POWER PLAY

Thanks to the ever-growing power of hashtag activism to spread and amplify injustices, consumers are engaged with what’s happening in the world around them like never before, demanding this same awareness from the brands they spend with too. Designers are jumping on the bandwagon at varying rates, with varying results—ranging from tokenism to real world change. So in 2021, does the term ‘empowerment’ still hold cultural relevance, or has the commercialisation of feminism weakened our trust into buzzword territory?

This year, former lingerie powerhouse Victoria’s Secret announced an end to its famed ‘Angels’, a slew of top models central to the brand’s marketing strategy, up until now. A set of wings that comes with standards contorted through a distinctly male gaze can, thankfully, no longer be glossed over as female empowerment.

The demise of Victoria’s Secret is a shining example of a flip in consumer behaviour in recent years—shoppers are clued up, no longer wanting