On Sunday, Dr Tanaya Narendra AKA Dr Cuterus—popular among millennials for her informative posts around sexual health, sex myths and more—shared a beautiful picture from her recent wedding. Alongside the happy picture, Dr Tanaya wrote a long note highlighting how brides are often body-shamed by friends, families and even bridal stores, naming one of India’s most-respected couturiers, designer Tarun Tahiliani’s Ambawatta outlet. The post has spearheaded a much-needed conversation around fat policing in society in general and in the fashion industry in particular. What’s disheartening is that this is not the first time and definitely not the last curvy brides have faced this stigma.
Image Credit: Instagram/dr_cuterus
In her post, Dr Tanaya wrote, “There is SO much pressure on people to lose weight before their wedding – I had that too. Family friends would ask why I wasn’t “dieting” before my wedding (in a span of one month lmao). Some even went out of their way to send me “slimming teas”.”
Stating how she wished to wear designer Tarun Tahiliani’s lehenga ever since she was 12-years-old, the influencer added, “Bridal stores would body shame (looking at you, Ambawatta @taruntahiliani {yeah, that was a massive shame, because I’d wanted to wear a Tarun T to my wedding since I was 12. Never going there again. [also what’s with these big designers being afraid of big boobs? I cannot sing enough praises for the guys at @anitadongre, who managed to make a beautifully fitting, and genuinely lovely lehenga, all in a span of three weeks!]}) and all kinds of weird comments were thrown at me about my “double chin” and “belly showing in the lehenga haww”.
The no-nonsense woman then gave her body-shamers a piece of her mind: “But you know what? Fuck that. Fuck all that. Look at me, how happy I am. Double chin and all. Just look at me… And that’s all that matters – my closest friends, my lovely family, and my boy love me for who I am. And most importantly, I love me for who I am.”
It is the body shamers who need to be shamed
Soon after Dr Tanaya’s post, fashion watchdog Diet Sabya picked up the conversation, calling everyone to “talk about bridal brands fat shaming”. It has now snowballed into a conversation demanding answers and accountability from the fashion industry.
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Women are not only talking about massive body shaming that they face at all big and small designers’ stores—with store owners and salespersons coming at them with unsolicited advice to lose “a few inches”—but also of another menace that plagues the fashion industry, the fat tax. The same was widely discussed last year, prompting designers like Gauri and Nainika to do away with the extra costs for “extra inches”.
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Our shallow beauty standards need a makeover, not our bodies
Fatphobia in the fashion industry is not new, and while conversations about body positivity are shifting this, the whole movement has been ‘one step forward, two steps back’. In 2019, designer Falguni Peacock rendered an apology after suggesting that plus-size brides should work on losing a few inches, and steer away from fitted lehengas and deep necks.
But when did being fat and fashionable become mutually exclusive? The latest comments under Diet Sabya’s post are proof that not much has changed and fashion has a plus-size problem that needs fixing.
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Women are demanding more representation for plus-sized bodies. Fashion brands, are you listening?
We’re not denying that the current situation is not exactly how it once used to be. Fashion has come a long way from days when only super-slim, airbrushed women in unachievable ultra-thin waists would stare back at us from some sky-high billboards, advertisements on TV or glossy magazines, telling us what’s “acceptable”, and setting beauty standards for women across cultures and continents. That’s why when a brand like Sabyasachi represents a plus-sized model proudly flaunting her curves, it is way more powerful than you would have imagined. More representation would mean more acceptance and normalisation of all shapes and sizes. And an assertion that there’s no such thing as a “quintessential body type”—that’s why it’s more disappointing when the same brand’s store personnel fat shames clients.
Image Credit: Instagram/dietsabya
Coming back to bridal stores fat shaming women, these store aisles need to become more accepting places and wake up to their inherent fat biases. Because if you don’t listen, others will, rendering you redundant and “old-fashioned”.
Lead Image Credit: Instagram/sabyasachiofficial, Instagram/dr_cuterus
