COMU3150Assessment1-JunshanZhao-BrandyMelville

Have you ever heard of Brandy Melville?
This is an American sweetheart style girl clothing brand from the United States.
In the past half month, I interviewed 30 female students at random at UQ and asked them what were the first three keywords that came to mind when they thought of the brand. The most frequently mentioned are: youth, beautiful, and thin.
One of the biggest features of this brand is that all the clothes are only one size. Brandy Melville also confirms that the brand’s audience is tall and thin women. Due to its novel marketing methods and not too expensive prices, down to high school students, up to working women, are loyal fans of this brand.
Brandy Melville’s fashion style is very unified, which is basically a solid color tank top, with American school style skirts
Several female celebrities have also been spotted wearing the label, providing free advertising for the brand.
Tight, good-looking, only the most fashionable girls can wear, these elements constitute the most popular “BM style.”
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the much-discussed one size policy of Brandy Melville’s promotional culture, there is the shop assistant culture. Clerk culture refers to the store only recruiting tall, good-looking, slim girls to work as clerks and cashiers.
As funny as it sounds, a clothing brand seems to be the standard of beauty. It’s also what makes Brandy Melville famous, “BM style” is not just a dress style, but a fashion attitude.
That culture has led to a polarizing reputation for Brandy Melville. Some people think that one size takes care of tall and thin girls, and BM style is really novel. Others believe that the prevalence
of BM style has increased body anxiety among women. It is an act of body shame for a clothing brand to only sell clothes in one size.
As Brandy Melville’s popularity has grown, so has its controversy. These controversies have also made Brandy Melville more and more known, and more and more female consumers have begun to pursue BM fashion.
Brandy Melville is a marketing success, packaging the brand’s clothing into a unique, sought-after style of clothing.
These promotional cultures promote identity and a sense of social belonging while wearing their products. But such promotional culture is also less inclusive. Style can be defined, but body shape is not. Every body type should find something that suits them.
There should be no threshold or standard for beauty, and confidence is far more important than the size displayed on the clothes.