The evening of November 29th was not like any other typical Tuesday evening, held captive in the library and toiling away to earn the prestigious piece of paper we call a Bowdoin degree. Academia was in fact one of the farthest things from my mind, as I was instead at home in bed eagerly awaiting one of my favorite events of the year: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion show.
Snuggling down in my bed I promptly turned the channel to CBS and eagerly awaited the beginning of the spectacle. As I watched the hour long show I was thoroughly entertained and left thinking mainly one thought: “I really want a fantasy bra”
However, a casual post-show FB troll left me feeling baffled. Many of my friends’ statuses betrayed feelings contrary to my enjoyment. “Tomorrow I’m going to go for a 100 mile run…with angel wings on,” one of my friends proclaimed. “Why can’t I look like Miranda Kerr” another said.
The body based negativity was not unfamiliar. Although, I too, marveled at the improbability Miranda Kerr’s post-childbirth figure, I snapped back to reality fairly quickly when I put things into perspective.
Miranda Kerr is paid millions of dollars to look the way she does– it’s literally her job to be flawless. She was probably at the gym all day, every day, after the birth of her baby because that’s her livelihood and without a great body, she could be without a job. Maybe if I got paid to workout every day, I would have a body like Miranda Kerr’s too (ok well maybe not).
Who can blame her? I’d spend all day at the gym if I knew millions of people were going to watch me walk around in my underwear. Also, while these women may be an “ideal,” they are in no way an expectation. If every woman was expected to look like a Victoria’s Secret model, there would be millions of disappointed men wandering around the world, all fighting over who gets to date Adrianna Lima. These women are undoubtedly lucky in some sense, blessed by genetics to look beautiful. They’ve become what many view as the ideal, but the point of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show isn’t to make women feel bad about themselves!
From a business viewpoint, if Victoria’s Secret made women feel bad about their bodies, then the women would never take their clothes off–so there would be no need for their underwear.
Victoria’s Secret’s goal is to make women feel sexy, whether or not they have the body of a model. Feeling beautiful and confident regardless of shape or size is the real message, or should be, of the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. As Audrey Hepburn once said, “happy girls are the prettiest.” Women who are truly confident and who love the way they look are generally the women that men find the most attractive.
So although it seems hokey to say that you too can be as sexy as a Victoria’s Secret model…with a little bit of confidence, it IS true. Loving who you are and what you look like can only help you be the best version of yourself possible (wings or not).