(Un)Covered

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Femina’s July cover sure packs a punch featuring Ms. Qureshi making a statement about her body. If that doesn’t open up a debate, what would…? Without getting specific about a particular star (to avoid moderation), tell us, is it fair to hold our celebrities to this standard of beauty and body? When they (actors) peddle everything from shampoos to insurance, should we also expect them to look a certain way as part of their off-the-cinemascope duties? Or excelling in the craft of their choice is enough. We want to know what you think!

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Huma Qureshi on Femina July 2014

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66 Comments

  1. First thing first…Huma is best choice for that cover :P
    Secondly..sometime,oh well most of the time,we tend to go too deep the blind alley to pick holes in something which is quite irrelevant..for instance traveling looks..i mean if you have 20 hrs flight or say 12 hrs flight then first thing that comes to my mind is “comfort”…not wearing make up on long flights is okk too…other point being..we all have our off days..i mean there are days when i simply dont want to get dressed in “certain expected” way..i want to ditch my heels and go for flats or say sneakers….m injured and i want cushiony shoes for my feet so why not go for sneakers?? they are public figure and have too many expectations to live on and not dressing proper should not be such a big issue ..We all have bigger fish to fry…dont we??

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  2. My body my rule, but the God of photocopying has his own rules of what Huma’s arms should look like…crazy. Of course there are unsaid rules in the fashion/ film industry. You didn’t get into the industry because you were cerebral or are here to improve the lot of women You thought you looked good or someone else did. Just because you’ve piled on the pounds, you don’t become the spokesman person for self-esteem among women. If fund managers under perform they face flak too. Chin up. This industry places premium on youth and whatever the current trend in beauty is.

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  3. they would be only judge based on their talent if they themselves agree to fact that they are actors and not fashion people… huma is trying to loose weight so that she can fit in those sample size dresses and also may get some mainstream roles .. especially now that she would be seen with varun dhawan .. guess she is trying to hard. This cover is i feel sheer hypocrisy.

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  4. I am totally in love with this cover. I always get upset when people make snide remarks about the actresses who do not fall in the mould of the conventional bollywood actress. I always believe that if they are good at their trade, they will do justice to their role.

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    • Agreed. My favourite actress is a disaster at fashion but she is comfortable in her skin and has an individual style. I respect such people much more than 40 year old actresses making futile attempts to look like 20 year old people or even spunky newcomers who are trying to fit into a certain mould when they don’t fit in. It’s more important to be an individual than be lost in a crowd .

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  5. The beauty industry survives on forcing a certain standard of beauty on consumers. And Bollywood charges us for watching beautiful people(as per the aforementioned standard) do stupid things on screen and calls it acting. So it is a little difficult to take them seriously
    as they cry foul when the same standards are applied to them. Also this so-called “statement making” cover would have been more credible if it was free of photoshop, carefully planned angles and flattering lighting. Umimpressive….

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  6. Being a good actor is just enough.
    Having said that, this cover does no justice to the obvious inherent ‘feminism’ in it’s content. Apart from the quote, nothing else bears a sensibility that actually justifies it.
    It’s just like a Dharma or Yashraj film trying to make a film on social worker( Gori Tere Pyaar Mein) or Prostitution ( Lagaa Chunri Mein Daag).
    It’s also like, drawing an apple and writing ‘APPLE’ below it. Because no one would understand obviously.

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  7. Don’t you just hate it when tall, fit, beautiful celebrities pretend to be normal people who don’t want to conform to the sexy-little-thing standard of a society obsessed with perfection?! I suggest Miss Qureshi to put on 5 stone and then re-do the cover above.

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  8. While no one owes anything when it comes to their own bodies, being in the public scene because of their “Star” status, the normal people I guess expect certain standards the least is dressing up according to their body types and not coming out looking like a clown act. As long as they wear outfits which suit their body types, can work the outfits, who cares if they are skinny or fat. But if they are going to be a brown skinned person talking about the merits of using Fairness products on TV for the big bucks, it would definitely play a role when I see them off screen in their public appearances. And there wont be any HHC if everyone is only looking at celebrities in their on screen performances, so that last line is irrelevant. :P

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    • Yes but surely definitions of what constitutes a clown act and what doesn’t needs some examination. Going by the bitchfest the comments sections seem to be, its like saying celebrities are Demi gods. And if we accept that to be true, it’s silly, and only a reflection of self derision and poor self esteem. There is no need to put these guys up on a pedestal and then beat up on them. In reality we are just beating up on all of us.

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      • Least, I never put anyone on a pedestal . I watch movies if I like the story line or the actors in it. On HHC, I purely go by how they show up. If they wear atrocious/hideous clothes which seem like that they haven’t looked themselves in the mirror, obviously many of us are going to comment on it. The sad sh*t is they have a team together to put that “look’ together. While some comments are based on individual preferences and may be the age group one belongs, for the most part a bad look is a bad look. The problem arises when the commentators take it all too personally maybe because they dress up that way or they feel some actors should not be commented upon which is bullsh*t.

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          • Nah the same commentors say nasty stuff about others who are not their favs or the celebs who are not in the aunty group. LOL. And the hypocrisy boggles since I never see any such defense for the younger ones.

