Bring it to the Runway
The angels and demons of 2000s fashion.
Planning my outfits for a night out
Tyrant Banks
When COVID forced our lives to go on pause, many found distraction in rewinding old favourites. Comfort shows from the 90s and 2000s made a resurgence, and fans of America’s Next Top Model were quick to re-watch the series.
Unfortunately, the experience wasn’t as nostalgic as we all hoped. From the vantage point of 2020, Tyra Banks, the loving host and mentor, comes across more like the series villain.
Throughout the 2000s America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) claimed to be a “subversive” show about modelling. The goal was to change the industry from the inside by elevating new talent.
As the host, Tyra gave tough love to the contestants. She routinely reminded them that fashion is a cutthroat industry - what you wear to your casting sessions matters, how your present yourself on set matters, the way you stand matters... For the aspiring models in their teens and early twenties, these were good lessons to learn.
As a 10-year-old watching, it felt imperative that she crack the whip.
In attempting to cover industry-changing topics, however, the show often lacked tact. Tyra has told women to hide their gayness, hosted multiple challenges that required contestants to get into blackface, and blamed a model’s lack of assertiveness for why she was touched inappropriately at a shoot. Then there were the infamous makeover episodes which always left someone sobbing in a mirror. Tyra forced mullets, bleached brows, tooth gap widening, and fake beards on the models, seemingly looking for shock value over aesthetics.
The Tyra Banks Show wasn’t much better. Tyra often engaged in “social experiments” like wearing a fat suit to see what life was like as someone who was overweight. So cringey.
None of those moments are great, but they pale in comparison to allegations behind the scenes. 2005 contestant Lisa D’Amato alleges that Tyra used her childhood trauma to continually trigger her on the show. D’Amato claims that producers use introductory therapy sessions to help manipulate storylines for the contestants. She further argues that Tyra tricked her into talking about her childhood on The Tyra Show after explicitly telling production she didn’t want to discuss it.
Tyra has a habit of using other people’s trauma for profit. While America’s Next Top Model did discuss issues of homelessness, sexual orientation, abuse, trans rights, and female circumcision, according to former contestant, Kim Stolz, it also exploited them for entertainment value.
I question how much of this damage was intended by Tyra. In some moments she comes across like an unhinged, power-hungry supermodel that uses other people’s trauma for personal gain. In others, I wonder if she genuinely thought she was effecting change in the industry.
No matter how awful her behaviour was, we can’t forget that she grew up in the modelling business too. Was she really an evil mastermind, or was she simply a reflection of a much harsher environment?
Trying to get a kink out of my neck in public
Touched by an Angel
Growing up I remember idolizing Victoria’s Secret angels, Tyra Banks included. For years I watched the fashion show, convinced that one day I’d look that good in underwear. I, and many other millennial women, worshipped at the hip bones of the giant angel posters in the mall.
For decades Victoria’s Secret ran a brand that told women underwear, swimsuits, and lingerie would empower you to be your best self. A push-up bra is the secret confidence booster you need to be successful
As a kid, I bought in. I used to tell my mom that new clothes made her look “tall and skinny” - the pinnacle of compliments. To me being an angel was more than just the body and wings. The title came with money, power, and, most importantly, confidence. Buying my first Victoria’s Secret thong was one of the most empowering moments of my teenage life. I was learning to be sexy by association, and I was trying to calorie count my way into heaven.
No matter how powerful the angels seemed to us mere mortals, their wings could be clipped at any moment by the brand’s gatekeepers. Internally, the fight to make it to the fashion show was deadly – literally.
Victoria’s Secret angels have been coming out about the unrealistic body sizes they were forced to uphold. One former model, Erin Heatherton, used bathwater meth to maintain her figure. Another, Bridget Malcom, was told to do cocaine and have lots of sex to stay skinny. Any weight gain was enough to get them cut from the show.
As an adult, I understand that the beauty standards Victoria’s Secret set were unrealistic even for the models setting them. The brand would rather force a woman to the brink of death than allow any jiggle on their runway. Growing up though, there was no way for me to grasp that their bodies weren’t attainable. I still catch myself feeling guilty over food and feeling a strange urge to buy lavish lingerie.
Bridget, depressingly, told Insider that she was “one of the lucky models — I was able to make a long career out of the fashion industry, but my job should not include abuse.”
Watching the new hire struggle
The Business Model
Alas, abuse and angels go together like a bra and panties. Les Wexner, the founder of L Brands and former CEO of Victoria’s Secret, has long been tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
I know. It’s worse than you thought….
Epstein was a close friend and financial advisor of Les Wexner. In fact, he had power of attorney over Les’ finances, meaning he could legally use them however he saw fit. Epstein was the conservator of Wexner’s estate.
Wexner was by far Epstein’s biggest client, and there’s speculation as to how much other business he even had. It appears that Les’ fortune, and Les’ fortune alone, covered Epsteins’s bills, sex ring, and predatory appetite.
L Brands, Victoria’s Secret parent company, encompasses more than just the angels. Abercrombie & Fitch and our beloved Bath & Body Works are also caught up in this scandal, though no brand gave Epstein as much clout as his proximity to Victoria’s Secret. While he never officially worked for the company (just for Les), Epstein would position himself as a talent scout to lure aspiring models to his hotel room.
Yikes.
Sex trafficking is depressingly common in modelling. A new podcast (that I highly recommend) about Victoria’s Secret called Fallen Angel dives into the idea of “meat vs money.” Some models are seen as golden tickets and are treated as such. If Naomi Campbell struts into your agency, the dollar signs outweigh the dirty thoughts. For the mid-range or struggling talent, however, all bets are off.
They become meat.
Sex with models is considered a work perk for creeps in the industry. I’m not just talking about CEOs and agents, but the drivers, photographers and their out-of-industry friends all get in on the action.
Aspiring models tend to be underage and broke, a deadly combination for predatory behaviour. Remember, very few models make it to the angel level of fame. Even those who do aren’t fully protected. Bridget Malcom recalls being groomed by older men and sexually assaulted as a teenager. She now struggles with severe PTSD from her time in the industry.
Anytime someone I like gets cancelled…..
There’s More to Life Than Being Really, Really, Ridiculously Good Looking
While America’s Next Top Model claimed to be breaking barriers in modelling, Victoria’s Secret hid - and is potentially still hiding - under the guise of female empowerment.
Recently there’s been a surge of body positivity in many women’s brands. Victoria's Secret shed their angels for activists, touting superstars like Megan Rapinoe as their new brand ambassadors. While a step in the right direction, it’s hard to read as completely genuine. They’ve taken off the wings and re-framed themselves with halos.
The shift feels like it’s driven more for the bottom line than anything else. Frankly, I don’t know how much it matters. If the brand isn’t driving its models to the brink of death or selling them into sex trafficking, it’s an improvement.
The bar is pretty damn low.
Perhaps more encouraging than their marketing plan is their shift in leadership. As of this summer, Victoria’s Secret has a shiny new executive team and a predominantly-female board of directors. Good riddance to Les Wexner.
At this point though, the damage has already been done. Unless Victoria’s Secret finds real ways to fight against sex trafficking and eating disorders, a simple rebrand isn’t going to cut it. The only way to apologize is through ownership, something neither Victoria’s Secret nor Tyra Banks has shown thus far. Whether Tyra’s experience with Victoria’s Secret informed her behaviour on ANTM isn’t the point. The whole industry needs to take stock of how it treats its talent and its consumers - and it’s not the only industry that needs work.
You can take the angels off the runway, but you still have to deal with the demons backstage.
