Welcome to Victoria's Secret, a world where girls masquerade as women, wings are merely a formality and angels fly through the sky like great soaring birds peppering the sky. It is undoubtedly fashion's most glamorous show, prestigious in it's shallowness, meticulous in it's details and spectacular in it's finality. It is a show backed by the vision of costume makers and number-crunching brilliance of marketing execs, introducing legions of young boys and girls to a land where only the most beautiful lives and others sit by as they float like untouchable trophies behind glass cases.
Do I enjoy the Victoria's Secret shows?
Absolutely. Much like last year, I will sit by with a arm load of junk food, packets of gum and a sea of bottle water, clicking and typing incessantly like dozens of other TFSers riveting with excitement.
Of course the show is shallow, yes the make-up is ridiculous, yes they slather it on with the technique of Bozo the clown, yes at various point Stam looked like a transvestite with very little chest padding but essentially, it is a show (as many have said), theatre on runway, the Superbowl of the fashion industry and much like the Superbowl, they go ALL OUT. Wether or not you dislike the extravagance of the result, you cannot deny Victoria's Secret their revenues nor the sheer amount of publicity it generates.
Now, for the important bit, a more specified detail that is almost always the sole subject of this blog. Do I like Stam in Victoria's Secret?
Once is enough for me, Stam fans have gotten their affirmation.
Victoria's Secret isn't like the casting agents of high fashion, they sought only the most aesthetically pleasing and bypass all means of uniqueness. Their selection should leave no doubt on a model's mind that, yes you have been gifted fortuitously with the fickleness of beauty. It is the most blatant way of knowing and never second guessing.
I have almost no doubt that Stam will be back for the 2007 show (though please do not quote me on this, I have no reliable source, simply intuition. If I turn out to be wrong, please don't pelt me with stones *whimpers*), the amount of screen time and promotion given to her was no coincidence. To walk the show once more is to prove that she will never be an abandoned whim.
Victoria's Secret's prestigiousness to a high fashion model is more of an honor than a model like Marissa Miller, it shows both versatility and longevity because so few nowadays are able to conquer both sides of fashion. I'm incredibly proud (despite the amount of times I have/had/will scorn VS in the past/present/future) that Jessica was part of it. However, if she ever becomes a staple on that runway, I might be forced to tear my hair out and scream bloody murder.
Walk VS but with discretion because working too much for that company turns you into an object and it is not a woman's job to appear solely as an item pertaining to sex.
On a lighter (and much less dramatic note) note.
Do I enjoy the Victoria's Secret shows?
Absolutely. Much like last year, I will sit by with a arm load of junk food, packets of gum and a sea of bottle water, clicking and typing incessantly like dozens of other TFSers riveting with excitement.
Of course the show is shallow, yes the make-up is ridiculous, yes they slather it on with the technique of Bozo the clown, yes at various point Stam looked like a transvestite with very little chest padding but essentially, it is a show (as many have said), theatre on runway, the Superbowl of the fashion industry and much like the Superbowl, they go ALL OUT. Wether or not you dislike the extravagance of the result, you cannot deny Victoria's Secret their revenues nor the sheer amount of publicity it generates.
Now, for the important bit, a more specified detail that is almost always the sole subject of this blog. Do I like Stam in Victoria's Secret?
No.
I like the idea more than the reality.
Once is enough for me, Stam fans have gotten their affirmation.
Jessica is a pretty girl.
She is no longer Meisel's girl, no longer the girl who reaches for the hair dye every season, the girl who goofs for the camera and offers you coffee, she is past the stage where to be unique is to be noticed.
Victoria's Secret isn't like the casting agents of high fashion, they sought only the most aesthetically pleasing and bypass all means of uniqueness. Their selection should leave no doubt on a model's mind that, yes you have been gifted fortuitously with the fickleness of beauty. It is the most blatant way of knowing and never second guessing.
I have almost no doubt that Stam will be back for the 2007 show (though please do not quote me on this, I have no reliable source, simply intuition. If I turn out to be wrong, please don't pelt me with stones *whimpers*), the amount of screen time and promotion given to her was no coincidence. To walk the show once more is to prove that she will never be an abandoned whim.
Victoria's Secret's prestigiousness to a high fashion model is more of an honor than a model like Marissa Miller, it shows both versatility and longevity because so few nowadays are able to conquer both sides of fashion. I'm incredibly proud (despite the amount of times I have/had/will scorn VS in the past/present/future) that Jessica was part of it. However, if she ever becomes a staple on that runway, I might be forced to tear my hair out and scream bloody murder.
