A Woman’s Right to Underwire!
As most women know, the Victoria Secret Semi-Annual sale just passed. We have but six more months until, once again, we can purchase our over-priced but terribly effective under garments. I think most people would agree that, while expensive to the point of absurdity, Victoria has a pretty good secret. She can make any of us stand at attention.
I’ve always been a big fan. Lately, I’ve become a bigger fan, and I don’t mean that my enthusiasm has grown. As you know from the South Beach postings, I’ve put on a few (dozen) pounds and I’m working them off. Not one to let a little thing like cellulite get in my way, I decided I’d hit the VS in my local mall anyway and find somethings that put my increased self where I belong.
I found lace and string and ruffle and feathers, but when I went to find my size, I couldn’t. I was bemused for a bit and realized that none of the drawers in the store even went up to my size (which, by the way, is only one up from what was on the drawer). Embarrassed and a little self conscious, I decided to bite the bullet and just ask one of the wee, petite things walking around the store with a headset and measuring tape to bring me something from the back.
I stood there, mortified that I’m shopping from the storage room because they don’t put out clothes for people like me in the main room, when the sales girl dropped the next load of self-esteem kryptonite: They don’t carry it anymore.
They don’t carry it!? Are you kidding? As I let it sink in that I’m now officially too big for VS, she added, “Well, you can still get it online.” Oh hell no! I’m too large to fit in your store, I’m too unsightly to be in your place of business, but I can spend my hard-earned dollars from the dingy comfort of my custom-made, big-girl house? I say again, “Oh hell no!”
So here is my call to you: Don’t avoid the stores. That’s what they want us to do. Go to the stores and ask about their sizes. Don’t shop at their website. Call them. Tell them how much we wish we could shop at their stores. Tell them that most of America does not look like Tyra Banks or Heidi Klum or whatever anorexic thing they have on their runway this season.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that obesity isn’t an issue. It is. If I wasn’t uncomfortable being this size, I wouldn’t be living on eggs, almonds, and Laughing Cow cheese. This isn’t about making it ok to be overweight. It’s about making it ok to be yourself. Eventually, I will fit back into the VS standards. In the meantime, when I really need the support (both literally and figuratively), they are backing away.
I’ve included their “Contact Us” links. Contact them! Email, call, and post about it. Tell people. Maybe we can bother them enough that they cave and realize that it’s not fair to withhold sex appeal just because they don’t get that the joy of a chocolate donut is not a sin.
Email Victoria Secret And Tell Them to Bring Back Big Sizes
Call Victoria Secret and Tell Them to Bring Back Big Sizes:
Sales: 1.800.888.8200, 24 hours a day, 7 days per week
Customer Service: 1.800.411.5116, 8:00 AM EST to 2:00 AM EST, 7 days per week
Fight back, ladies!
For those who want to say something but don’t know what, I’m including the email I sent to VS on their Customer Service page. Feel free to use it and send it as often as you can:
I just learned that your stores will no longer be carrying size 40 bras. I am offended as a long-time customer who has spent a lot of money at your stores over the years. To be told that you’ll no longer even bother offering my size unless I purchase it from the privacy of the internet is offensive. It indicates that you don’t want larger women in your stores, but you still want our money. America is getting bigger and you are alienating a “large” part of the population. Please reconsider providing our size in your stores and assure your shoppers that larger women can still be sexy.
July 8th, 2010 at 4:44 pmTheir response:
Dear Kari,
Thank you for your email regarding the sizes carried at your local Victoria’s Secret Store. We apologize for any disappointment that this may cause.
As Victoria’s Secret is a specialty retailer with limited retail space, we frequently review our assortment as well as our customer demand and feedback to make adjustments to our sizes and styles offered in stores. We assure you that your specific comments have been forwarded to the proper department. We take our customers’ comments seriously. In fact, customer suggestions and comments often provide direction for changes in future merchandise and services.
If we can assist you further, please reply to this email or call anytime.
Kari, please accept our apologies. It is our goal at Victoria’s Secret to be best at bras. We appreciate your comments and look forward to serving you in the future.
Sincerely,
Jamie L.
Victoria’s Secret Customer Relations
Phone 1.614.577.7111
I appreciate her efforts to be polite and I appreciate her apology. I’m still upset.
July 9th, 2010 at 10:34 am