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Dissing Victoria's Angels, Lane Bryant Sends Big Shout-Out To Bad Girls Everywhere

In a campaign likely to have those skinny Victoria’s Secret models running for the pasta bar, Lane Bryant is rolling out a powerful push for its new Cacique lingerie. Themed #imnoangel, the national campaign includes print and TV, and shows six models vamping it up in the fashionable new line.

The ads are just as memorable for what they lack (like the words, plus size) as what they’ve got: Beautiful women unapologetically flaunting their curves, not trying to squish themselves into a pair of Spanx. “I’m no angel,” they say in the spots. “I’m all kinds of sexy.”

“We used the word ‘angel’ very deliberately,” says Brian Beitler, Lane Bryant's EVP of marketing.

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“Angel means the epitome of perfection, and most women don’t have a perfect body. You can’t even define what that means. So we wanted to speak to all women — not just the ones who shop in our stores, but even someone who is a size 2 but unhappy with what she sees in the mirror.”

And at the same time, it offers a sultry double-entendre about intimacy, “which made it an even better choice. We knew it would be controversial.”

He says the campaign grew out of insights that come from selling lingerie to women for decades. “When women work with our associates to buy anything, they feel like they’ve found a new home. We wanted to take that brand mission, about helping women feel confident and sexy, even further.”

The launch also includes events, such as a "pop-up" concert in New York City, featuring Salt-N-Pepa, the first all-female hip-hop group, and a choreographed flash mob. 

The campaign includes models Ashley Graham, who rocked a bikini in an ad for this year’s Sports Illustrated annual swimsuit issue, Marquita Pring, Candice Huffine, Victoria Lee, Justine Legault and Elly Mayday.

The campaign, shot by fashion photographer Cass Bird, is from Laird + Partners. The black-and-white photography, he says, puts the emphasis not on the bras and panties, but “on the women themselves, and you can see how authentic, natural and attractive they are.”

Besides TV, print, outdoor and in-store ads, the campaign also includes a social media component, with the retailer inviting women to take a selfie with #imnoangel written in lipstick on the mirror. So far, he says, “the response has been better than anything we could have expected. There’s just an overwhelming amount of love, and the way women are posting their own selfies is warming our hearts.”

The social component is key, he says. “I’ve got five daughters, and if there is one thing I’ve learned from watching them deal with body image, it’s that they will believe what they hear from their friends, from mothers, from sisters. They won’t believe a retailer. Real women listen to real women.”

Lane Bryant, a division of Ascena Retail Group, which also owns Dress Barn and Justice, claims to be the nation's leader in fashion for women sizes 14 to 28. And while substantial women have long lamented the way retailers neglect them, this year has seen a surge in interest. Target, for example, recently rolled out Avi & Viv, its fashion line aimed at plus-size women. And last fall, Fashion Week included Eden Miller’s Cabiria, the first plus-size label to have a show.

While about 69% of American are overweight, the NPD Group says the plus-size market typically accounts for about 15%  of the women’s apparel business,  and that in 2014, sales were about $17.6 billion, declining about 1% overall. (The prior year, it gained 10%.) But sales of dresses, sweat pants and active bottoms, and tights and hosiery all gained.

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