Consuming Passions Essay

Amanda Lazcano
Professor Scott
English 1
10 February 2013
Consuming Passions “It all began when Roy went shopping for me, and felt out of place in a lingerie store. Victoria’s Secret tried to change that.” Gaye Raymond was the wife of Roy Raymond who created the multi-billion dollar store known as Victoria’s Secret. Roy Raymond and his wife first opened their store in Palo Alto, California in 1977. The couple’s envision was to create a store where men felt comfortable shopping for lingerie for their significant other. This came to be one of the most successful ideas yet. Unfortunately, this was not a happy ending for founder Roy Raymond. At the age of 46 in August of 1993, Raymond took his life and jumped off the San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Now, we may look at V.S as a store full of naughty attire and models we hope to look like one day--for women that is--but it is more significant than that. It went from being about classy undergarments to a new era of popular culture recognized by all. Walking into the nicely lit Victorian-esque room for the first time, you are astonished with the framed black and white portraits hanging on the walls of models, the nicely organized brassiere’s hanging on white wooden hangers, and panties that are laid out perfectly on top of a black dresser, but the one thing that catches your eye are the workers in V.S. The all have a very distinctive look to them. Most have their hair up in a pony-tail, a slight pump on their heel, and dressed in all black. So, to get a better understanding about V.S, I went inside the store and asked a young lady if she would be interested in being interviewed, and with her consent, she agreed; her name was Neeraj. I asked her why they all wore black and she said, “Well, we’re required to wear 90% black and look as natural as possible. I guess it makes us all look professional and well put together. Cause you know, you go into other clothing stores and everyone wears whatever they want; well, not here!” So, what does this expose about V.S? Why are women dressed in all black? Well, it could resemble as being a sophisticated store, professional, confidence, or even control. Now, in the book Signs of Life in the U.S.A by Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon; they shared a method with us called, “The Semiotic Method.” Semiotics can easily be understood as, “study of signs.” (pg. 9 S.O.L) So, what this reveals about the women workers at V.S is they are showing their confidence in what they are selling. We may have all been victims of this particular event. Whenever a man or woman walk into their store and do not know what to purchase, the workers are there guiding them and showing the latest ‘sexy’ fashion. After all, Victoria’s Secret is infamous for their sexy attire and are now expanding their mogul by introducing their PINK clothing line. Not only has V.S completed a notorious lingerie line, but they have expanded their publicizing to clothing as well. You are consumed with the employees in all black and the decor, but upon walking into the store, you see the label ‘PINK’ on their clothing. In the PINK room, you see pink sweatpants with animal print and LOVE PINK across the chest, and along your left thigh area. As well as tops, sweaters, dresses, yoga and lounge; the choices are endless! After looking at countless pictures of PINK, I noticed that they were all young woman, specifically young women in college. What this characterizes about V.S is they are emerging from undergarments to comfortable clothing. Since, in college most of us spend majority of our time studying and working, and not taking the time to look attractive. So, we just throw on clothes that are comfortable to walk around in, and sit in class for however long and be relaxed. I asked the young woman in V.S Neeraj, “If you saw a teenager, or maybe a college student asking you they are interested in something loose-fitting, comfortable, etc. where would you direct them?” She looked at me

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