Although I love denim 👖and I focus my freelancing around it, I love other categories in fashion as well; one of them being lingerie 💋 So I just had to take a minute to share this.
After YEARS.......DECADES in the bra business.....Victoria's Secret has finally launched nursing bras! 😱
My love/hate 💔💛 relationship with the company has grown even stronger.......the not so fond part. I personally worked for the company years ago and loved it so much. I truly felt like they treated their store employees well. The girly, feminine working environment was SO much fun. I truly enjoyed helping make women feel beautiful. I left with a smile despite long hours, difficult customers and late nights of sorting and cleaning. The perks and discounts were the best I'd had out of all my retail jobs. Most of my personal boudoir photoshoot was VS products. The beautiful, inspiring designs made me feel incredibly sexy and I adored the creativity of the fashion show.
But at that time I was very ignorant about the destructive side of the apparel industry and the effects of fast fashion. (And after educating myself over the past year- two years, I decided that if I was going to move forward with a career in the industry, I would only do so if it was built on sustainability).
SO....
I have to say sadly, that Victoria's Secret is BEHIND.
Behind on addressing sustainability and transparency, behind on marketing, behind on social & cultural movements and they have been behind on launching this line!
Some have argued that they shouldn't make a maternity line because those women just aren't their customers 🤰🏻but I think the customers have spoken! 🗣 Instagram comments with are filling up with
"FINALLY!"
"Wow, NOW you make a nursing bra? After I just weaned my second baby??"
"Where were these four years ago??"
"I wore the ugly ones, my kids are older and NOW you make one??"
To top it off, their second Instagram post about this new line shows a women who....let's be real- doesn't look like she's had a baby 🤨🤦🏻♀️
Why, after finally adding in more diverse models, are they using a traditionally thin model for this particular post?? (I know there are women who pop back to a flat tummy but those women are the exception, not the rule. They're rare). Postpartum doesn't look like that! (To be fair, they did use a photo on their first post about the launch that was more appropriate in tone and imaging).
However, the model's pose on the second post is classically seductive....not maternal. 🤦🏻♀️👶🏽🍼
Even though Victoria's Secret's brand identity is sexy- 💋they've decided to launch a line based around a time in a women's life that is not primarily focused on feeling sexy. It's focused on a baby, on recovering, nursing and an all-encompassing chapter of life that is MATERNAL. Yes, nursing women want to feel sexy too and should feel sexy! I personally am nursing right now and I despise my floppy, 😂 shapeless, 😒 trend-less 😑nursing bras. They are a tangible reminder that I’ve temporarily said goodbye to "fashion conscious" 😎 me and hello to “body not mine” 😳 for the next year. I'd love a cuter nursing bra as much as the next nursing mamma - That's why, despite the overarching reaction of "better late than never", customers are still excited because they too can have a piece of the sexy pie while in this crazy stage of life. 🤯💞👶🏽
But if this brand is going to launch a maternity line- they'd better market it differently- use models who look like they've actually had a baby. They've got to shift their traditional marketing campaigns and brand imaging for this new, very different line if they want to reach a broader customer base. 👀
You're probably thinking, wow this girl really cares about this. 😂 I do, because I am fascinated by (among many aspects of fashion) the business of it; 📄 why do some brands struggle, some succeed, some fail and others teeter back and forth between growth and loss. ⚖️💵
So.....from the outrageous A Body for Everybody campaign, to the non existent plus size women in the fashion shows (and non existent plus sizing in stores), to the ignored transparency of how the products are made, the ignored body positive movement, and the overdue nursing bra launch and misrepresentation of maternity, nursing, and postpartum.......VS is once again missing the target. 🎯
As someone who is currently nursing, 👶🏼 (and literally nursing right now as I write this post 😂), someone who’s worked for the company and loved their products, someone who values fashion and feeling sexy, someone who’s studied product development in the apparel industry, someone who works in apparel product development, someone who was their target customer….I am left yet again, disappointed in this brand. I’ve ignored many sides of this company, hoping they would recognize their pitfalls and pivot to necessary changes, but sadly this launch just proves they continue to be the caboose on the fashion train. 🚂
VS- as much as I've loved you, I have to break up with you. 💔
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