Victoria’s Secret has been in hot water after its new “Sexy Little Geisha” outfit was dubbed racist by some critics. The infamous outfit is part of the retailer’s "Go East" collection, a line of Asian-inspired negligées and accessories.
On account of the incident, the nation’s most famous lingerie company has removed the entire "Go East" collection of Asian-inspired lingerie wear from its website, stopping at once the campaign which was described on its website as "Your ticket to an exotic adventure.”
The $98 lingerie one-piece, modeled by South African beauty Candice Swanepoel, consists of a mesh bodysuit with an oval cut-out on the bodice and an “Eastern-inspired” floral print on the bra cups and bottoms, a mini fan and removable obi-belt in the same print, and hair chopsticks with tassels.
The outfit is undoubtedly sexy (even though Swanepoel looks a bit uncomfortable in it), but some say it's offensive to Asian women — particularly the Japanese, from whom geisha culture originated. Historically, geishas are professionally trained entertainers and generally cater to a male audience, but many non-Japanese mistake them for prostitutes.
Possible cultural misidentification aside, critics say the outfit perpetuates the sexualization of Asians, while some — such as writer Jessica Wakeman of The Frisky — say that a corporation capitalizing on a geisha ensemble for “role-playing lingerie seems a bit tasteless”. Others, however, think critics are overreacting and that the backlash is "ridiculous".
"You might as well [criticize] the 'sexy French maid' [costume] for sexualizing French women," wrote commenter Inna on Styleite.com. "It's meant to be playful and sexy, not degrading."
