Victoria’s Secret doesn’t use plus-size or transgender models because there’s ‘no interest in it’, says Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek

VICTORIA’S Secret doesn’t cast plus-size or transgender models because “there’s no interest in it”, the brand’s Chief Marketing Officer claims. In an interview with Vogue, Ed Razek defended his “brand point of view” saying he had considered diversifying the runway but hadn’t because “we market to who we sell to, and we don’t market to the whole world”. Defending his decision, Razek added: “We attempted to do a television special for plus-sizes [in 2000]. No one had any interest in it, still don’t. “Our show is the only branded special in the world, seen in 190 countries, by 1 billion 6 million people; 45 percent more people saw it last year than the year before. Our direct business is growing substantially — double digits on a monthly basis.” Gigi and Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Winnie Harlow were just some of the models who stormed the runway on Thursday night for the Victoria’s Secret 2018 show. Razek says the hate surrounding the show on social media is “extraordinarily toxic” – especially around Portuguese model Sara Sampaio, 27. He added: “Sara Sampaio is constantly being criticised for being too fat. Sara Sampaio? Seriously? Where does it end? Do I think about diversity? Yes. Does the brand think about diversity? Yes. Do we offer larger sizes? Yes.” When asked why the retailer only stocks bra sizes up to 40DDD, Razek said: “It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should…. [Read full story]