Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee has come under the heat once again for the launch of his latest fine jewellery campaign. While previously, trolls targeted him for the “obscene and objectionable” mangalsutra campaign which also featured a same-sex couple, this time the models’ “unhappy” expression is cause of the flak.
This time, people decided to direct their their hate towards the faces of the models and their facial expressions. They criticized the women in the photo and how they were posing with “unhappy, sad” expressions. We live in a world where women are expected to be the bubbly Manic Pixie Dream Girls, and the photo seems to be a subversion of this trope. How unacceptable, right?
Remember the time when people said women superheroes like Captain Marvel should smile often? That’s what they did here.
The sad part is, the trolling didn’t stop at the expression of the models, as people took body shaming to another level altogether and started commenting on their skins and “health”. People said how they should “get their blood tests done”, how they look “constipated” and have such “lusterless” skin.
In a country where women should use whitening creams to look ‘fair and lovely’, should always listen to the unsolicited comments of uncles and aunties who tell them to lose or gain some weight, how could the designer even think about going against such beauty standards? Women should, at any cost, conform to the feminine ideals that have been set by the society.
While there were many netizens bent on trolling the brand, some people came forward in support of the campaign.
This is not the first time Sabyasachi has been called out for a campaign. Earlier, he was targeted for The Royal Bengal Mangalsutra campaign, which featured models wearing the “intimate fine jewellery”, and also a same-sex couple. People said that the photos were “distasteful” and “obscene”.
If the models had used thick layers of makeup and a bright lipstick, these comments would never have emerged. But wait, aren’t we called out for using too much makeup, that we are attracting attention? So they should have gone unfiltered. But that’s what they did, right?
Can anyone tell us what are women supposed to do then?