Hi Victoria's Secret, it's me, Jasmine. I have been a long time fan of your work, from your perfumes to your fashion shows. You see, I never really had a problem with you, even though I know that it takes 40c to produce a VS bra and that you are ripping us all off. My main concern, however, is your models and angels. It has gotten to a point where I can no longer tolerate your lack of diversity, so here is an open letter to you.
Let's get to it:
Remember the good old days of Laetitia Casta, Tyra Banks, Helena Christensen and Stephanie Seymour? They had curves in all the right places and faces that made me gawk at them in awe. They were intimidatingly beautiful and inhumanly perfect. They were angels, in every sense of the word. Those models were unattainable and put on a pedestal that the commoners could never reach. We looked at them with so much admiration that we felt ashamed of who we were. They brought forth the image of perfection but still held that demure charm that we all loved.
Then came the next generation of angels; Adriana Lima, Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio, Karolina Kurkova, Selita Ebanks, Heidi Klum and Gisele Bundchen. They were my favorite bunch because they all had such great chemistry together. They still retained that unattainable beauty that the previous generation encapsulated, and even brought their own twist to it. We were enamoured by their charm, and this was perhaps the epitome of Victoria's Secret.
The angels of today are loved by many, but not all. With top contenders such as Candice Swanepoel, Doutzen Kroes and Behati Prinsloo raking in all the fans, none are given to the new models. The sudden influx of VS faces proved to be disheartening. They were ordinary; women you could find in clubs, on the streets, or in an office building. Women who you could find frolicking in beaches. Women who held the same charm as the average Jane Doe. They are not angels, they are mere mortals. VS has taken the Girl Next Door look to a whole new level by almost exclusively selecting blonde-haired women who could easily model for a local bikini store. Elsa Hosk, Marloes Horst and Nadine Leopold were recently featured on your YouTube channel; they looked gorgeous, but bland. They brought VS nothing but homogeneity. Which made me realize how much VS has lowered its standards. Sure, they are more down to earth and (arguably) more approachable to the common woman, but that isn't what VS is about. I see typically pretty blondes on the way to uni everyday, and VS models are losing their appeal.
I understand why VS wasn't big on diversity back in the late 90's. Sure, there were a few African-Americans peppered in the lineup and a total of three Asian women in the history of the fashion show (Liu Wen, Shu Pei and Sui He), but VS has always been predominantly white. Currently, VS has been stocking up on the blondes so much that they have lost their exclusivity. They no longer provide angels but humans. VS has gone downhill, and I think I know how to push it back up to its former glory.
Take out the blonde models. Take out the ivory-skinned women. Put in those with coffee-colored skin. Those with Arabian blood. Those from the Orient. VS is no longer the small American brand it once was. It is a global market for a global audience. We cannot live off of blonde-haired blue-eyed women for the next ten years, and neither can VS. If you don't step up your game and replace the ordinary with diversity, then you will become nothing more than a has-been. Your previous angels brought VS to the forefront, now it's time to keep that image. Put the angels back up on a pedestal and paint her wings brown, black and yellow. There is nothing more uninteresting than seeing one standard of beauty being enforced on 7 billion people. You do not need to create a body positive movement akin to Dove Real Beauty, because it is extremely unlikely that you will add a plus-sized model on your catwalk. However, diversity will help, not just with your image, but for the rest of us.
VS, I hope you heed my advice because I know many who feel the same way. Your angels need to be angels, not humans, and your models need a little spice. Vanilla is delicious, but sprinkles and swirls add flavor. I look forward to seeing new (and colorful) faces added to your arsenal.
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