It’s been 23 years since the world was gifted its very first Victoria’s Secret fashion show.
Since that humble runway debut in 1995, the lingerie brand’s annual fashion show has become an enormous enterprise.
We’ve watched supermodels like Tyra Banks, Helena Christensen, Gisele Bundchen and Heidi Klum walk alongside Victoria’s Secret veterans Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio, and millennials Kendall Jenner, and Bella and Gigi Hadid.
The brand has given us ridiculously big angel wings, multi-million dollar bras, celebrity performances, voluminous hair and bucket-loads of glitter. So much glitter.
But not once in the last 23 years has a model wearing lingerie tagged with a number higher than a six or an eight walked that runway.
Put simply, Victoria’s Secret has never hired a ‘plus-size’ model to represent it’s brand and Robyn Lawley has had enough.
The Aussie plus-size model (who is, mind you, a size 12) practically pushed body diversity into the mainstream fashion industry and she hasn’t stopped fighting for the cause; she’s created a petition urging people to boycott the 2018 Victoria’s Secret show.
Speaking to The Project on Wednesday night, the 29-year-old said she’s, quite frankly, over the brand failing to represent more body shapes in its marketing.
“I’m just bored, and I’m sick of seeing Victoria’s Secret the same old every single year with this one body type,” the mum-of-one said.
“It’s not what the world is, and it’s dictating that a certain body type is sexy. That’s just not true at all.
“We need diversity, I think sometimes you need to really push it, you need to do crazy things like this petition, because time’s up, I’m over it, I want to see diversity on that catwalk.”
Lawley first put size-inclusive marketing in the fashion industry when an ad she modelled for was featured in swimsuit magazine Sports Illustrated. She said the publication received so much positive feedback for featuring the ad within its pages, they realised their audience wanted more body diversity directly from the brand.
Victoria’s Secret is a brand that has been slow, reluctant, even, to include this kind of diversity in their advertising campaigns. Lawley believes if the brand can see this is what the public want through the petition, they might finally be convinced to rethink their strategy.
“People actually want to see women of this size, men and women want to see this. If [Victoria’s Secret] can conceive people going, ‘we want change’… I don’t see the problem including a size 14 or a size 16 person in the show. Or why they haven’t done it, it just doesn’t make any sense.”
Lawley launched the Change.org petition on Wednesday with an Instagram post urging her followers to get involved.
“Until Victoria’s Secret commits to representing ALL women on stage, I am calling for a complete boycott of this year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show,” she wrote.
“It’s time Victoria’s Secret recognised the buying power and influence of women of ALL ages, shapes, sizes, and ethnicities. It’s about time Victoria’s Secret celebrated the customers that fuel its bottom line.
“I have a daughter and I REFUSE to let her grow up with those limited ideals, the potential that she might not achieve in life by worrying more about fitting into this ridiculous idea that a bra size is more important than her physical and emotional health!”
Lawley isn’t the first person to publicly call for body diversity from Victoria’s Secret.
In 2017, plus-size supermodel Ashley Graham shared an image of herself with angel wings photoshopped onto her body with the caption “Got my wings! .. my #AdditionElle wings! #thickthighssavelives.”
To support Lawley in sending Victoria’s Secret a message about body positivity, sign her Change.org petition here.