Lane Bryant Takes Aim at Victoria's Secret in #ImNoAngel Campaign
Lane Bryant says the campaign celebrates sexy at every size.
— -- The Victoria’s Secret lingerie models known for flaunting their angel wings down runways have some new competition.
Plus-size clothing retailer Lane Bryant has introduced a new body-loving marketing campaign called #ImNoAngel for their intimate apparel collection, Cacique.
“There has been too narrow of a definition of what beauty is and we are challenging that by inviting everyone to join in and say what is beauty, what is sexy,” said Lane Bryant CEO Linda Heasley.
The commercial for the line shows women in the intimate collection and some wearing #ImNoAngel t-shirts.
“I mean, honey, have you seen all of this?,” one model says in the ad.
The company is also asking women to post their “personal statement of confidence” using the #ImNoAngel hashtag.
“This campaign is something everyone can relate to,” said Heasley. “It is very much about making beauty and sexy approachable and embraceable.”
Body-positive activist and plus-size model Tess Holliday said it’s time for everyone to redefine what beauty means.
“Yes I happen to be a size 22 but I am sexy,” Holliday said. “We have grown up in an era, you know, of Victoria’s Secret and Maxim it is always the same type of women and just to see an ad with different sizes, it’s totally refreshing.”
Lane Bryant joins other retailers such as Dove and American Eagle in promoting women of all sizes in their ads. Dove launched its "Campaign for Real Beauty" in 2004 while, last year, American Eagle announced that its "Aerie Real" lingerie line would feature non-airbrushed models.
"We left everything. We left beauty marks, we left tattoos, what you see is really what you get with our campaign," Jenny Altman, the line's style and fit expert, told ABC News in January 2014. "It's a selling point because our customers represent this great demographic and they don't really get to see what girls their age really look like."