Victorias Secret Fashion Show: How The Lingerie Company Forgets Lingerie Is …

Unlike the Sport’s Illustrated, “Swimsuit Edition” — which is an excuse for scantily clad women to be shot by art photographers, in some of the most stunning locations in the world, in the most innovative fashion designers’ latest work — the Victoria’s Secret annual fashion show is an excuse for scantily clad women to be on old people network, CBS, wearing a big box-retailer’s itchy Agent Provocateur knock offs.

And unlike the iconic luxury lingerie brand, whose marketing caters to women’s fantasies of feeling sensual, with product placement videos featuring self-pleasure, or even female dominance and unapologetic sexuality, the Victoria’s Secret branding is about angels. The Madonna-whore complex is the most banal of sexual complexes, where, as Freud describes, women must exist either as saints, or debased prostitutes, and serves the mixed-message, middlebrow ad campaign well.

The women are coquettish in feathered wings and garters, telegraphing to the audience that they are the ultimate stereotypical male fantasy, a fallen saint. Don’t worry, though, we can put this on TV and not call it smut because they’re angels, pure, devout, existing to serve. The hour-long special is even taking it one step further this year, with both CBS and VS donating to hurricane Sandy relief efforts as, “a thank you to the National Guard members who are based out of the Lexington Avenue Armory that has been home to the show for years.”

Although there are some female National Guard’s people, the majority who serve are men. Again, the underlying bias comes through that the company is aiming their advertising at men. While this may seem like an obvious assumption, if you stop to consider whom lingerie is for, it’s not. Men are not the primary purchasers; women are. Men don’t wear lingerie; women do. The logic would then be that women are purchasing lingerie to please men.

This is such an outdated concept, and it’s at the heart of the show and the brand. The idea that female sexuality is taboo makes lingerie buying about men. Yet, in studies of female sexuality, it’s been concluded that women are turned on by an essentially narcissistic version of erotica — by feeling themselves to be sexy, by fantasizing about themselves in sensual roles.

This year’s fantasies include, “Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio wearing the $2.5 Million Fantasy Bra made with more than 5,200 precious gems, including sapphires, rubies and diamonds, in 18-karat rose and yellow gold.” This is anecdotal, but I don’t know many women who play their lady harp while imaging being covered in heavy sharp objects. Other vignettes this year include, “Pink Is Us,” and the circus. While lion tamers may have whips, a tent that smells like manure also doesn’t factor high on the list of women’s daydreams.

While there clearly is a price point difference between high-end unmentionables like A.P. or La Perla, who clearly design with women in mind, if you want inspiration and accessories for role-playing on mall budget, try Cosabella instead.

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We Want: Fleur Du Mal

When you think of the lingerie brand Kiki de Montparnasse, you’ll inevitably stumble upon the adjectives sexy, racy – even erotic. Indeed, the brand has made a name for itself as a purveyor of revealing underpinnings and elaborate sex toys since it was established in 2005. But now, after a stint at Victoria’s Secret, its founder Jennifer Zuccarini has unveiled a new lingerie brand called Fleur du Mal, which (she’s the first to admit) is pretty different from Kiki’s saucy legacy.

“I think more now than ever before, the line between lingerie and clothing has really blurred,” Zuccarini told The Daily Beast. “I was inspired by the idea of dressing up and then undressing, and then how those two things work together—I like it as a whole.” And Fleur du Mal (which will begin with online only retail) expresses just that—it’s a collection that’s part lingerie, part ready-to-wear. There are just as many covetable skirts and delicate silk tap shorts as there are thorn-cupped bras and barely-there g-strings. A collaboration between Fleur du Mal (whose name is borrowed from Charles Baudelaire’s 1857 book of poetry, Les Fleurs du Mal) with famed French corsetry house Cadolle provides gussied-up basics for the boudoir and the street. Says Zuccarini: “I’m always thinking about how people are going to wear it.” 

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