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While actress Kareena Kapoor, who sparked off the size-zero trend with her perfect bikini body in the movie Tashan has moved on to a fuller frame, the drive for skinniness has not relented. Women’s bodies are getting increasingly androgynous—thin, narrow hips with flat chests.
The fad for sleeker frame is typified by Bollywood’s leading ladies Priyanka Chopra, the waifish Sonam Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha whose punishing fitness regimes are well-documented. For most women this is only possible with a genetically blessed bone structure along with surgery – something which women India are pursuing with a vengeance.
According to designer Deepti Sudhindra, “women have been losing the curves for some time now. The fixation with thinness began with English model Twiggy whose body was like a clothes hanger. In India, actresses such as Sri Devi were panned for buxom figures. After Kareena lost her Punjabi kuddi image, it is all about as skinny as it can get, 24-inch waist sizes, stretched skin and flat chests.”
However, the trend is not entirely Bollywood driven, shares fashion expert Deepika Govind. High fashion and society plays a big role in propagating waifish looks. “We are living in a very physical society, where people want to hold on to youth. They want to look 25 at the age of 50. Age doesn’t age as it used to before, people want to undergo cosmetic surgeries for that chiseled nose and sharper cheekbones,” she said.
The trend to look like a model also has an adverse impact on women. “In the beauty business such as modeling, looking good is de rigueur. One has to be fit to sell the product,” says Govind. Senior model Sonalika Sahay observes, “I know a lot of girls who aspire to look a like a model. But they don’t know that models are genetically blessed with tall, lean frames and most models work hard to keep it that way”.
Undoubtedly, there is a flip side to this hot but worrisome trend. “If you are severely conscious about your body, you will obviously have health issues later, especially after the age of 35 when women become more susceptible to knee injuries,” warns fitness expert Steve Dave.
Even the fashion world has bucked the trend of size zero model, saying that they send signals of anorexia. Sudhindra uses fuller bodied models for her campaigns while in the West, designers such as Mark Fast have used fiercely plus sized models on the catwalk.
Some fat can do one a lot of good.
The fad for sleeker frame is typified by Bollywood’s leading ladies Priyanka Chopra, the waifish Sonam Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha whose punishing fitness regimes are well-documented. For most women this is only possible with a genetically blessed bone structure along with surgery – something which women India are pursuing with a vengeance.
According to designer Deepti Sudhindra, “women have been losing the curves for some time now. The fixation with thinness began with English model Twiggy whose body was like a clothes hanger. In India, actresses such as Sri Devi were panned for buxom figures. After Kareena lost her Punjabi kuddi image, it is all about as skinny as it can get, 24-inch waist sizes, stretched skin and flat chests.”
However, the trend is not entirely Bollywood driven, shares fashion expert Deepika Govind. High fashion and society plays a big role in propagating waifish looks. “We are living in a very physical society, where people want to hold on to youth. They want to look 25 at the age of 50. Age doesn’t age as it used to before, people want to undergo cosmetic surgeries for that chiseled nose and sharper cheekbones,” she said.
The trend to look like a model also has an adverse impact on women. “In the beauty business such as modeling, looking good is de rigueur. One has to be fit to sell the product,” says Govind. Senior model Sonalika Sahay observes, “I know a lot of girls who aspire to look a like a model. But they don’t know that models are genetically blessed with tall, lean frames and most models work hard to keep it that way”.
Undoubtedly, there is a flip side to this hot but worrisome trend. “If you are severely conscious about your body, you will obviously have health issues later, especially after the age of 35 when women become more susceptible to knee injuries,” warns fitness expert Steve Dave.
Even the fashion world has bucked the trend of size zero model, saying that they send signals of anorexia. Sudhindra uses fuller bodied models for her campaigns while in the West, designers such as Mark Fast have used fiercely plus sized models on the catwalk.
Some fat can do one a lot of good.
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