The Official Victoria's Secret Thread

[Nazara]

Well, I know that being proud of ignorance is one of the core issues of the western society.

So, merely heterosexual males can have an opinion about the appearance of a woman?

What makes their opinion better than the opinion of others?

And what about lesbians? Or Bisexuals?

And "most of them"? So you asked ~ 3,5 billion males on this earth what they think about Barbara and the other angels?

Or isn't it more likeable that "most of them" is simply your subjective and limited perception?

Read the second part of my comment (I edit it).

PS: western society is dying(rate of reproduction), but imho this is offtopic.

+ men likes curves.

I don't know why you're arguing with Kant now because it just weakens your former statements.

Kant said that we don't need to be interested in the object to consider it beautiful. (That's where his famous sentence "interessenloses Wohlgefallen" comes from... Don't know the English equivalent, but maybe some of you recognize it)

So, this makes your point that only heterosexual males could make the best jugdes on a woman's beauty invalid since sex and gender imply a certain interest.

[Prettyphile]

Backlash Mounts Against Victoria's Secret's “Sexy” Teen Underwear Line

This is a promotion for Victoria's Secret Pink's "Bright Young Things" underwear and apparel line, aimed at teen girls.

Victoria's Secret's growing Pink line is aimed at a younger audience than the main Victoria's Secret brand. Over the past several years, the brand has expanded Pink a lot, so the line is now sold in dedicated Pink stores and showcased in a special segment of the annual nationally broadcast Victoria's Secret fashion show. Business Insider reported earlier this month that a Limited Brands executive confirmed the "Bright Young Things" line was for even younger girls than the main Pink line, which targets college students:

"When somebody's 15 or 16 years old, what do they want to be?" Chief Financial Officer Stuart Burgdoerfer said at a conference. "They want to be older, and they want to be cool like the girl in college, and that's part of the magic of what we do at Pink."

Now, Victoria's Secret's Facebook page is overflowing with angry messages about the line, and pledges to boycott the brand.

And an online petition asks the brand's CEO to stop "portraying teens as sexual objects."

The letter on ForceChange.org that you can sign reads:

Dear Ms. Lori Greeley, CEO of Victoria's Secret,

You recently launched your new line of swimsuits and lingerie for Spring Break. This line is part of your Pink collection and is geared towards a younger teen audience. The advertisements on your website feature younger looking teen models who are scantily clad and provocatively posed and the slogan, 'Bright Young Things.' By choosing to target teenagers with your new line, you are condoning teen sexuality and portraying teens as sexual objects.

Your slogan refers to young women as 'things,' rather than many more appropriate alternatives. This slogan coupled with the provocative ads used to launch your new line indicates that you are using the sexual appeal and objectification of teens in order to sell products. Teen girls are already bombarded by images in the media, which focus on the importance of beauty and sexuality for women. Your recent advertisements reinforce the idea that young women are only valued for their beauty and bodies, rather than for their intelligence, creativity, or ideas. Further, by targeting such a young demographic, your company is sending the message that it is acceptable for teens to become sexual at an earlier age.

Please reconsider your ad campaign for your new Spring Break line and stop targeting teen girls for lingerie.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

But Victoria's Secret is just one of many brands sexualizing girls under the age of 18.

Many fashion models start working before the age of 18 — some as young as 14. The problem has become so worrisome that designers at New York Fashion Week ask for ID to ensure the models they hire are at least 16 years old. Not even 18, but 16. Once cast for a show, a model might very well be asked to wear a sexy outfit or a sheer top without a bra, leaving her breasts on display. And sometimes, runway work gets even racier: for Marc Jacobs's fall 2013 show, 18-year-old model Lily McMenamy walked the runway completely topless. If a model lies about her age — and some of them do — a designer could end up unwittingly casting an underage girl for a very adult job.

And still models who are 14 or 15 land major shows, fashion magazine editorials and campaigns. Just look at supermodel Lindsey Wixson, who started modeling at the age of 12, and ended up in a Miu Miu campaign when she was just 15. A press release about the ad perfectly embodied the fashion industry's perplexing view of youth, calling Wixson the "embodiment of a free-spirit on the cusp of womanhood." Womanhood? At 15?

Of course there is a difference between using young models to sell sexy clothes to adult women and using young models to sell sexy clothes to middle and high schoolers, as Victoria's Secret is doing, but both practices are troubling. Brands only benefit from hooking very young customers, who will loyally buy a brand's products throughout their lives, and Victoria's Secret is hardly the only company who knows this. From a young age, women are taught by the media and fashion industries that they should buy all the right things to make them hot and sexy and young-looking forever. If they aren't looking at "sexy" ads targeting them directly, they might be seeing sexualized teen pop stars or pregnant teenagers on MTV, or sexy billboard ads and fashion magazine images targeted to their big sisters.

