Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
Why must I remould my body to fit the latest women's fashions? An open letter to denim manufacturers
Dear Lee, Levis and other denim folks, it may interest you to know that I have been trying to buy a pair jeans this last one month. I visited your stores. Once. Then once again.
I have been told by your helpful sales staff that skinny is what is in this season. Therefore row upon row of skinny jeans grace your shelves. Skinny in every colour – and a few different waist sizes too. In fact, at one store, a salesperson even showed me a skinny and a super skinny, and suggested that I could perhaps squeeze myself into the regular skinny, even if I couldn’t quite manage super skinny.
Unfortunately, my body has become decidedly un-skinny ever since I crossed 30. I know you must have a bevy of fashion analysts, trend forecasters and whatnots who decide what each season’s ‘hottest trend’ should be. Maybe they even look at the runways in Paris, Milan and New York and get those happening, fashionable trends down for the benefit of us humble folk
I know that’s how the fashion magazines tell us that this summer, fuchsia, cyan, primrose and scarlet are in, while in winter, nothing will do but for all of us to be covered in azure, cerulean, khaki and indigo. But you see, bodies don’t yo-yo like that.
I mean, even with all the dieting that us virtuous women are expected to do, I don’t quite see how I could shave enough off my well-constructed thighs to ever fit into your skinny jeans. My body continues its own ‘out-of-fashion’ journey, and really, is it so hard to continue making stuff for me while selling your skinny to whoever wants it?
It’s not just me either. Talk to every other Indian woman, especially those of us who are past our twenties, and you will hear us crib about jeans that don’t accommodate our bodies. And lest you think it is our bodies that are the problem, no, not really. Our bodies are fantastic as they are, thank you.
So, if the customer is king (or queen in this case), could you start making stuff we could use comfortably rather than having to think how our bodies might be remolded to fit your fashionable skinny?
Thank you.
Pic credit: Santiago Alvarez (Used under a Creative Commons license)
Founder & Chief Editor of Women's Web, Aparna believes in the power of ideas and conversations to create change. She has been writing since she was ten. In another life, she used to be read more...
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
Please enter your email address