A number of women were protesting against the fashion industry’s lack of diversity, and were reportedly walking through the store chanting ‘fashion has failed us’. Another woman carried a placard reading ‘we want diversity for all brands’.
These Protesters comes just days after the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show, which took place in New York earlier this week.
The demonstration had already courted controversy after the brand’s chief marketing officer dismissed calls for the inclusion of plus-sized and trans models. He later issued an apology for his remarks.
Videos posted on social media show the group of women getting changed into their underwear in the store, before marching through the shop. The display appears to have been organised in collaboration with clothing brand Nunude.
Posting on
Instagram, they wrote:
So today this happened – Nunude the first UK
diverse brand proving skin tone underwear for ALL women collaborated with
@love_disfigure campaigners of diversity.
We
the Fallen Angels went to @victoriassecret and Oxford Circus – to demand more
diversity! It’s not just about body Diversity or skin! It’s about every single
difference! We are all equal! We are all loved and we are all beautiful.
While Love Disfigure, the campaign group also
behind the protest, wrote:
Amazing Day shared with my lovely friends Fallen
Angels campaigning for Diversity in the Fashion Industry.
We march into @victoriassecret and stripped down
to our @nunnude_official underwear shouting we want diversity on our runways.
Then found ourselves in the middle of Oxford
street calling for Change within the fashion industry.
Razek later apologised for his remarks, however, saying:
"My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show came across as insensitive. I apologise.
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"
The singer Halsey, who performed at the Victoria’s Secret show, also addressed the comments.
"As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have no tolerance for a lack of inclusivity, especially not on motivated by stereotype."
The latest Victoria’s Secret show had its lowest viewing figures ever, at 3.27 million, the smallest since the show began in 2001.
