Cut the BS, VS: Victoria's Secret Tries Implementing Diversity

On February 1st, 2022, lingerie company Victoria's Secret announced that it would, finally, be partnering with its first-ever black transgender model. The model Emira D'Spain posted a series of portraits on her official Instagram page, @xoxoemira, to publicize her entrance to the brand's group of models, captioning it "Honored to be the first black trans girl working with @victoriassecret - As a kid, I only DREAMED of being a part of Victoria’s Secret".

D'Spain was born in Dubai and raised in Dallas, Texas. Now, the 25-year-old model lives in New York City. She is also a TikTok influencer and was Paper Magazine's content creator and director before signing a deal to model for Victoria's Secret.

While many would take this news as something incredible and congratulate Victoria's Secret, we should take a step back and look at the bigger picture of diversity being implemented (or in this case, not being implemented enough).

USA Today published an article in late August 2019, titled "Valentina Sampaio announces she will be Victoria's Secret first openly transgender model." The Brazilian model was the first transgender person to appear in one of the brand's campaigns even though it was founded in 1977 and started having fashion shows in 1995. Keep in mind, this was announced to the public after Ed Razek, the company's Chief Marketing Officer, stated that transgender and plus-sized models probably wouldn’t be "right for the brand."

Source: MTV
Valentina Sampaio, Victoria's Secret first openly transgender model.

Even with a simple search of "Victoria's Secret Models" on any search engine, you will most likely find a series of pictures of women with extremely similar body types and features.

Women's Wear Daily (WWD) stated that "Victoria’s Secret’s revenues — which includes the Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, Beauty and Pink divisions — had already been declining since 2017." The company went from making $7.78 billion dollars in 2016 to $6.81 billion in 2019. These statistics alone already show how many consumers went from loving the brand to then losing interest in just 3 years.

WWD also reported that "the brand was facing hostile public criticism and rapidly losing market share as many consumers opted for innerwear brands that promoted diversity, offered comfort, and were easily accessible online." Examples of businesses that are successfully promoting diversity while also selling a great amount of merchandise are Eberjey, Skims, and Savage X Fenty.

While one may argue that Victoria's Secret has been doing a good job of implementing diversity into their latest campaigns. However, we must look at the bigger picture. VS has had many missed opportunities to embrace diversity, in its fullness, which is the inclusion of transwomen and other LGBTQIA+ models alike.

The company is only trying to be somewhat diverse, now because they know that's what their customers want. Since its first fashion show in 1995, the company has only introduced one curve model Ali Tate-Cutler in 2019 after receiving an immense amount of backlash because of its failed attempts to showcase diversity in body types.

Even when considering Victoria's Secret's most recent implementations of diverse models, it isn't enough. It has been proven that the brand isn't evolving with society and the demands of the public when speaking of the different ranges of models they showcase.

“38% of consumers are more likely to trust brands that do well with showing diversity in their ads,” according to Forbes. And Victoria's Secret has surely taken a long time to keep up with this demand. The multi-billion dollar company is still stuck in past standards of beauty in society and still has a long way to go to prove to potential customers that they accept them and want them to feel comfortable and confident in their products.