Lingerie brand, LiviRae Lingerie, refused to back down after its in-store campaign for women was body shamed.
Owners Molly Hopkins and Cynthia Decker of the Atlanta-based boutique, put up a window display featuring women of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, disabilities and ages - but they’ve said their landlord asked them to take it down.
And they fought back.
Taking to Instagram, Decker and Hopkins shared their upset at the request on Thursday 9 March:
“Body shaming is real. We experienced it first hand today when our landlord asked us to remove our window display.”
They’re the most empowering lingerie ads we’ve seen in a long time.
And other Instagram users were having none of it either. With one person posting their disapproval below their post:
“You guys shouldn’t take these down, prove a point,” they wrote.
“If Victoria’s Secret or any other lingerie store can display photos like these but sexier, then why does this spread a wrong message?
“I’m sorry you ladies are experiencing body shaming, but I see nothing wrong with these posters. It displays real women and all body types.
“Girl Power!”
Showcasing a diverse range of women is an integral part of Decker and Hopkins’ business - the duo even have their own US reality TV show, Double Divas.
“We’ve never had to clear an ad with the property management in the past. We were told the ad is in ‘poor taste,’ but no one has explained what that means,” Decker told Yahoo Style on Monday 13 March.
“We wanted to show people that they didn’t have to have perfect skin, bone structure, or bodies to feel beautiful.”
Many also took to Twitter to show their support for the brand, using the hashtag #NoShameLiviRae:
A lack of diversity is a topical issue of the moment within the fashion industry. According to the autumn 2017 diversity report from Fashion Spot, ‘more women of colour walked the runway than ever before’ during Fashion Week. However, overall plus-size models made up a mere 0.43% of castings throughout the season.
After so many people called for the ads to remain, the lingerie brand has won their fight:
“We have since received word that we can keep them up after the owners of the property were bombarded with emails, letters and phone calls expressing their concerns over the issue from our friends, fans and clients,” Hopkins told The Independent on Wednesday 15 March.
Okay, ladies, now let’s keep in formation.