--- title: Victoria's Secret Finally Hired a Plus-Size Model. Will it Save the Brand? description: Victoria's Secret welcomed its first plus size model, Ali Tate Cutler, to boost sales and promote a new lingerie brand, Bluebella. authors: - name: Kristen Bahler role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/ bio: Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. Today, she leads Money's sponsored content channel and reader-favorite franchises like Best Places to Live and Best Places to Travel. education: Northeastern University, MA Journalism at_money_since: 2016 articles: 52 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bahler/ published: '2019-10-07T17:04:56.000Z' modified: '2024-05-17T04:19:24.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Body Image - fashion - Retail word_count: 339 canonical: https://money.com/victorias-secret-plus-size-model-ali-tate-cutler/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Victoria's Secret Launches UK Lingerie Label Bluebella At The Fifth Avenue Flagship Store With Founder Emily Bendell And Campaign Muse Ali Tate](https://img.money.com/2019/10/victorias-secret-plus-model-bluebella-1178985971.jpg) *Emily Bendell and Ali Tate attend as Victoria's Secret launches the UK lingerie label Bluebella with founder Emily Bendell and campaign muse Ali Tate in New York City on October 04, 2019.* Victoria’s Secret is pulling out all the stops to revive its plummeting sales. Over the last three years, the brand has pivoted to athleisure, dropped—and then [re-launched](https://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-swim-returns-disappoints-some-2019-3)—its swimwear line, and attempted to [align itself with the #MeToo movement](https://www.wsj.com/articles/victorias-secret-rethinks-the-supermodel-11568140125?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1) (never mind those pesky rumors that its parent company’s CEO was involved in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking ring). Now, according to *[E! Online](https://www.eonline.com/news/1079999/meet-ali-tate-cutler-the-first-size-14-model-to-appear-in-a-victoria-s-secret-campaign),* the beleaguered lingerie staple is partnering with Bluebella, a UK-based intimates company. The duel line hit stores on Friday, with a marketing campaign starring “body positivity” influencer Ali Tate Cutler — the first time Victoria's Secret has featured a plus-size model in its advertising. It might be too little too late. L Brands, Victoria’s Secret's parent company, lost [about 40% of its value](https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/08/23/l-brands-still-cant-fix-its-biggest-problems.aspx) from August 2018 to August 2019, according to *The Motley Fool.* It also recently parted ways with chief marketing officer Ed Razek, who [told *Vogue*](https://www.vogue.com/article/random-identities-stefano-pilati-ssense-launch) that transgender and plus-size models shouldn't participate in runway shows because that wouldn’t jive with the fantasies of the men who tune in (Victoria’s Secret's hired its first trans model [earlier this year](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a28601304/victoria-secret-first-transgender-model-valentina-sampaio/)). There's one bright spot in the L Brands portfolio, though. Sales of Bath & Body Works grew 10% year-over-year, earnings show. The iconic lotion company has hopped on the “natural” and “self care” bandwagons, and young shoppers have rewarded its efforts. Bath & Body Works is outperforming its sister company so incredibly that Barington Capital Group, which has a stake in L Brands, urged it to [split from Victoria’s Secret](https://www.wsj.com/articles/l-brands-faces-pressure-to-separate-victorias-secret-bath-body-works-11551761941?mod=article_inline) altogether. As millennials continue to flock to new players in the lingerie space, like Rihanna's Fenty line, and [Aerie](https://money.com/walmart-home-depot-tj-maxx-strong-sales/?iid=sr-link5), which has always emphasized body positivity and airbrush-free ads, Victoria’s Secret is struggling to play catch up. But Tate Cutler, the company's new plus-size model, tells E! that things are headed in the right direction. “We needed disruption in the industry,” she says. “Victoria's Secret has such a big influence and such a big platform that this could really be transformative for a lot of people." ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/victorias-secret-plus-size-model-ali-tate-cutler/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Fashion", "item": "https://money.com/fashion/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Victoria's Secret Finally Hired a Plus-Size Model. 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