Nikita Dragun is taking on Victoria’s Secret.
The transgender beauty vlogger — who boasts 1.9 million YouTube subscribers, 3.3 million Instagram followers, and 436,000 Twitter followers — shared her own Victoria’s Secret-style ad on social media yesterday. The clip sees the 22-year-old striding through a glitzy set, bedecked in lingerie and wearing wings reminiscent of the brand’s signature ‘angels.’
“Dear Victoria’s Secret, you said trans women can’t sell the ‘fantasy,’ so here I am as a trans woman selling the fantasy,” she tweeted with the 35-second video.
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Dragun is referring to comments made last month by Ed Razek, chief marketing officer for L Brands (Victoria’s Secret’s parent company). In an interview with Vogue, Razek said Victoria’s Secret had looked at including both transgender women and plus-size women in its lengthy annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and had decided against doing so.
“Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should,” he said. “Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is.”
dear Victoria’s Secret,
you said trans women can’t sell the “fantasy” so here i am as a TRANS WOMAN selling the FANTASY! 👼🏻 pic.twitter.com/rKQHp7SLNq— Nikita Dragun (@NikitaDragun) December 5, 2018
Razek’s comments received widespread backlash from trans activists and the fashion community alike. According to data from ABC, which broadcast the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on Dec. 2 (weeks after the Vogue interview was published), viewership dropped from 5 million viewers in 2017 to 3.3 million this year, per Business Insider.
Now, Dragun is taking the fight directly to Victoria’s Secret. In a series of tweets posted after her video, she expanded on what she finds disturbing about Razek’s comments.
don’t get it twisted. i am not bothered that Victoria’s Secret won’t cast Trans or Plus Sized models.
my issue is the fact that marketing chief Ed Razek believes “transsexuals” and plus sized models are not capable of selling the “fantasy”.
— Nikita Dragun (@NikitaDragun) December 6, 2018
trust me sweetie there are plenty of higher quality / inclusive lingerie brands out there. that i would GLADLY spend my money on instead of VS. however, discriminatory comments like that ain’t it sis!
— Nikita Dragun (@NikitaDragun) December 6, 2018
transphobia is CANCELLED.
— Nikita Dragun (@NikitaDragun) December 6, 2018
Victoria’s Secret has not responded to Dragun’s video. In the wake of the Vogue story, it released a statement from Razek, who said, “To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show. We’ve had transgender models come to castings… And like many others, they didn’t make it… But it was never about gender.”
