Lane Bryant Challenges Victoria’s Secret By Redefining Beauty

It’s a great week to be a woman.

Regardless of what size you are, the message of this new full-figured lingerie campaign, and the French legislation passed last Friday, is clear: sexy doesn’t have to be just one size.

Let’s start with the new ad campaign everyone is buzzing about this morning, Lane Bryant’s #ImNoAngel.

The ads are clearly a dig at Victoria’s Secret, which caps its sizes at XL and 40DDD and has promoted their lingerie using super-thin models alongside the caption, “Perfect Body.” The company has caught flack about this for years, and Lane Bryant’s latest splash capitalizes on the public push for a more positive message, much like The Dove Campaign For Real Beauty did in 2004.

“Our ‘I’m No Angel’ campaign is designed to empower ALL women to love every part of herself,” Lane Bryant Chief Executive Officer Linda Heasley said in a statement. “Lane Bryant firmly believes that she is sexy and we want to encourage her to confidently show it, in her own way.”

Backing the campaign, “real” women on Twitter have been celebrating the idea that perfect really isn’t so perfect, and that being happy and healthy in your own skin is more important than anything else.

Trying to be perfect is a waste of time. #ImNoAngel and that's what I love about myself. @lanebryant @Refinery29 pic.twitter.com/4Zi7gshcdq

— Beck (@manfattan) April 7, 2015

The new ads arrive on the heels of last week’s announcement that France is now banning “skinny” models. Expected to be enacted this week, the law passed by the Parliament makes it illegal to send a woman who’s just too darn thin down Paris’s catwalks. To be exact, she must present a medical certificate showing that her BMI (body-mass index) is at least 18, which translates, for example, to 121 pounds for a woman who is 5’7. Any company failing to comply will be fined about $7,500 Euros ($8,100).

Additionally, French magazines will have to disclose when a model’s image has been doctored to make her look skinner—and cough up 30% of their ad revenue if they don’t.

According to NPR, Spain, Israel and Italy have rules against ultra-thin models, but none go as far as the French measure would.

It looks like people are finally waking up to the fact that “plus size” is just as perfect as any other size, as long as you’re healthy. Now that’s something to celebrate.