India is not ready for plus-sized models, and it's a crying shame

Image for representational purposes only. Photo Courtesy: Twiiter/Sonakshi Sinha

When I was an adolescent with chubby cheeks and what is deemed as baby fat, I would often wonder how I could get myself to look like the svelte women I saw so often on TV. In fact, for the longest time, I yearned to be like Kareena Kapoor's Poo (you might remember her from Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham, which was released in 2001).

And  I wasn't the only one. For most Indian teenagers in the new millennia, Poo's metallic bikini tops that allowed her perfectly-toned waistline to shine, were an aspiration their parents would never allow to become a reality.

Kareena of 2001 was the ideal body type for a lot of us. A rounded behind, a flat stomach, toned legs, and no bra bulge--what more could a girl want? Yet, she was criticised for being plump--until the debacle which was Tashan, when Kareena became the poster child for size zero in India.

To say that she gave into pressure, exerted perhaps by her industry and popular opinion, would not be wrong. She wouldn't have been the first actress to succumb to the mantra that wafer-thin slim is the only sexy, and she won't be the last.

Take a look at Parineeti Chopra. And then, take a look at Sonakshi Sinha. When they made their debuts, both Parineeti and Sonakshi were average-sized women. Yes, you wouldn't have called them skinny; but you wouldn't have labelled them fat either. At least not in the real world.

A few years in Bollywood and dramatic weight loss transformations later, they are exactly like the actresses before them--with tiny waists and perfectly-toned assets that demand hours and hours at the gym, not to mention severe diet restrictions, and secret trips to wellness clinics in Europe that cost an arm and a leg and then some.

Sooner or later, every chubby Bollywood actress gets in shape. Photo courtesy: Twitter/ParineetiChopra

It's the unwavering demand for the coveted 34-26-34 figure that's morphed these actresses into perfectly-sculpted divas--so much so, that it is terribly hard to spot a female lead, on television or the big screen,  who fits into a size bigger than six.

But this is not a problem of the Indian entertainment industry. This is a problem of the entire Indian society--and it's quite a big one.

It starts with what we see on shelves. According to a Delhi-based fashion design student, designers--famed or otherwise--rarely create outfits for people bigger than a size eight. Now eight, is a healthy number. But it's not the average Indian size, which happens to be a number 12.
Now, 12 is a good number, except according to fashion standards, any size above eight is considered to be a plus size.

Perhaps this is the reason why high-street brands rarely sell clothes for plus-sized women. And plus-sized labels--which are but a handful, to begin with-are a different league altogether. With limited choices and done-to-death silhouettes, they are rarely at par with the labels thin women usually shop at.

So, it should come as no surprise that when a plus-size brand, aLL, participated in the Lakme Fashion Week earlier this year for what was touted as India's first plus sized show, their offerings were terribly lacklustre. (Believe it or not, hoodies and leggings were the highlight of their show.) And, the show was so different in tone from the rest, it just seemed out of place. As if no one, not even the organisers were taking it seriously. Instead, it seemed as if the show had been put in place because a box saying 'inclusion' had to be ticked.

But like I said, it's not a problem of just the showbiz industry, even though it starts there.
We live in a society that believes that if you've got too much of it, you shouldn't flaunt it. Chubby young girls are often told to stay away from miniskirts and crop-tops. Big girls who grow up to be big women are advised to hide behind bolts and bolts of fabric, because when you show too much skin and you've got too much flab--you're not a pretty sight. And then, who'll marry you?

The plus-size fashion show at Lakme Fashion Week this wear was a sham. Photo: Yogen Shah

Funnily enough, India is still on the lookout for its next plus-sized top model. But where will she come from?

How will a girl bigger than the average size get the confidence to walk the ramp when the walk from the trial room to the mirror is marred with shame because that pair of jeans she tried on exaggerates every bulge, instead of flattering her hips? How will a young girl with a wide waist ever believe that she's capable of being a model when every woman she sees on her television screen has a perfect hourglass figure?

More importantly, how will an industry that refuses to make clothes for plus-sized women, ever find an army of plus-sized models?

To have Indian plus-sized models is a far-fetched dream, one that will require a series of precedents set before it actually becomes a reality. Precedents that prove big is beautiful, in every possible way. Because, well, isn't it?