Ali Tate Cutler Becomes Victoria’s Secret’s First Plus-Size Model

In August, Ed Razek retired as the longtime CMO of Victoria’s Secret. Only a day before, Valentina Sampaio made history as the first openly transgender model to shoot for the brand — nearly a year after Razek told Vogue that transgender and plus-sized models would not appear on the VS Fashion Show runway. Well now, the brand is working with a plus-sized model for the first time.

 

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A post shared by Bluebella Lingerie (@bluebella) on Oct 6, 2019 at 7:42am PDT

Ali Tate Cutler, a size 14, appears in a new photoshoot for VS’s collaboration with the London-based brand Bluebella. “We are thrilled to be working with Ali on the VS x Bluebella campaign,” a Victoria’s Secret spokesperson told WWD.

“When a girl is walking through the store she can look and find a body like mine — size 14 — and be like, ‘She looks like me! And I want to buy that now!'” Culter said on VS’ Instagram stories. “I feel touched that I can be part of that journey for someone.”

 

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Bluebella’s AW19 collection (plus some firm favourites, we see you 👀) are now available to try and buy in select US @victoriassecret stores, accompanied by our new #LoveYourself campaign. Featuring four unique and gorgeous models, the focus of LoveYourself is self-love and self-acceptance 💛💛. It’s a celebration of everybody, and a mission statement for women to wear beautiful lingerie for themselves. Here at Bluebella we’re intent on reclaiming space and sensuality, creating lingerie by women, for women, with a focus on power and independence at the core of our directional and fashion-led designs. 💥 We’re so excited to see our gorgeously diverse LoveYourself girls in the Victoria’s Secrets windows on 5th Avenue, no less! Here’s CEO and founder Emily Bendell at the launch in New York 🖤 Use the swipe up link in our Stories to read all about this amazing LoveYourself campaign! #LoveYourself #mybluebella #BluebellaforVS#love #yourself #campaign #victoriassecret #welcomeback #message #launch #unique #beautiful #redefine #America #USA #NewYork #sensuality #selflove #self #acceptance #strength #confidence #independence #celebrate #you #whoever #however #beauty #integrity ​

A post shared by Bluebella Lingerie (@bluebella) on Oct 5, 2019 at 2:14am PDT

While it’s great that the lingerie giant is finally diversifying its size representation, it’s worth questioning whether this is too little, too late. Sales have dropped, it is shuttering stores, and its annual televised fashion show is canceled this year. Meanwhile, rival brands like Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty are way ahead in terms of casting diverse models. Though Cutler’s future involvement with the brand is unclear, her hiring is a step in the right direction. And considering how great she looks in this campaign it would be lovely to see her do more with Victoria’s Secret.

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