campaign in November 2014 when a petition from women around the world demanded the lingerie retailer apologize for promoting a limited view of beauty. The dust has since settled as far as the ad, which featured models Lily Aldridge and Behati Prinsloo in lingerie, is concerned, but two plus-size lingerie brands believe the fight is far from over.
On Monday, April 6, Lane Bryant introduced the #ImNoAngel initiative to celebrate women of all shapes and sizes. The black and white print and video ads features six models, including Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue superstar Ashley Graham, posing together in barely there undergarments. The other models in the Cacique for Lane Bryant campaign, shot by photographer Cass Bird, are Marquita Pring, Candice Huffine, Victoria Lee, Justine Legault, and Elly Mayday.
The 31-second-long clip shows the models flaunting their curves in lingerie, while firing off rapid responses such as: “One word — sexy.” The steamy ad ends with all the women huddled in for one group shot, declaring they are “all kinds of sexy.”
Lane Bryant isn’t the only company to come out against Victoria’s Secrets campaigns. UK lingerie brand Curvy Kate is also attempting to shake up the image of plus-size women. The company hosted a competition to find its new face, which kicked off in January 2015. The brand recreated the Victoria’s Secret campaign with a group of plus-size women in nude undergarments.
“We came up with the idea as we truly believe that there isn’t one type of perfect,” Chantelle Crabb, the brand’s PR executive, told Glamour.com. “The women in the [Victoria’s Secret] campaign are beautiful, but we think that every women is beautiful in her own right and should be represented fairly in the media too.”
