Today I was going through my normal list of Daily Deals looking for things that I want to promote. After so many years in online marketing, I usually do not get distracted by images on pages. I know right where the deals are and I head straight to them.
Today’s Torrid homepage caught me completely off-guard. It featured a sexy woman lying on her back in lingerie with her legs in the air. It wasn’t the lingerie or the sexy imagery in general that got me–it was the fact that she looked REAL!
I found myself staring at her legs, belly, and chest. It wasn’t all perfectly flat. But it was beautiful!
I see a lot of lingerie ads online from Maidenform to Macy’s to Victoria’s Secret. I never look very closely at them because I know I’ll just find myself thinking “Of course she looks good in that…she’s so thin she would look good in anything. That’s not me.”
For the first time, I looked at an ad and thought “I might actually look like that!” (although she probably actually is smaller than me still and is definitely much younger!) Talking with my girlfriends this week, we all acknowledge that most of us hate the way that we look but think that our friends are gorgeous…the same friends who also hate how they look. It’s a sad thing that we can see the beauty in others not not ourselves.
I think this ad is a step in the right direction of changing that…in it’s own way. Seeing this ad doesn’t make me want to skip lunch or get a prescription for Adipex. It makes me think that maybe…just maybe…being a normal-sized woman is actually sexy.
If you don’t know, Torrid is a fashion site for sizes 12 to 28. While the model obviously isn’t a 28, I don’t think she is a 12 either. She’s probably on the low end of their sizing–maybe even a 14 or 16. But compared to what we normally see online, this page is shockingly more realistic.
So I’m curious what you think about the image. I’m including a screen shot below of the full image just in case they have changed the homepage before you read this post.
Men, when you look at it do you find it sexy or are you immediately thinking that she looks “fat” because you are conditioned to seeing only skinny women (online or otherwise)?
Women, does it make you feel better to see a woman who is more average or would you look at the picture and think “I don’t want to look like that”?
Why is it women are so insecure? I recently met a gal I used to date in high school. She went on and on about how fat she’s gotten. I had to tell her to stop! I told her she was still beautiful and she damn near broke down and cried. Do you think most men look like the ripped models they have in ads for everything from underwear to shaving products? Guess what ladies, WE DON’T! But men don’t get all up tight about it, we just grab another beer! Women are physically beautiful in many different ways, not just the skinny way. Learn to love who you are and appreciate the men that do too.
She looks amazing, as models often do, but I despise phrases like “she looks real.” By saying she looks real, it’s implying other body types are “not real.” A body does not make a woman. Identifying as a woman makes a woman.
For more awesome images of different bodies, check out ModCloth. They recently announced a new photo shop policy, and features women with uneven thighs and lumps. It’s fantastic, and actually makes me want to shop more because the fit is portrayed more accurately.
Love this! And it made me immediately check out their website thinking, “Maybe I’ll find something that I like and that fits instead of feeling deflated when walking by VS!”
Great article – I think we need to see more REAL women in advertising.
It’s about time.
The NPD group reported back in April that the entire women’s apparel market was $116.4B and $17.5B of that was plus size sales. That’s 15% of the market. Additionally, the plus size sales grew 5% over last year’s numbers, so it’s a growing segment. Now, as marketers, we all know that women control a vast amount of household purchases and with the average American woman weighing in at 166lbs (according to the CDC), there’s a huge disparity in the number of women that are actually plus size and the number of women purchasing plus size clothing. There’s obviously a huge market sitting there, but not purchasing. Why is that?
Now, I’ve been plus size for the past 14 years…before that, I was an athlete and a size 8 and I had washboard abs. Three kids did quite a number to my metabolism and despite my best efforts, here I stay. Ah well…I’ve earned every curve and stretch mark the hard way and I’m not going to apologize for it, nor am I going to cry into my Cheerios over what size the fashion industry things I should be. At the same time, I’ve bought exactly 5 articles of clothing for myself this year: a blouse in March for my birthday, a new pair of shorts at the start of the summer, a black long sleeve shirt for attending baseball games, a new sweater, and a dress for a wedding. Why so few?
Because plus size clothes generally SUCK. They’re often made out of inferior fabric, designed incredibly poorly, and sewn shoddily as well. I don’t want to dress in gaudy things covered with sequins, or HUGE FLOWERS THE SIZE OF A TRUCK, or in one shouldered numbers that, while currently de rigeur, would require me to ditch the bra. (FYI designers, anyone over a size 4 hates strapless bras. Take a memo.) I want classy, simple clothing that doesn’t accentuate the negative, fits comfortably, and doesn’t fall apart the second time I wash it.