Victoria's Secret will have to — and should — respond in a significant way to dampen the very viral backlash against the "Bright Young Things" line. But everyone angry about that should also take some time to reflect on the messages young women get about commercialized sexiness from the media and fashion industries at large. Victoria's Secret made a big mistake, but they aren't the problem — they're merely a symptom of it.

[Sanni]

Wow... When I was a "bright young thing", I learned about Victoria's Secret by seeing shows like 2005 and that Victoria's Secret piqued my interest. I shudder to think what VS will become after this. The Pink section during VSFS is already childish enough.

[hullay]

I thought the Pink line was for both teens and college students?

[katchitup]

^Yeah I always got the view that pink was aimed at older teens/young adults. But VS isn't that bad....IMO. Forever 21, H&M, and Nasty gal are all aimed towards teenage girls/young adults, and some of their clothing is slutty as all get out sooo...

I don't care. I'm still young and I freaking love Pink so whatevs

[Souled-Out]

I don't think its as serious as people make it or maybe I just don't care as much. But I do think VS is like indirectly getting a younger audience

I'm I the only one who think lilly is really growing and that she is going to get big later on

[katchitup]

^I really don't like her or nor her look really. Oddly though her VS pics always turn out to be one of the best for me!! She always shows alot of personality/shines well through photography

[Prettyphile]

No the line originally started off as a college line (18-24 year old's).

What is the issue is is that a Chief Officer has openly admitted to targeting 15-16 year old's. Once they go down that road who's to stop them from targeting 10-14 year old's? Parents (bad parents at that) will buy it for their kids and vs knows this. VS is sitting on a cash cow as soon as they get to the preteen/tween ages.. sell sell sell right?

Pandora's box is open, and it's only a matter of time before things get even skeazier.

It's kinda like men/women who enjoy the younger girls/boys. Most people who are adults don't have the balls to openly say "Yeah I'd fuck a 15-16 year old" even though we all know they're into it. As a result society turns a blind eye to those people and we secretly hope they never act upon it.

Now when said person openly comes out and admits to being into kids, people tend to respond with less favor even though we all knew they liked younger kids/teens in the first place (There's a reason teen porn is big thing)

VS shouldn't of said it. You keep the dirty little secret hush hush.

[saudade]

They've been making it painfully obvious that they're targeting younger teens and preteens with their latest outfits in the PINK section of the show.

[Baby.Jude9]

The thing that really gets me curious about all of this is why even bother to launch the collection all together? I will openly admit that I have been buying VS brand bras and underwear since I was about 13-14 years old and not because wearing it makes me feel like a "mature, sexy, empowered woman" but because, quite frankly, their clothes fit me and are comfortable. And c'mon, perhaps this is feeding a little bit into VS's "sexualizing of prepubescent girls" thing, but what female in general doesn't feel awesome wearing a neon colored bra or a bright colored pair of underwear with a funny saying on the butt? If I tell you, whenever I go into the Victoria's Secret store at the mall, the majority of customers in there aren't adult females "searching to release their inner sexual beast with some lingerie", but mostly teenage girls and their friends ripping apart the underwear carousel because VS sends its customers new vouchers for a free pair of panties every other hour and a half. That or mothers and their teenage daughters doing some "mother-daughter-onding-shopping" or something.

I'm no economist or business major here, but I feel like, especially in recent years, VS has moved away from the "practicality" of their lingerie and towards the "marketability" of their products, meaning that, while their bras may not be the most comfortable or best fitting, they're colorful and fancy and elaborate and will appeal to the consumer, particularly in this sense, to the younger consumer. If you're looking for a really, REALLY great bra, try some place like Macy's or Soma (No, seriously, try Soma; their shit is incredible). If you're looking for a bra that looks pretty so that when you're out to lunch with your girlfriends you can discretely pull out your bra strap and say "Hey, look at how pretty my bra is today!", try VS. Granted, though, I'm just a young adult myself, so if anybody "older" would care to elaborate or shine some light on the situation I would really appreciate it.

Basically, VS must know already that they're attracting the high school aged demographic without even trying, so, why bother making an uppity about it and explicitly stating it?

