With Sofía Jirau from Puerto Rico, the aging lingerie label “Victoria’s Secret” presents the first model with Down syndrome. What do you want to do with it?
What do you think of when you think of “Victoria’s Secret”? Well, if you still remember the name at all. After all, he comes from a time when so-called supermodels strutted down the catwalks and provided completely unrealistic ideals of beauty long before Instagram * and TikTok *, reports buzzfeed.at *.
And that’s where Victoria’s Secret comes in, a lingerie label that liked to show its collections on tall, willowy women. Top models like Heidi Klum* or Giselle Bundchen finally became superstars as “Angels”, as the models posing for the underwear brand are called. Today, Adriana Lima, Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber and Taylor Hill “walk” for the brand.
The understanding of diversity is not particularly pronounced at “Victoria’s Angels”.
It is true that “Victoria’s Secret” soon sent young women from all corners of the world down the catwalk, be it Asia, Africa, South America or the USA and Europe. Still, the models stayed tall and thin. Now, of course, I would like to write: Until now. But again, it’s not that simple.
The understanding of diversity does not seem particularly pronounced. Because “Victoria’s Secret” initially needed until 2021 to also book models who look “completely normal”, i.e. from all weight classes, in all heights, with all skin types. However , not for the main line, models are still used here who meet the requirements of the industry as far as their bodies are concerned. The woman next door does not show fine lingerie, but comfortable underwear for every day. “Love Cloud” is the name of the line presented by 18 women.
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One in particular stands out, 25-year-old Sofía Jirau from Puerto Rico. She has Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21. A genetic defect that you can usually see right away, which can vary in severity. People with Down syndrome become visible in public, if at all, mostly in sentimental films of their “fate”. Sofía Jirau, however, has been modeling for three years, she made her debut at New York Fashion Week, runs her own online shop and has hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram. The fact that she is one of the new faces for “Victoria’s Secret” obviously speaks for her and is a big career step. In principle, I think that’s great for Sofía Jirau.
“Victoria’s Secret” runs “Diversity Washing” with great fanfare
But, and now a big “BUT”: “Victoria’s Secret” apparently wears the cloak of diversity here. I think that “diversity washing” is being carried out here with great fanfare, i.e. similar to “green washing”, when companies that pollute the air give themselves an environmentally friendly coat of paint. “Victoria’s Secret” tries to get away from its image of only presenting underwear for willowy women, but it’s quite clumsy.
“Living diversity as an approach does not mean showing a model with a disability. This would only be ‘diversity washing’,” explains Martin Ladstätter from the association BIZEPS – Center for Self-Determined Living, which also runs a counseling center for people with disabilities and their relatives in Vienna to BuzzFeed Austria. “What it takes is staying on top of the issue. Turning a one-off event into a regular routine. It is also necessary to rethink corporate structures and select employees heterogeneously. You have to implement the diversity approach in a credible way in order not to have any credibility problems.”
Victoria’s Secret has a credibility problem
And that’s exactly what “Victoria’s Secret” has: a credibility problem. Making sexy lingerie and booking the model with Down syndrome for the line with the comfortable pieces leaves a stale aftertaste. At best, it’s a classic case of “well intentioned is the opposite of good”. At worst, it’s calculation. Both are not exactly easy. In any case, I wish Sofía Jirau a great and long career and that her dream of becoming an actress will come true. In her native Puerto Rico she is already a small star. *buzzfeed.at is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
