After Victoria’s Secret’s chief marketing officer shaded Rihanna while saying trans models are not part of the Fashion Show’s ‘fantasy,’ RiRi fired back with some shade of her own!
So much drama over lingerie. Here’s what happened: Ed Razek, 70, Victoria’s Secret’s chief marking officer, stuck his foot in his mouth when speaking to Vogue ahead of the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Ed said VS won’t include “plus-size” or trans women in their yearly lingerie extravaganza, which upset many — including model Louise O’Reilly. “Prime example of why brands need to be careful of casting directors opinions. Especially when it’s a 70 year old man who’s living in the past. Thank god [Rihanna] brought us @SavageXFenty this year with genuine attention & love of diversity in her branding,” she tweeted.
A fan took a screenshot of Louise’s tweet and posted it on Instagram, per Buzzfeed, while mentioning “Queen of diversity” Rihanna, 30, in the captions. Rih was checking her mentions that day, because she liked the comment. Wow. That was some subtle shade thrown at her competitor, but Rihanna’s support of inclusion and diversity came off loud and clear.
For those who may have missed it, Ed caused quite a stir when dismissing the notion of including a variety of models in future Victoria’s Secrets events. “Does the brand think about diversity? Yes. Do we offer larger sizes? Yes. So it’s like, why don’t you do 50? Why don’t you do 60? Why don’t you do 24? 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. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy,” he said while using an outdated term for transgender people. He even insulted Rihanna’s Fenty show, specifically the New York Fashion Week event that included models of a variety of shapes, including a very pregnant Slick Woods.
“Everybody keeps talking about Rihanna’s show. If we had done Rihanna’s show, we would be accused of pandering without question,” Ed said. “Because the brand has a specific image, has a point of view. It has a history. …By the way, we’ve had three pregnant models walk the show. Everybody had the conversation about Savage [x Fenty] having the pregnant model in the show. We watch this, we’re amused by it, but we don’t milk it. And all of these things that they’ve ‘invented,’ we have done and continue to do.”
Following the backlash over his comments, Ed apologized. “My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show came across as insensitive. I apologize. To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show. We’ve had transgender models come to castings… And like many others, they didn’t make it…But it was never about gender. I admire and respect their journey to embrace who they really are.”
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