[Savanna]

How sad. :-( And I don't know if this has been said as I have thoroughly enjoyed happy hour, but Imtimissimi does have great pics, video, and model choices, I agree!, but they don't even compare to VS in terms of exposure. Therefore VS > Intimissimi. Even though they could learn a thing or two from them. Who shoots Intimissimi by the way?

Also, I like how Sara didn't get cast for the show when Adriana was coming back (Sara seemed very sad too) and now Barbara stops working when she's shooting again.

[Clauds]

I'm with Baby.Jude, I've been using VS stuff since i was 13-14 because it's cute (or used to be anyway), it's comfortable & that's about it

I'd like to remind the bunch of idiots realizing now that VS is targeting younger girls that fucking Justin Bieber (a.k.a the King of tweens) was a guest at the VSFS last year, which was obviously an attempt to target tweens with shitty taste in music, so this ship sailed looooong ago. I don't know what's more stupid/ridiculous: VS openly admitting they target 16 years old or the parents complaining about it when they are the ones who buy stuff for their daughters

[Prettyphile]

The interesting thing is that VS started out as a company for adults (woman in the early stages, and within a few years men).

25+ years olds, and the models reflected that image. Daniela P, Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Adriana Karembeu. The bra's weren't half bad, nothing looked super cheap and they actually managed to sell to the adult crowd.

Then came to early 2000's, VS changed hands and they created a College line PINK. This was to cater to the youthful adult crowd 18-24 years of age . . . and their models also changed and began to look younger then the previous generations. (ect) Adriana, Casta, Ale.

(goodbye 25+ year old crowd)

Now we're seeing models who barely look 16 modeling lines for them, and PINK is dropping to the 14-16 demographic openly?

PINK VSFS - Teens wet dream (JB preforming.... the bright lights, the cutsie factor, the neon colors)

I'm telling you the minute VS puts up a training bra that adds a cup size I'm done.

[Baby.Jude9]

^ PINK already has push-up bras sized 30 A and 32 AA, which is basically the same thing.

Also, take into account that PINK bras tend to run small anyway, meaning that if you're a size B in a regular VS bra, you'll probably have to buy a size C at PINK. Believe me, I've seen those AA bras before... They're training bras.

[Prettyphile]

Seriously?

See I have no idea. I haven't bought anything from VS in about 16 years.

[Baby.Jude9]

I'll keep shopping there so long as they keep sending me vouchers for free pairs of underwear.

[Prettyphile]

omfg people are PISSED on facebook

Angie Brownposted toVictoria's Secret

27 minutes ago

I am disgusted by the "Bright Young Things" line. This line needs to be pulled immediately. This line is putting our children in danger of being exploited. I will be boycotting Victoria Secret based on the decision to run this line and I will also be telling as many people as I can to do the same. Grow up and take some responsibility for objectifying our children.

Grant Andersonposted toVictoria's Secret

43 minutes ago

Shame on you. How can you be so poorly managed that no one at the corporate level saw that this new line would be a very bad decision? You deserve to lose a lot of business for your poor judgement.

Dan Soleauposted toVictoria's Secret

44 minutes ago near Boston, MA

take some responsibility. how about talking about all the non-profit empowering groups your company supports?

Michelle Nobleposted toVictoria's Secret

about an hour ago near Calgary, Alberta

If my 11 year old daughter asked for panties that say call me I say no. I also tell her why they are not appropriate for her age and I empower her by having a conversation about why they are inappropriate and how they might be perceived. By the way PINK was around with thier sassy sayings when my daughter was 14,and we did have this conversation. Today she is a confident, intelligent young women who respects herself despite being exposed to underwear with cheeky sayings on them.

Betsee Thompsonposted toVictoria's Secret

about an hour ago

Please please please do not sell sexy underwear to middle-school-aged children!!! How do you NOT see that this is a bad idea? What is the message you're trying to send? A thong that says "Call me" on the front??? Seriously?

Jessica Christineposted toVictoria's Secret

2 hours ago

Your Bright Young Thing line is horrifying. I am absolutely appalled at your shameless sexualization of our girls. A "Call Me" thong for an 11 year old? Seriously? Pedophiles must love you. This does not take too many brain cells to realize.

Danae Harrisposted toVictoria's Secret2 hours ago

Victoria's Secret: I'm not persuaded by your weak statement. Please address:

1) The use of "Bright Young Things" as a marketing slogan when it clearly refers to young women as "things."

2) Why CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer specifically named "15- and 16-year olds" as the target demographic for the Bright Young Things collection? If he was wrong (and I'm sure he wasn't) he and your company should apologize publicly for that statement.

