West Quay’s Victoria’s Secret a Pink Arch to Hell or Gateway to Heaven?
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West Quay’s Victoria’s Secret a Pink Arch to
Hell or Gateway to Heaven?
With the
Victoria’s Secret annual fashion show recently airing, the buzz around the
global brand is at an all time high – perfect timing for the opening of their
new shop in West Quay Shopping Centre in Southampton. The Southampton branch
will be their 11th shop in the UK, but the brand boasts more than
1,000 shops worldwide including Mexico and China and is the biggest lingerie
retailer in the USA.
I decided
to visit the shop, curious to see what all the fuss was about. On entry, the
first thing I noticed was how the walls are adorned with photos of ‘Angels’,
the name acquired for the brands top models. Every one of them looked almost
impossibly beautiful and were wearing undeniably striking lingerie, which is no
surprise considering this years ‘fantasy bra’ which is created each year for
the VS fashion shows cost over $2 million.
Whilst
looking around the shop however, I noticed that despite their recent, slightly controversial,
‘A Body for Every Body’ campaign which suggested their lingerie was created for
all body types, the shop seemed to be swarmed with slim girls, none of whom
looked over a small size 12. Even a few of the shoppers I spoke to believed the
lingerie was made for ‘modelesque’ girls and despite being slim themselves,
they felt even they didn’t really fit into this ideal look and were mainly in
there to ‘swoon over the products and gasp at the price tags rather than to buy
them’. Another customer commented on how although she thought it was a ‘fun
brand’ she could understand why the shop, which has a prime position in West
Quay, could be seen as a ‘pink arch to hell’ rather than a place where everyone
is welcome due to the ‘beautiful but unrealistic models which don’t exactly do
much to help your self esteem’.
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| Victoria's Secret West Quay shop front |
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| Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2015, Lily Donaldson |
Victoria’s
Secret is situated in West Quay
Southampton, 8 Portland Terrace, SO15 1QE and any extra information can be
found at http://www.west-quay.co.uk/.
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