"I don't care someone got assaulted the clothes are still cute!" : after watching the Brandy Melville documentary
The ugly disgusting truth of Brandy Melville. A teenage facade of the typical American teen.
What is the hype behind this mediocre fast fashion brand?
Brandy Melville is a brand that has developed a cult like following from its aesthetically pleasing instagram feed that was a dream for every white American teenage girl. POC of course wanted to take part of this “one size fits all” brand but we didn’t see much of them involved in this community because guess what?
The founder of Brandy Melville , Stephan Marsan didn’t want them involved in his money hungry endeavor. He curated the “perfect” American teenage girl. The skinny white girl with blonde hair blue eyes probably on Santa Monica Pier or picking up her surfboard at Newport Beach.
image from : the cut
Since the documentary came out Brandy Helville & the cult of fast fashion people on tik tok who have suppported the brand have vocally expressed their unwaivering support despite LITERAL SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS of the owner (allegedly) and the racist group chat that was shared amongst everyone in the company, these girls are blinded by “how cute” the clothes are.
If you are mad about the documentary “you’re just mad you can’t fit in the clothes”
Apparently all these years of fighting for inclusivity of body types that aren’t “the norm” meaning not sizes extra small and small, means nothing now. The blatant fat phobia in these tik tokers posts are just disgusting. Good luck with college applications and job prospects because digital footprint is a real thing. I have no idea when it became “cute and quirky” to hate non skinny people. Not even fat people, just normal everyday people who have different body types, that yes are developed and do NOT fit into “one size fits all” that is quite equivalent to the body of an underage girl. But most of these people defending Brandy in the trenches are grown women tearing down other women for having empathy towards those who were affected negatively by Brandy Melville and its harmful body image rhetoric it cultivated on social media.
We need to stop being a “hater”, and that they love Brandy Melville “just the way you are” which includes the CEO being a predator (we love that)! The brand promoting ED’s with it’s now updated “One size fits most” do NOT change at ALL! Putting POC in the back of the store or downstairs in stock while you have your white employees be the face of the store? IT IS PERFECT! Brandy Melville don’t listen to the mean haters they are JUST FAT.
This rhetoric is what the company breeds off of. This sick mentality that someones worth is all based on their body ruins the psyche of a young girl. There are so many posts like this on Tik Tok and it is really disheartening to see a lot of the work that body positive activists have done is being overshadowed by these kinds of people.
Brandy Melville Promotes EDs
If you couldn’t tell by the previous screenshots or the “one size fits all” branding, BM promotes EDs. Not only in its consumers but in its employees as well, which is what is talked about in the documentary. The girls previously employed by BM recount their fear of not being able to fit into the clothes anymore. They feared if they “were a healthy weight” which is what one of the ex employees said herself, that they would be fired by Stephan.
The constant “fit checks” that were pictures of mostly underaged girls ended up in a folder on Stephan’s phone that was seen by an employee at the time. Just a folder with all of the fit checks that had been sent to him from various stores to ensure that his employees “fit his standard and image of Brandy Melville”.
This in itself is the reason why Brandy shoppers feel superior. They are unable to “flex” how small they are (which is highly praised in our society) at a place like Forever 21 where it has actual sizes. Okay? So what you fit in a size small but can you fit in the “one size fits all” tag at Brandy? Oh you can’t? I’m better than you. Is basically what BM shoppers who are still riding hard for this horrible brand means (they probably would outright just say to this too if we’re being honest).
This section of EDtwitter (x) is littered with girls like this who shop exclusively at shopping Melville and with their sickness their attitude is sick also. Are all people who have EDs these horrible BM shoppers? No. I had an ED before and I remember just counting everything I ate and if I was able to fit into a smaller size every couple of weeks or cinching something to see if I lost the weight. However, (thankfully) I didn’t have much social media besides tumblr but I never (miraculously) came across the ED section of the blogs.
If you or someone you know is struggling with an ED here is a link to some resources. Even though it may feel like you will die getting help, or the little voice in your head says that if you’re “Fat” you will die or people won’t like you etc. know that you are worth more than just your size. Being a healthy weight will do more benefit to you than preventing your body from getting its proper nutrients to do well… just that! This post isn’t meant to shame anyone with a ED, but more of showing how some people are using their ED as a destructive way to bring down other people and promote a horrible company.
What can we even do? Every brand is unethical.
This is something that the BM defenders also bring up. But like my ex-friend always said “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism”. However, there are “better” alternatives. If we look at the brand dollskill for example, they have had a really bad history of racism, fast fashion clothing, and VERY questionable clothing items. They have since “changed” including a new owner and using my diverse models.
A lot of people who give reasoning as to why they still shop at dollskill is that it is very hard for midsize-plussize people to find alternative clothing. Which is very true! The plus size options are all stuck in the ugliest patterns and silhouettes that are meant to cover and not accentuate. And if there isn’t even non - aesthetic specific plus size clothing, that means there is little to none for the alternative plus sized people. Therefore, a lot of plus sized people who do buy from dollskill state this as a reason. Which in my opinion I feel like is valid.
Many combat this by saying that ultimately we should be only thrifting. Which brings us into the other topic of resellers and how again, there is hardly anything for plus sized people. Even if you decided to not shop at Brandy Melville and opted for something like Shein (a brand well known for exploiting its workers and harm on the environment) you will be able to find your size no problem. The lack of small sizes is not a problem, but Brandy Melville defenders are trying to make it one as if they are oppressed for their size.
There are SO many options for small sized people, Brandy Melville literally rips off from other companies, you will NOT have a problem finding a dupe. But obviously from the people who support Brandy Melville STILL openly on Tik Tok and makes it their whole personality to body-shame those who criticize the company, they will not care nor have empathy because they are obsessed with status and filling the void.
The overconsumption and cult like mentality that Brandy Melville has created is not only alarming but telling of how society views people who are midsize to plus-size (or basically anyone who is not a size extra small to small. And with this we need to continue advocating for a society that doesn’t make a person’s worth solely on their size or body type because one size does not fit all.