Lane Bryant redefines beauty with its #ImNoAngel campaign, taking aim at Victoria's Secret

Eat this, Victoria’s Secret!

Lane Bryant is known for its plus-size clothing, but the company is confronting its lingerie rival dead on with a new “#ImNoAngel” campaign that challenges the notion of beauty.

“We’re not throwing shade, but we’re definitely throwing curves,” Lane Bryant President and CEO Linda Heasley tells the Daily News.

The new campaign, shot by fashion photographer Cass Bird and rolled out with a celebratory tour bus ride in Manhattan, features sexy size 14-28 undergarments — and the banishment of the term “plus size,” which some say stigmatizes big girls.

Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue superstar Ashley Graham poses for Lane Bryant’s new lingerie ad.

“It’s about great fashion so we lead with that, not size,” says Heasley.

There’s more than a cheeky slogan behind this campaign. Lane Bryant is trying to tap deeper into the $17.5 billion plus-size clothing market. 

 

The average American woman — who’s closer to size 14 than the size 0’s in a Victoria’s Secret catalogue — will find a lot to love. Indeed, the average woman can’t even shop at Victoria’s Secret.

The new Lane Bryant campaign features full-figured angels like Ashley Graham, the size 16, 36-30-46 brunette bombshell last seen in the groundbreaking Swimsuits For All ad in Sports Illustrated.

In the “ImNoAngel” campaign, Graham and fellow models Marquita Pring and Candice Huffine are posed purposefully to rebut the Victoria’s Secret “Perfect ‘Body’” campaign last year, which presented women so unlike normal Americans that the lingerie giant was accused of “irresponsible marketing” in a Change.org petition.

By comparison, regular women are already tweeting pictures of themselves with the hashtag #ImNoAngel — though Lane Bryant isn’t the only retailer catering to full-figured gals.

Late last year, Calvin Klein chose size 10 model Myla Dalbesio to appear in the company’s underwear ads. In January, Target launched its first plus-size clothing line, Ava & Viv. And new online sites like ModCloth and Eloquii are also targeting the average American female group.

Victoria’s Secret did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily News.

 

Victoria's Secret's The Perfect 'Body' ad campaign drew flak from some.

“I searched their racks for my size only to be told that they don’t carry (sizes) that big and to go to Lane Bryant,” Mary W. wrote on Reddit in an “open letter” to Victoria’s Secret.