3) Your company's stance that phrases like "Call Me," "Feeling Lucky?" and "I Dare You" emblazoned on panties are acceptable. Consider the Steubenville rapes in your answer.

Your defense does not address these very critical issues. We are not fools.

Go take a look and the rage: https://www.facebook...434582&filter=2

[Clauds]

@BabyJude Aerie has those too girl, and their stuff is better AND it doesn't have the horrid patterns and useless lace/blink. The cupons i mean

AND VS says we're all wrong about middle-school girls

Victoria's Secret 'Bright Young Things' Slogan Has Parents Upset (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

The Huffington Post | By Ellie Krupnick

Posted: 03/25/2013 4:22 pm EDT | Updated: 03/25/2013 4:32 pm EDT

FOLLOW: Video, Victoria's Secret, Tween Lingerie Line, Victoria Secret, Victoria Secret Pink, Victoria's Secret Bright Young Things, Victoria's Secret Controversy, Victoria's Secret Tweens, Victorias Secret PINK, Style News

Parents -- specifically parents with blogs -- are in a tizzy over Victoria's Secret's alleged new "tween line" aimed at young girls.

News starting circulating over the past few weeks that the lingerie mega-store was expanding its offerings with a line called Bright Young Things, a collection that would target the tween demographic supposedly worth "$335 billion of spending power," according to retail analyst Hitha Prabhakar.

The news sparked inevitable uproar from parents like Evan Dolive, who penned an open letter to Victoria's Secret on his personal blog. "I don’t want my daughter to ever think that to be popular or even attractive she has to have emblazon words on her bottom," he wrote. Another blogger echoed the senimtent, writing that Bright Young Things "furthers a trend of sexualizing girls younger and younger." The Victoria's Secret Facebook page started overflowing with angry comments.

But is Victoria's Secret really coming for your 12-year-old? Click over to VictoriasSecret.com and you'll find no sign of a separate Bright Young Things collection. It appears that Bright Young Things is a new Spring Break-themed tagline for PINK, Victoria's Secret's more youthful counterpart.

The lingerie brand founded PINK, its younger spin-off, in 2002 with the explicit aim of targeting 15-to-22 year olds. The brightly colored sweats, bras, tank tops and undies have proven immensely popular among the high school set, but often for even younger girls in middle school too.

But there is no plan to target middle schoolers explicitly, as Bright Young Things is not a new collection as reported. A PINK spokesperson told us:

In response to questions we recently received, Victoria’s Secret PINK is a brand for college-aged women.

Despite recent rumors, we have no plans to introduce a collection for younger women. "Bright Young Things" was a slogan used in conjunction with the college spring break tradition.

Victoria's Secret has not, then, adopted a new policy to target younger girls than it already does. But that doesn't change the fact that PINK has and continues to target teens, whose preferences tend to rub off on tweens. It also doesn't change the fact that PINK's offerings for spring 2013 include underwear with the word "Wild" across the butt and a beach towel with the phrase "Kiss Me."

And it is those kind of saucy messages that have parents' panties in a twist, so to speak. And it's not nearly the first time Victoria's Secret has angered its customers with some controversial products (see here, here and here).

Do you think PINK needs to change their approach and tone down the cheeky teen messaging, or are parents overreacting?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/25/victorias-secret-bright-young-things_n_2950691.html#slide=1263570

[Baby.Jude9]

Michelle Nobleposted toVictoria's Secret

about an hour ago near Calgary, Alberta

By the way PINK was around with thier sassy sayings when my daughter was 14,and we did have this conversation. Today she is a confident, intelligent young women who respects herself despite being exposed to underwear with cheeky sayings on them.

"Michelle Noble, why?" I say. "Michelle Noble, why weren't you my mother? Why weren't you there to have this conversation with me when I was 14? I was exposed to underwear with cheeky saying with them, but I did not turn into a confident intelligent young women. Why weren't you there for me?" Michelle Noble of Calgary, Alberta has shown me the light. I'm a young women pursuing a university level education in the field science and history, however, we never had this conversation and I was exposed and dragged in by the underwear with the cheeky sayings on them, ergo, by default, I am not a confident, intelligent young woman, but a shallow, ignorant wench. I wallow in my provocative and uncontrolled feminine shame as I wait for Norman Reedus to impregnate me through my television with his virile portrayal of Daryl Dixon while starting my 12th episode of The Walking Dead today. I cannot be tamed. VS has obviously corrupted me. "WHY?"

(God, all this drama is so much, I really need to start coming back to BZ more often )

[Clauds]

I blame all the disgraces in my life on my mother for letting me use VS underwear at age 14