In Fashion and Beauty Ads, Less Skin and More Empowerment

Updated March 5, 2018 9:36 a.m. ET

Even before the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment, many of the millennial and Generation Z women these brands are courting had been protesting the stereotypical, highly sexualized or unrealistic depictions of women in ads.

“Part of it is the modern push for gender equality, but also because a super sexualized ad is going to make [the brand] seem uncreative and outdated to them,” said Rachel Saunders, insights and strategy director at Cassandra, a research firm that focuses on young consumers. “For young women, buying beauty and fashion products today has less to do with attracting a partner than it did with previous generations. They see it as self-care or being my best self.”

Before, women opposed to such depictions didn’t have the megaphone of social media, she added. They also had fewer alternatives if they decided to give up a particular brand. However, the internet has shifted the balance in the shopper’s favor, giving her more clothing choices and a voice to influence brands. “Big power players have to respond now because consumers have so many ways of getting an alternative now,” Ms. Saunders said. “That wasn’t true for previous generations. For women who wanted to look chic, there were fewer options.”

Last year, Banana Republic posted a video ad on Twitter that was labeled sexist by some of the brand’s followers, for describing its pants as “slimming” on a woman while playing up the trousers’ performance attributes when on a man. The label’s Spring 2018 campaign video, released this year, stars a real-life couple, the Olympic fencers Ysaora Thibus and Race Imboden, fencing in Banana Republic garb. This time the ad plays up the clothes’ quality and fit for both sexes.

CVS Pharmacy, which carries big cosmetics lines including L’Oréal and Maybelline, said in January it will ban excessive retouching and other altering of all its beauty images, to promote female empowerment and combat the unhealthy pursuit of physical perfection. The company is working with the brands it carries to develop specific guidelines. “Our customers are predominantly women and this issue relates to the health and well-being of women and girls,” said

Erin Pensa,

a CVS spokeswoman.

Luxury shoemaker Jimmy Choo late last year ran a promotional video that some fashion followers assailed on social media as sexist and tone-deaf in the #MeToo climate. In the ad, a model in a slinky red minidress is ogled by men as she strides along in high-heeled boots. The video is still on the Jimmy Choo Facebook page, YouTube account and Instagram feed, though the comment feature apparently was disabled on Instagram. The company didn’t comment on the uproar and declined to comment for this article.

Many fashion and beauty companies have built their brands on sexualized images and depictions of beauty unattainable for average women. The #MeToo movement and the rise of socially conscious millennials who support brands they like have intensified discussions of how women are portrayed in fashion ads. The fashion industry also is grappling with published allegations of sexual misconduct among its ranks.

Gorgeous models in glamorous settings have been a go-to formula to sell clothes and cosmetics. “Nobody wants to look at a giant zit on a woman’s face in an ad,” said Madonna Badger, co-founder of ad agency Badger & Winters. “But when the image is overly retouched to the point of human unachievability, that’s when it becomes a problem. Women think they can never measure up to that and feel they have to go to extreme lengths to be quote unquote perfect.”

Ms. Badger created the Calvin Klein campaigns in the 1990s with Mark Wahlberg and Kate Moss in steamy poses. But she believes brands can find ways to be alluring without degrading women or pressuring them to try to look stereotypically sexy. In 2016 Ms. Badger said her agency wouldn’t create ads that use women as props or objectify them.

But unlike fast-paced clothing trends, the fashion industry itself is slow to change. For example, it has stood by its traditions despite sporadic high-profile calls to abandon too-thin models. In January, the Victoria Beckham label drew fire on social media for an ad with a model many observers considered emaciated. The label didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In recent months, fashion writers have taken on lingerie maker Victoria’s Secret for depicting women as sex kittens. “In the wake of [Harvey] Weinstein, Victoria’s Secret’s lingerie show looked more hopelessly out of date than ever,” read a headline late last year on the website of the U.K. newspaper the Telegraph. On Friday, fashion news and analysis site Business of Fashion published an article with the headline “Society Has Changed. Victoria’s Secret Hasn’t.” The company didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Wang, who trafficks in a sexy, cool-girl aesthetic that has been dubbed model off duty, says he already had the idea for his ad campaign before the #MeToo movement began. While he was working on the ads, women were sharing their accounts of sexual harassment. “Along the way, that’s been an influence,” he said. “Not directly but peripherally. Obviously, you can’t ignore what’s going on around us right now.” The Fall 2018 runway show Mr. Wang staged last month referenced the movement more directly, with a female-as-CEO theme.

Mr. Wang’s new campaign spotlights clothes and accessories that had been worn by spokesmodels and muses such as actors Taraji P. Henson and Zoë Kravitz as well as model Kaia Gerber, the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford. Albert Watson, a fashion, celebrity and fine-art photographer shot portraits of the clothes, shoes and other items.

“We took the women out of the campaign and tried to capture their spirit, the spirit of these women who inspire me,” Mr. Wang said. The women chose items from the Spring 2018 collection they identified with, then lived with them for a while before sending them back. The women answered questions about what they were doing when they were wearing the clothes. Their replies run alongside portraits of the goods.

A representative for Alexander Wang emphasized that the new campaign doesn’t mean future ones won’t include women. Mr. Wang, who eschews traditional print ads, will display the photos on social media and at stores in New York, London and Beijing. “I love being able to see people’s response,” he said. “If it can be provocative in a way that it can spark conversation, that’s very interesting to me.”