Walk VS but with discretion because working too much for that company turns you into an object and it is not a woman's job to appear solely as an item pertaining to sex.
13 comments:
hmm I can think of nothing to add :|
how can this beeeee? noooooooo *flings self off cliff*
I will come up with something to say if it kills me XD
NOOOOOO
This was the rough draft.
*dies*
I feel as thought it's crappy *whimpers*
noooo it's not bad, though there was one line I was a bit confused at b/c I think you forgot a word but you fixed it I see, so now there's no problem!
hmm I've thought of something to say! OK it pertains to your last line: "working too much for that company turns you into an object and it is not a woman's job to appear solely as an item pertaining to sex." I agree. My only problem, and one I've always had with fashion, and one of the reasons I try not to get *too* preachy about VS (though I fail miserably, I know) is that I'm not entirely convinced that fashion is that much better. It's like OK, VS turns you into an object for the purpose of selling sex(y undies). And fashion? Well they turn women into the objects for the sake of selling clothes. Women become the proverbial coat hanger. Even with editorials, which can be artsier and have some meaning derived from them (unlike fashion shows which are much less successful at this imo), I feel that ultimately, the goal is to sell a product: the clothes. Women are LOOKED at, the way they've always been looked at and the way it seems they will always be looked at unless society is completely obliterated and we start over haha. They're scrutinized. Painfully so and much more so than men despite fashion making some feeble attempts to make men's fashion interesting. I fear the main reason that men's fashion sucks (haha yeah SUCKS) is that men have not historically had their looks count/matter as much as women have. And so menswear designers are at a loss at how to come up with interesting and marketable designs.
Now I cannot say that I have not partaken in the looking, that I don't to some extent buy into this construction, that I don't get on my high horse with VS as well...because I do. It's just...idk...idk actually what the hell the point of this whole comment was because I do like fashion, obviously. I waste a great deal of time and energy on it. But I'm always conflicted to some extent b/c I think fashion has a lot of problems and can be quite sexist XD
/end ranty feminist moment
No, any rant like that is surely appreciated by me.
See, the thing is that I know that maybe fashion is no better. Fashion is one part art and one part commerce. You can't have one without the other, you can't create masterpieces without financial backing. And you can't have financial backing without the marketability.
I do think high fashion is somewhat better than VS (of course lol) because while they are both in it to make money, high fashion's gains is not to make you look at the girls but the clothes.
Thus, there is much less sex involved. Victoria's Secret is always about sex. Yes, it is somewhat discrete but their financial incentive is constantly backed by the idea of 'sex'
To send these young girls walking down the runway with a HUGE 'SEXY' theme in the back from ala 2006 is honestly, just too much for me....honestly, I was excited to see Jessica in the VS show. There is no doubt that:
The biggest show on earth + your favourite model = SQUEE
However, the moment I saw Stam strut down the runway in pom poms and that idiotic silver poof prop in the Sexy theme, I felt terribly ashamed and a bit sad that they made her look like such a fool.
Gorgeous or not, she looked like a damned idiot. VS wants you to look at the girls, the girls are translated into sex.
Sex sells.
High fashion wants hangers to make their clothes look good. The clothes look good, the clothes sell.
Both sides of the industry, all in it for the money, exploiting young girls in different ways for similar gains.
I could go on another long rant about sexualization of girls and women, but I think you said it quite well actually ^_^ I have no positive feelings toward VS other than I do actually love their bras and panties haha. But the way they choose to market them, I hate. And like yeah, I get that underthings, because they are so revealing, are going to be inevitably tied to sex but the constant focus on sex is irritating. And the fact that they are pandering to the stereotypical heterosexual male is even more frustrating. There are at least 100 ways to be sexy, and yet VS chooses to follow one path of sexy, the most obvious, imo the one that is often the most degrading. One of the reasons (I feel) Jessica looks like a complete buffoon is that instead of allowing her to be sexy in her own way, she is instead required to prance down one very narrow avenue of sexiness that doesn't particularly suit her. Can Stam be sexy? Of course. But looking like a blonde ditzy cheerleader shaking the pom-poms God didn't give her? Not so much. XD
and one part art, one part commerce...exemplified by our favorite pic spot: art & commerce XD
I swear to god, that webpage was named by a very perspective person as IMG LOL.
Oh yes. I do understand that VS does need to sex things up a bit because they do sell underwear (oh god, I love their pink line and I'm so ashamed) but like you said, undergarments don't need to resort to sex. It can also be about comfort and 'sexiness' can always be done in a more discrete way.
