This is how underwear brands fight to claim the female body

When Marissa Vosper and Lauren Schwab founded the intimate apparel brand Negative Underwear in 2014, they decided not to photoshop women's bodies in marketing materials.

Vosper called the move “a no-brainer” — typical of a company that primarily sells underwire and ultra-minimalist bras. The skin would have texture. The bodies would have stretch marks.

Overall, the approach seemed to work. The initial run of Negative Underwear sold out in two weeks. But there have been unanticipated consequences. A recent ad featuring a photo of a woman's breasts in a bra showed delicate stretch marks crossing her chest. Some consumers complained that the stretch marks looked too uniform. Vosper recalled people writing things online like, “There's no way her stretch marks are that perfect.”

For more than a century, lingerie advertisements have emphasized an idealized version of the female form. During the early years of this century, Victoria's Secret traded on almost heavenly expectations of perfection. In advertisements, their “angels” seemed not to have a mole out of place.

But in the last decade, newer underwear brands have focused on so-called imperfections, such as stretch marks. In the lingerie business, the once-banned “defect” is approaching the industry standard.

Stretch marks appear in product photos from Aerie, Cuup, ASOS, Boohoo, Missguided and Target.

When Cayla O'Connell founded her underwear brand in 2017 (previously known as Knickey, recently relaunched as Subset), she saw that most of the major underwear brands were run by men. She wanted to offer a different perspective.

“As a woman, I want to participate in consuming things that speak to me,” she said. “And my reality is that I have stretch marks.”

O'Connell said she viewed Subset's commitment to showcasing a diverse cast of models (and carrying sizes up to 4XL) as something that set it apart from larger companies. Those brands, he said, are “strategically diving into the zeitgeist,” with occasional ad campaigns featuring models with stretch marks.

O'Connell sees that strategy as disingenuous. “It's a direct result of the backlash that some of these companies were getting around seeing women as objects,” she said.

“We don't alter women's bodies,” Vosper said. Note to doubters: stretch marks are real.

“Some people think it's never enough and some people think it's too much, and everyone has a comment when it comes to women's bodies,” she said.

By: MATTIE KAHN