SCINTILLAE
Styling Art Direction Photography dhvani
Bringing Back
AUDREY
Embodiment of the characteristics of Audrey Hepburn as an actress and also as one of the most iconic char acters played by her in all time, ‘ Holly Golightly’. The careless, whimsical, eccentric character along with extensive beauty and over-the -top drama; is given a modern twist. A line and frock like dresses that reflect the grace, bold red lips, hats and eye masks. Channeling Audrey’s classic style and her eccentric attitude together in a contemporary series of pictures.
Ultimate Grace and Untimely Poise On model (Tanya) : Dress - Mango; Shoes - Altuzarra
Hold your Breath, Look into my eyes On model (Tanya) : Dress - French Connection UK; Hair accesory - Aldo Accesories
Heading to Breakfast at Tiffany’s
On model (Tanya) : Top - Divided by H & M, Skirt - H & M; Hat - Brandy Melville; Shoes- Altuzarra; Bag - Vincci
Funny Face; Not
On model (Tanya) : Shirt Dress - Etam
Beauty With Brains
On model (Tanya) : Sweater - Zara; Pants - Mango;
Epitome of
GRACE? When I say the word ‘woman’, most minds conjure up images of flawless, long-haired beauties. Flawless women wearing a smile and sashaying in grace. Some of you would imagine a model strutting down the ramp. A few of you would imagine your mothers decked up. But a very rare number of you would imagine, a woman doctor or a woman soldier or just a working woman, for that matter. Even the Google image search engine came up with pictures of fair skinned, blue eyed and long-haired women, when the key word input was ‘woman’. At the same time if you were to think of a ‘man’; you would associate strength and hard-work with it. Tall muscular men who mean business are the only ones who qualify to ‘be a man’. All that pressure to ‘man up’. These lines that our society has drawn for years now, has led us to believe in things that aren’t entirely true. How amusing to discover that our belief system is shaped via typecasting. And these stereotypes are so deep-rooted that they have simply become a way, of how our society works. We call our society a patriarchal one, but we forget the pressure, that we put on men, by doing that. We fight for ‘so-called feminism’ under the pretence, of a fight for gender equality; but we forget that it’s women who agree to be the weaker gender in the first place. If we define our position on our own, agree to being at the bottom
of the ladder, I don’t see how we can blame the ladder for being too high. Maybe; there’s no ladder. Or maybe the ones on top of the ladder are way too scared to fall. We teach our daughters to be graceful, mandate the skills of cooking and cleaning to them, call out on girls who wear ‘unsuitable’ clothing, slut-shame our fellow female friends for simple life choices and after all of that, we fight for feminism. We want a ‘ladies seat’ reserved on buses and boyfriends that open doors for us, and yet we scream for gender equality. We strive to be the ‘perfect woman’ for the man we love and his family, and change towns, homes, cities and career paths to fit into a new family and then, we expect gender equality, after clearly establishing ourselves as
mere spineless rag dolls who are trophies for their families. All the protests, candle marches, campaigns, ads, discussions, petitions and efforts towards the upliftment of women are going to keep failing; because, us women, don’t need validation from the society for being equal to men, but from our own selves. Women make women unequal to men. Women pick their own perils and create their own wars. The day we stop being the ‘perfect woman’ and the day we stop asking for equality from a gender, that’s more or less indifferent, is the day when we truly free ourselves. Let’s pledge to be loving individuals with self-respect and pride while we cross over the thresholds of being men and women.
A photo story on how-towear the Pantone Color of the Year 2017 GREENERY
Greenery
Breaking the
STEREOTYPES
Two Worlds; Defined Loud Models: Aastha, Zara, Mansi, Urva, Ajay & Raghav Styling, MUA: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Avishi
Wheels are Turning Pretty Wild Models: Aastha, Zara, Mansi, Urva, Ajay & Raghav Styling, MUA: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Avishi
‘You are taking ages to dress up Dude! Why are you such a Girl!’ The dude in question is sure to take offense at this. Why shouldn’t he? He just got accused of being such a girl, he is sure to be offended. On the contrary why should he be? Is being a girl, an insult? Was that petty comment an attack towards his masculinity? In its literal sense, it most definitely wasn’t; but the comment sure was headed that way. In this flawed society of ours, we have taken our biological divides way too far; which in turn is not only making all the genders vulnerable but also questioning their individuality. The stereotypes that we have set for the respective genders are so restrained in their specific boundaries; that the actual differences are left to be stand-alone excuses. Our heads are infested with thesegregation that girls are supposed to do things in a particular manner whilst boys have their own peculiar behavioural patterns. We forget the basic fact that everything boils down to: We are all Humans, breathing in the same air and using the same of what this earth has to offer, including its hostility and shame among the other nicer things. We have witnessed uproar of feminism lately; where females are continuously trying to bring down the discrimination and rise as equals in this gender game. And that is because they are feeling invaded, inferior and attacked. What they are forgetting is, that by pressing on the issue of discrimination towards them they are only highlighting one side of the story. They are victimizing their own gender, confirming to the stereotype that theirs is the weaker gender and they are in dire need of empowerment. Unknowingly, the feminists; who believe themselves to be the scapegoats; have succeeded to lead their bandwagon to the slaughter house. While this might lead us to think that men have it good; again we stand wronged. Men are often subjected to ridicule if they don’t conform to the requisite norms of physique, judged if their interests are inclined towards Arts or Humanities and more often than not; made fun of if they wear any colour that borders along the lines of pink. They are always expected to be the stronger person, give up their seats in public transport for ladies after a long day at work, take care of the cheque and pay the bills. Men and their duties
have been put on a pedestal and they are required to fulfil the gender role stereotypes that our society has chalked out for them. There are people in the society who completely adhere to these stereotypes and accept the gender divides like the word of god. In fact, we are so used to some
D
M S P
of these norms that they have become conventional practices and we don’t realize how we have fallen in tune with them. But anyone even imperceptibly out of line is looked down upon. We have managed to shun down individualities in the name of gender roles and unconventional behaviours are often an incident
Destination Equality; Destination Peace
Models: Aastha, Zara, Mansi, Urva, Ajay & Raghav Styling, MUA: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Avishi
of variety, a topic to talk about and there’s always a question to raise. What is freedom of expression if our notions are barred behind sexualisation and how can we say the world is looking towards a brighter tomorrow if we cannot let every individual choose for themselves as humans: not a man or a woman.
Uljhein
DHAAGEIN
Unravelling Light Models: Monalisa Styling, MUA, Photography: Dhvani Thakkar
Furling Open Models: Monalisa Styling, MUA, Photography: Dhvani Thakkar
Shine
BRIGHT
Unimportant; Invisible Models: Zara Styling, MUA: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Harsh Hudda
Walking out from behind Shadows Models: Zara Styling, MUA: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Harsh Hudda
Still I Rise Models: Zara Styling, MUA: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Harsh Hudda
Model: Urva Styling: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Dhvani Thakkar
Desi
SWAG
Model: Meghana Styling: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Dhvani Thakkar
Model: Meghana Styling: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Dhvani Thakkar
Model: Gitanjali Styling: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Dhvani Thakkar
Model: Akshay Styling: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Dhvani Thakkar
Model: Ankita Styling: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Dhvani Thakkar
Model: Razin Styling: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Dhvani Thakkar
Model: Rashmi Styling: Dhvani Thakkar Photography: Dhvani Thakkar