Victoria's Secret shows are used as a marketing tool towards straight men and young women. The men perceive what VS tells them to be 'sexy' while the women responds by purchasing more of their products. It's a never ending cycle, solely based on our humanistic need to please/be pleased.
The others are made up of people like us, we don't wish to become the models but we will judge them from an analytical point of view.
I would love to say that their advertising never gets to me but unfortunately, that would be a damned lie.
Jessica is beautiful but she is 'sexiest' when she's wearing less make-up and a T-shirt. However, Victoria's Secret follows a one-trick schematic that is sure to please the general public. I think it has been noted several time on TFS. Big hair, lots of make-up, winking and smiling.
I am an advocate of Stam gaining exposure but the difference between VSFW 2003 and VSFW 2005+2006 is quite large.
VSFW 2003 was extravagant in a fun way. VSFW 2005 was when I felt it was all starting to turn. They sent Doutzen on sucking on a lollipop, Adriana had child-like, teddy-bear print on ger underwear which they CLEARLY showed as she was walking away.
Last year, the whole Pink theme screamed of pedophilia and their promotion of Justin Timberlake's later album entwined with their own idea of sex was fucked up.
Oh my god, the rant. THE RANT.
VS is fun, is spectacular but only if you don't think about the subtext because once you do, it will honestly mess you up because there is just so many things wrong about the way that company does things.
You make a great point about the distinction btwn 2003 and 2005 onward. I actually didn't quite like the 2003 show either. I did, however, like 2002 - I think they had a gospel choir at the end? I vaguely remember Adriana closing the show and being overall satisfied with the whole thing. Perhaps though I am imagining the gospel choir LOL. Anyway! Even though I wasn't crazy about 2003, it didn't stop me from checking out the 2005 show. The 2005 show, however, did sicken me and I refused to watch the 2006 show as a result, so obviously they crossed a line somewhere. I've never really been able to figure out where the line was crossed, so THANK YOU for showing me the light! hahaha. The lollipop seriously was too much for me. OHNOTHEYDIDNOTGOTHERE is probably what I thought at the time. I thought not only was it incredibly obvious (something I'm rather averse to, sometimes to the point of being prudish, I will admit) but Doutzen looked absolutely ridiculous. Everyone thought she looked amazing. I honestly thought she looked like a dumbass, and as one of my faves at the time, I was really pissed off and disappointed. There's this whole twisted "be an adult, but be a little girl" thing going on with the last couple of VS shows that I don't remember being present (or as dominant) in the first few televised shows. But the candy theme, the cheerleader crap, the teddy bears on Adriana's butt that I mercifully don't remember, etc. I mean are these supposed to be sexy women or sexy girls? :|
omg we're like locked in VS rant mode now...this is great XD We could be here til we're little old biddies analyzing the subtext.
VS is a passionate subject for the both of us. Tons of pros and cons to the show, hard to maintain a sense of even-ness.
Hate it or love it, I would still watch it ^_^
I don't understand why they took it up a notch in 2005. 2003 was a similar format only not as outrageous. This only cements my increasing belief that VS is choosing to portray sex in a sleazier and sleazier manner all for the enjoyment of the general public.
This is all getting a bit too gratuitous for my liking. And no, you did not imagine that chorus. I like 2002 very much. There was a point where I felt VS was very classy.
That opinion's obviously changed now. Their insane Pink promotion should have never been intertwined with their promotion of their mainline. Now we have a child/woman hybrid that is creepy as f*ck.
Children should be children.
Women should be women.
In our society, somehow we're told that not only is criss crossing boundaries okay, that it is acceptable.
I cannot fathom the idea of a grown woman wearing friggin teddy bear lingerie while a 14 year old girl tries to impress boys with clingy underwear and low cut tops. I have seen both ends of the spectrum and it is just wrong.
I know Vs should be seen as a lot of fun and it's subtext be overlooked but it's impact on society and the way women perceive themselves is quite distrubing.
*throws in the towel on account of I have nothing to add but agree very much*
:D :P
Finishing off with an even 10 :D
WHEW
Yaaaay, junk foood and lots of chatting! I am so looking forward to the screen night :D
And I have nothing to add about Stam. I do not want her to be there, but I am pretty sure that she will - same reasons you mentioned ;)
Well. Have a nice day :)
Victoria's Secret Shows are always spectacular! And Stam has a fabulous body! Brawn, and not skinny like Snejana Onopka, Magdalena Krackowiak and others in podiums who are scrawny!
Lets see caroline t is the ugliest girl ever and she got cast ,it is about the body and attitude. Jessica is an average looking girl and pretty with make up , this is the truth.
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