The blatant truth about Brandy Melville

Inside almost every young women’s closet, you can find the highly questionable and controversial business of Brandy Melville. This fashion symbol of our youth’s culture has held a distinctive grasp on women for the past decade through their minimalist and effortlessly fashionable clothes. Its seemingly nonexistent form of marketing raises questions as to how it has become such a household item and ‘closet staple’ worldwide. The brand is completely faceless with no distinctive CEO and its exclusivity in sizing and product availability has somehow fostered a cult-like following of girls who feel obligated to this brand. 

From randomly selling olive oil to opening its own cafe, Brandy presents itself as an undoubtedly unusual company. In its stages of gaining popularity in the early 2010s, Brandy heavily relied on social media for publicity, urging girls to send in photos of their outfits wearing Brandy Melville to be used as models. Their employment process wasn’t too far off from this either as accounts from several past workers revealed that a worker's ability to send in photos of their outfits daily was detrimental to not only keeping their position, but even being hired in the first place. Even customers could be unexpectedly asked to be photographed, without any knowledge of how those photos would be utilized. Through this form of ‘scouting’ the most appealing faces to represent their brand, Brandy made itself the epitome of modern-day beauty standards to be posted online. 

This desirable portrayal of femininity translates beyond their online presence and is seen in over 90 stores worldwide and even their everyday customers. They reflect the idea of a laid-back, yet simply chic style through lacy cami tops, mini denim skirts and feminine graphic prints, while allowing the attractiveness of their models to make up the brand's aesthetic more than the clothes themselves. This ideal image of what your average brandy customer would look like has come to life in the store’s employees, who generally consist of thin and conventionally attractive white women. If this message of exclusivity wasn't made clear in all of Brandy’s forms, it was strictly reinforced by their one-size-only policy, which was made for much smaller sizes. This theme is recognized by many shoppers worldwide, including Kamila Soto (’26). 

"There's a specific audience that Brandy aims for, so when you're shopping in the store and you feel like you don't fit the vibe, you definitely feel out of place,” Soto said.  

Although Brandy paints itself as the ideal basics brand offering its customers seemingly ‘high-quality’ clothes at a relatively lower price, it remains indifferent to other fast fashion brands. Companies like Shien and Forever 21 that use exploitative labor are frequently dismissed and considered unacceptable, yet Brandy's exploitative practices are just as significant. Their high usage of Chinese sweatshop workers stationed in Prato, Italy are suffering the same troubles as every other similar corporation. 

Brandy has made small strides in demounting their severe criticism by allowing certain products to have a higher size spectrum, yet the major underlying problems remain. The destructive and unhealthy beauty standard that this brand projects is simultaneously what it thrives on and how it gains such a high interest among consumers.

Brandy Melville / Contributor

One of Brandy’s website models pose showcasing the brands new releases.