Does it make me feel better to see women closer to my size in lingerie? Well, Joe made an interesting statement: “Of course the clothing companies want to present their clothing on attractive people”. The fashion industry does not see me as remotely attractive. To them, I’m just a fat girl who doesn’t take care of herself and probably gorges herself on twinkies and ice cream nightly while sobbing on the couch that I’m not a size 2. The woman in that picture IS attractive. Not because of what size she is or isn’t, but because she’s simply attractive. So my answer to the question is no, not really, mostly because I no longer care. The fashion industry has made it clear that I’m persona non grata, so I’m not going to bother to try to change their narrow little minds. I have better things to do.
Also, if you want to see a plus size company that is truly doing it right, check out Kiyonna. Their items are kinda pricey, but their customer service is excellent and if you go to a product page, look for their “Real Curves” pictures. It’s plus size women looking downright gorgeous in their clothing along with the size their wearing, right up to pictures of 5X.
Karen, I also feel like the fashion industry (and anyone who is skinny!) probably thinks that I just sit around watching tv and eating chocolate all day. Knowing that I work out 6 days a week and still struggle on a daily (hourly?) basis is depressing. But I’m a generally happy person…so I do everything in my head to try to make myself feel better about it (rationalizing?). What REALLY upsets me is knowing how so many of my friends feel and how my daughters will likely feel someday. When I see beautiful friends (Hey, Heather! I’m talking to YOU again) running themselves down for their size and refusing to buy themselves clothes until they are a smaller size, it just breaks my heart.
There are definitely some merchants out there that get it…like Kiyonna. But I’m with Michelle that I wish only the “curvy girl” stores were not the only ones willing to make clothes in bigger sizes or use plus size models. I don’t know what the solution is. Too many people with influence think that skinny (even when unhealthy) is the only way to be attractive. And there is a BIG difference between skinny and healthy!!!
I agree! From a marketing perspective, it’s a terrible downward cycle. Merchants sell a small selection of plus size items…plus size women buy only some of it because half of it is crap…so the merchants order less selection the next season…plus size women buy only some of it because half of it is crap…wash, rinse, repeat. If merchants would step back for a moment and realize that there is a ready market (with a whole lot of spending power) and actually cater to that market, then they would see their sales (and profits) rise in that fashion segment. I would be more than willing to buy clothing that was fashionable and fit well if I had a decent selection, but I honestly don’t. Right now, I’m certain that I could go to our local Target and buy the exact same t-shirt that I bought 5 years ago in the plus size section. There’s no stock rotation, nothing new for me to purchase.
The only solution I feel is if a big box retailer was to actually step up and at least attempt to provide a great selection of quality plus size clothes. Then we might see smaller merchants fall in line as well. I honestly don’t care who happens to be modelling the clothing as long as it’s a healthy person.
I like seeing women like me, in advertising. What I wish is that it were not limited to brands that cater to ‘women with curves’.
Just the other day I was talking with a girlfriend who sells clothing for a high end designer and I was complementing their use of larger girls in their catalog. She informed me that they are no longer doing it because it has not increased sales and the real estate would be better used showcasing the industry standard models. I wonder why this is the case? Why are women not responsive to curvy girls in advertising?
The first thing I thought when I saw the picture is “My wife would look awesome in that”. She isn’t a rail thin model and is probably a great target audience for Torrid’s stuff. That model seems to be right around the size of my wife.
I think it is awesome to show that “normal” size women can be extremely beautiful. I think it is very good for men to see that models don’t all need to be size 0 and that women can still be attractive with some meat on their bones. Of course the clothing companies want to present their clothing on attractive people but, at least in my opinion, attractive can range from size 0 to size 20 and beyond. I also think it is good for men to see that
Thanks for a male perspective, Joe!
Some friends and I were just talking about something similar last night! A different friend (that fits that Torrid profile) had professional pictures taken and posted a photo on Facebook in that exact same pose. One friend gasped “I can’t believe she posted that” while another gal says “I wish I was confident enough in my body to do that”. I agree – Kudos to her.
Kim, I wonder how many women think like your friend (“I can’t believe she posted that”) when they see pictures like this? I have to think that there are a lot. Torrid can get away with a homepage like this because they don’t care what women under size 12 think. But what about a site that sells to ALL sizes? Would they turn off so many under 12s that it isn’t worth them taking the chance of picking up sales from over 12s?