Since the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was staged last week, the company has been faced with numerous confrontations and comments regarding the show’s lack of plus size and transgender models. As the fashion industry increasingly promotes a more diverse beauty standard, Victoria’s Secret has resisted change.
In an interview with Vogue last week, Ed Razek, Chief Marketing Officer of Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands, was asked if the brand should cater to shifting needs and desires in the marketplace. Razek has since received a lot of backlash for this response: “It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is.”
Please read this important message from Ed Razek, Chief Marketing Officer, L Brands (parent company of Victoria’s Secret). pic.twitter.com/CW8BztmOaM
— Victoria's Secret (@VictoriasSecret) November 10, 2018
Just a day after the interview was posted, Victoria’s Secret released a statement on Twitter apologizing for the comment. The tweet was from Razek and it stated, “My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show came across as insensitive. I apologize. To be clear, we absolutely would cast a trangender model for the show. We’ve had transgender models come to castings… And like many others, they didn’t make it… But it was never about gender. I admire and respect their journey to embrace who they really are.”
Razek’s comments were met with calls to boycott Victoria’s Secret for its lack of diversity and inclusion. Even Angel Kendall Jenner shaded the brand by posting an IG story of a pin that said, “Celebrate Trans Women.”
In the wake of the controversy and slumping sales, Victoria’s Secret CEO Jan Singer has resigned. No further statement was released.
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