clothing

‘Don’t They Realise We are Human?’: The Uneasy Alliance Between Fashion and Feminism
Picture of author Manjima Bhattacharya. She has short white-and-grey hair and is wearing dark thick-rimmed glasses

“Historically, feminism and fashion have been pitted against one another,” writes Manjima Bhattacharjya in her book, Mannequin. It’s a dilemma the fashion industry has struggled with for decades – being perceived as flippant, or existing in a vacuum”

By Curated Content
September 17, 2018
‘Don’t They Realise We are Human?’: The Uneasy Alliance Between Fashion and Feminism
Review: What Does Clothing Have to do with Sexuality in the Media?
A screenshot of an advertisement. It depicts a woman in a red saree with a dark blue blouse. She is wearing necklaces. She is squatting and seemingly washing clothes. Beside her, to the left, is a steel bucket.

Attire and sexuality in the common imagination and approach as represented (and also as received) by the mainstream media tell us a lot about prevailing attitudes to both. Advertisements bombard us with all kinds of representations, negative and positive, of human sexuality, sexual expression and desire. In the creation and marketing of attire and fashion, there is a great awareness of sexual buy-in or rejection by the market – that’s us.

By Shikha Aleya
June 15, 2021
Review: What Does Clothing Have to do with Sexuality in the Media?
Marked Women, Unmarked Men
A water-colour drawing of two bull dogs on a red background approaching each other face-to-face with anger.

If a woman’s clothing is tight or revealing (in other words, sexy), it sends a message — an intended one of wanting to be attractive, but also a possibly unintended one of availability. If her clothes are not sexy, that too sends a message, lent meaning by the knowledge that they could have been. There are thousands of cosmetic products from which women can choose and myriad ways of applying them. Yet no makeup at all is anything but unmarked. Some men see it as a hostile refusal to please them.

By Curated Content
June 17, 2016
Marked Women, Unmarked Men
Extra Large
A posterised image of a woman walking down a supermarket isle with a bag slung over

“Large will not fit you.” / She is scoping me, up and down, eyes / Flicking fast and darting away…“Try extra-large instead.”

By Damini Kulkarni
January 3, 2023
Extra Large
Extra Large
A posterised image of a woman walking down a supermarket isle with a bag slung over

“Large will not fit you.” / She is scoping me, up and down, eyes / Flicking fast and darting away / From the roundness of my breasts / To the happy jiggle of my thighs.

By Damini Kulkarni
August 2, 2016
Extra Large