Andrea Smith: How the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is destroying every woman’s self esteem.
Models Jasmine Tookes, Lais Ribeiro, Elsa Hosk, Candice Swanepoel, Adriana Lima, Behati Prinsloo, Lily Aldridge, Romee Strijd walk the ramp during the show. NEW YORK — When you tell someone — a friend, colleague, a fellow parent waiting at the school gate — that you are going to the Victoria’s Secret show to look at the clothes, you are liable to get pretty much the same response: “Clothes?” To most of the half-billion people who will watch the show when it is broadcast on prime-time television in 192 countries next month, and many of the men who bought tickets to benefit different charities (minimum bid: US$25,000 (S$35,470) for two seats) doing shout-outs to their favorite models from the audience, the clothes are probably the least of it — the half-naked famous women and musical acts like the Weeknd and Ellie Goulding being the main attraction.
By now, most of us are already sick of pictures of last night’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show – the annual glittery knickerfest that is treated like some sort of hallowed, celestial event all around the globe. Models including Victoria’s Secret Angel Adriana Lima, Victoria’s Secret Angel Behati Prinsloo, Victoria’s Secret Angel Lily Al do the final walk on the ramp. But, as Monica Mitro, executive vice president for brand communications at Victoria’s Secret, said the day before Tuesday’s (Nov 10) runway show in Manhattan, it (like any fashion show) is “90 per cent product” that ends up on store shelves. The whole heavenly vibe is enhanced by the fact that 15 selected supermodels are known as ‘Angels,’ and actually wear fluffy wings as they glide down the runway in their smalls and killer heels. The Weeknd, 25, who is dating Gigi’s little sister Bella Hadid, sang ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ during the Fireworks themed segment of the show, followed by ‘In The Night’.
Indeed, it was originally conceived 20 years ago by Leslie Wexner, the chairman of Victoria’s Secret, because, Mitro remembered, he said, “We’re a fashion brand, we should be doing fashion shows.” And in many ways, it shares all the attributes of the most established ready-to-wear shows: And this year they got the one front-row guest every ready-to-wear brand wanted last season, but no one managed to snag: Caitlyn Jenner (hooting and catcalling every time Kendall appeared). And because this season lingerie was one of the predominant trends of the womenswear collections from New York to Paris, Calvin Klein to Givenchy to Cline.
Only 44 of the leanest, hottest models on the planet are deemed suitable to take part in the most talked-about and highly-anticipated fashion show in the world. This year, Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner made their debut in the New York show, alongside established VS Angels, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Lily Aldridge and Candice Swanepoel. Divided into six sections with names like “boho psychedelic” and “exotic butterflies,” the show featured 75 outfits, all built on a base of, well, basics. We marvelled at the Fantasy Bra worn by Lily Aldridge, which featured 6,500 gems boasting 1,364 carats, such as diamonds, blue topaz, yellow sapphires and pink quartz, which is worth a cool $2 million.
There were bras and panties in varying levels of encrustation and rainbow shades, from the ribbed sports looks of the Pink line to the lace-’n’-diamante luxe and jewel-encrusted nude bodysuits of the highest end. Many of which were very nice, most of which were pretty familiar (this didn’t exactly reshape my ideas of how we define underwear, though I confess that the concept of high-waisted pinstriped big pants had never occurred to me) but all of which were quite hard to see, drowned as they were in an ocean of extras: golden wings! Most women who are bit older and wiser will understand that these women look absolutely amazing, but even Adriana Lima doesn’t look like that every day. Almost every former model I have ever met has spoken of the pressures and and self-loathing they indulged in to meet the high physical standards that were required of them. However, for our young and impressionable girls, the ones who look up to 20-year-old Kendall and Gigi as role models, how do we tell them long locks and legs for days shouldn’t be your main life goal?
And that rather than focusing on the external, life would run a lot more smoothly if they concentrated on improving what goes on inside their heads instead. We all know fashion is the costume we don for everyday life, and there’s no reason that kind of consideration shouldn’t extend all the way down to what goes underneath (it absolutely should), but the role play here was less idiosyncratic than campy. I regularly meet the most talented, capable and impressive women who have achieved great things, but are simply fixated e over aspects of their physical appearance. None of this does much to move female identity forward, even if taking charge of your sexuality and celebrating it is a feminist thing, but it does make sense if the goal is to grab attention through a small screen. Barnum-like voice-over welcomed the audience to the “the greatest fashion event on earth” * not, as it happens, “the greatest show.” And it’s worth noting that Ari Emanuel, the co-chief executive of WME/IMG, and Mark Shapiro, the chief content officer of IMG, were both front row this year, taking notes.
After all, it was a fortuitous roll of the genetic dice that gave Kendall Jenner her slender bum and not her sister Kim’s, when it came to being chosen as an underwear model last night. WME/IMG owns or operates New York, London and Milan fashion weeks (among others), and Shapiro and Emanuel have been pretty vocal about their belief in the power of fashion as entertainment. I thought there was something very sad (and a bit creepy) about the video clip of renowned 20-year-old Gigi falling to the ground in her underwear and sobbing as she was told by grey-haired, older man Ed Razek (senior creative at Victoria’s Secret) that she had made the grade for the show.
Her pitiful gasps of relief and gratitude spoke of her desperation to be part of the one show on earth that signals to women of even extreme beauty that they are “good enough.” It reminded me of the story that Meryl Streep (66) told Graham Norton about how she auditioned for a part in Dino De Laurentiis’s remake of King Kong 40 years ago, and the director remarked “che brutta,” which means “how ugly” or “what an ugly woman” in Italian. So perhaps the real question is not “Can we take this seriously as fashion?” but more “Is this the future of fashion, or at least fashion shows?” Wouldn’t it be great if our young women ignored the hype and focused their energy on improving their minds, and furthering the talents that will actually make more of a difference to the world than any $2 million bra will ever do?
