VICTORIA’S Secret (VS) has finally hired its first plus-size model. Ali Tate Cutler, a size-14 model, will join the brand’s coveted cult of Victoria’s Secret Angels and will also star in the new Bluebella x Victoria’s Secret campaign. The announcement comes after a series of controversies that earned the brand a reputation for being fatphobic and transphobic, among other things. Trouble especially escalated when former Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek said they should not have trans or plus-size models in their shows because the “show is a fantasy.” Although the brand almost immediately issued an apology, the comments generated an intense amount of backlash and led many to boycott it so much so that this summer the company hired Valentina Sampaio, its first transgender model, which they should’ve done regardless of criticism. “I believe I’m the first size 14 to work on @VictoriasSecret,” Cutler wrote in a recent Instagram post. “Regardless, I’m pretty stoked to work with a brand I idolized when I was a teen.” Although a little too late to add one plus-size model to its cluster of seemingly identical ones, it’ll be interesting to see how fans — who over the years have repeatedly asked the brand to expand its range to include bigger sizes — react to the new announcement. (SD-Agencies) |