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"I'm No Angel" - Campaign Blasts The Victoria's Secret Body Ideal

Because there are so many different forms of sexy.

Haven't heard of Lane Bryant...yet?

Well, you're about to.

It is an American retailer and for the brand's Cacique range - which includes all manner of intimate apparel for women over a certain clothing size - they have launched a new campaign celebrating diversity in women's bodies.

Cacique model Ashley shows HER sexy side [Lane Bryant]
Cacique model Ashley shows HER sexy side [Lane Bryant]

The campaign's title - "I'm No Angel" - is a serious nod to a rival lingerie brand: Victoria's Secret, whose slender "Angels" have become synonymous with the most coveted body type, at least in the United States, if not elsewhere in the world.

I'm No Angel says the campaign. [Lane Bryant]
I'm No Angel says the campaign. [Lane Bryant]

Lane Bryant's promotion video showcases models of varying body shapes with the Cacique girls Ashley, Justine, Elly, Marquita, Candice and Victoria dancing around, posing and asserting things like "Wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same."

And we have to say, we agree.

The Lane Bryant message comes shortly after Victoria's Secret was widely criticised, in Autumn 2014, for launching an advert with the slogan "The Perfect Body" next to models such as Lily Aldridge and Behati Prinsloo.

Although the lingerie megabrand claimed that the slogan referred to the perfect fit of their new shapely underwear range, many took the advert as a body shaming message, suggesting that there was one "perfect" body ideal.

This isn't the first time, of course, that a big brand has attempted to challenge the skinny ideal.

Most people in the UK will be familiar with Dove's "real beauty" campaign, which tried to celebrate diversity in both skin tone and body type.

This, however, is one of the first times that a big American retailer has attempted to upset the popular mindset which positions the ultra-slender as the ultimate ideal.

Behind the scenes at the Cacique shoot [Lane Bryant]
Behind the scenes at the Cacique shoot [Lane Bryant]

It isn't a criticism of the skinny physique. As the website says: "sexy comes in many shapes and sizes", but an acknowledgement that you don't have to be skinny to be considered desirable.

CEO Linda Heasley said of the campaign that it is "designed to empower ALL women", to discover our own sense of "sexy" and to "confidently show it."

As part of encouraging women to be confident in our sexiness, Lane Bryant is inviting us to take pictures of our own versions of sexiness, to post them to Instagram with the tag line "share your sexy" and to tag the brand.

The best of these they are sharing on their website.

[Women's Body Types Through The Ages: HERE'S Why There's No 'Perfect' Body]

[Victoria's Secret 'Perfect Body' Campaign Branded 'Offensive']

So, what do you think of the Cacique campaign? Let us know in the comments!