Who really is Victoria and how does she make her models look so great? Everyone wants to look like those Victoria’s Secret Angels, so how can we? Well the answer is, we don’t. While those women look AMAZING and absolutely make me regret eating that carton of ice cream, we do not need to look like them. So I want to start this by saying, we were each given our own bodies and body types for a reason, and that reason was to love who we are unconditionally and unapologetically. No matter size, color, height, you name it. WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL.
I didn’t write this with intentions to bash any of the women who modeled for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. I write this to discuss the unrealistic beauty standards that society has set up for women.
I am not the skinniest person. As my grandmother would say, I “have more to love”. I have never been and never will be a tall, perfectly toned, thin woman who has time to exercise three hours a day, have my meals monitored and prepped, and be idolized by men and women alike. I am a 5’3”, pale, curvy girl who loves carbs and ice cream, barely has time to cook a decent meal and the only exercise I get is running around like the stressed college student I am. And I’m okay with that.
For the longest time, we believed that we were supposed to look a certain way. We were supposed to look up to the women that would get up on a stage and walk down the runway looking flawless and toned in their bedazzled underwear and bras. Men FAWN over these women, so we should look like them right? Social media is flooded with, “those Angels are so hot”, “I wish I looked like them”, “I wished my girlfriend would dress/look like that”, “they are the epitome of perfection and beauty”. No.
While they are all very beautiful woman, they are not the standard to which we should value our own beauty. The purpose they serve to model Victoria’s Secret is done very well, except for one thing -they don’t have models of all body types. The overall feel of the show leaves any woman with a self-image issue feeling like they are not good enough. The VS Fashion Show, to some, is a reminder that they will never be skinny enough, tall enough, toned enough, or have perfect skin and hair. No one should ever feel like that.
With social media creating a never ending doorway of criticism, it is harder and harder for women to accept the bodies they were given. The term “plus-size” model has been thrown into campaigns and fashion shows to create diversity of body types, but the term “plus-size” shouldn’t be a real term. It is degrading and doesn’t even match up. What a modeling agency sees as “plus-size”, many of us would see as healthy or normal. So where does that leave the woman who are curvier than that “plus-size” model? It leaves us thinking that we are even worse off in today’s society of beauty standards.
We need to work harder to redefine beauty standards to ensure that our nieces, daughters, sisters and friends are constantly reminded that they ARE beautiful, no matter what they look like. Our body types do not define who we are. We are not skinny. We are not fat. We are people and we are all beautiful.