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  9. well-intentioned cover, but rather silly, i think. the copy editors dropped the ball. the ‘i don’t owe you perfection’ implies that huma’s body type is of course, not perfect, perfect being the size/shape of the dress dummy.

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  10. “I don’t owe you perfection!” would make a lot more sense if they chose not to Photoshop. As it stands, they’ve chosen to tweak her to fit their standards of perfection. It reeks of hypocrisy to me. To say one thing and do another.

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  11. By saying I dont owe you perfection….she implies her body isnt perfect. The cover doesent do what it intends to. The issue is that for some reason being thin is accepted as perfect….ideally the cover has to say no matter what your body type is you are perfect….the cover fails

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  12. Love the cover. I don’t think an actress has to look a certain way. And you don’t have to be glamorous to be a good actor. It’s more important for an actor to retain their individuality. My favourite actors are the ones who can act . I give a damn to their fashion choices or weight issues till the time they deliver powerful performances.

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  13. Actresses have a short shelf life. They have to make as many movies, get as many endorsement deals and make as much money as they can within 5-7 years. If they are lucky, maybe they can stretch it to 10 years e.g Kareena Kapoor. That’s the period during which they have to absolutely look their best. It also coincides with them being in their 20s when it is not too hard to look great if you already blessed with good genes. After that, neither the industry nor society at large pays any attention. For the kind of money that they earn during this period, this is the price to pay. If these actresses genuinely want to make a feminist statement, how about they demand more substantial roles rather than playing eye candy opposite actors old enough to be their fathers, produce and direct movies with strong female protagonists, mentor talent without resorting to nepotism etc. etc. Ironically, it’s on these pages that some such actresses are constantly lampooned for not meeting these impossible standards of superficiality.

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  14. I vehemently disagree with the cover. You as an “actor / star” do owe me perfection as your audience – whether perfection is in acting or in beauty and preferably in both, because that is what makes you relevant. If the star’s talent / beauty is off the charts, I’m willing to make that concession. Us mortals dont get away with doing a half a** job at work and you shouldn’t either. Also, I’m willing to let that veil of perfection drop in more off duty/private moments but not otherwise.

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    • That is such rubbish. Please start starring in your own lives ladies! Take a closer look at your statement. What is so “us mortals” about you or anyone? Everyone is just a person. All the actors included. At the end of the day, it’s stuff like self acceptance and self belief that projects itself as beauty and success. Which is why huma quereshi does movies as does a tamanna bhatia. I think it is this attitude of demanding perfection that is creating a lose lose situation. It means a) I will never allow to believe myself to be beautiful and b) I will go around pulling other people down in this blog and in my head as I go around life and just create this atmosphere of negativity and insecurity. Embrace life ladies!

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  15. Lo and behold !This cover is really ironical and hypocritical! Given HQ’s declining body weight as evidenced by her last few appearances in HHC, methinks the caption on the mannequin should instead read : “My target size! Will be there soon.”

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  16. It’s a powerful cover in concept but all of that is lost in the irony of how photoshopped it truly is. Her face and arms have no doubt been streamlined
    And nearly every other time I don’t really care about photoshopping given it’s a sad part of the trade and they want to look perfect BUT on a cover that is meant to speak of positive body image, to use photoshop to then ‘clean up’ that body is highly hypocritical
    serious disappointment
    why did they even bother?

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  17. If they had some waferthin starlet admitting that she likes to be thin and that she cannot bear to be around fat people, that would be far more honest. But then, I am not going to hold my breathe for Femina (aren’t they the peddlers of Miss India and other cardboard cut out for women to aspire to?) to actually run a story like that. Of course, they will have the token big girl and run an article paying lip service to empowerment (or something like that). Pass me the pie, won’t you?

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  18. I think the quote “I don’t owe you perfection” actually defeats the purpose of the cover. Shouldn’t the idea be that whatever size you are is perfect? It’s akin to saying yes, there is a perfect size, and I’m not it and I’m ok with that. If the idea is to take a conversation a level higher then let’s celebrate all shapes and sizes and say they’re all perfect. Why even give a salute to conformation?

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  19. Huma’s uniqueness (in my opinion) is that she does not fit into the norm size ‘0’ required of most bollywood personalities. It’s unlikely that I’ll read the article about Huma but I do hope she spends her energy on her acting skills (she is talented, I think) and staying healthy. Anyway, I’ve always preferred the better actor, but I do get charmed by the good looking ones too. Having said that…. if a bollywood personality is being paid gazillions to sell a product, emulate a certain persona, yes the pressure is enormous and they better live up to it!

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  20. For one, I don’t think this cover is path breaking. It has become ‘in’ for a magazine to talk about women ‘owning’ their bodies. This very magazine will feature a cookie cutter model/actress-with-a-samplesize-body on their cover next month. So no kudos to anyone here.

    Now coming to whether we should hold actresses to a standard – I think not. I think its ok to critique clothes and the way clothes end up looking on them – these vary from person to person and its up to the actress to discard/accept critique. I don’t think anyone should expect an actress to be a certain size or lose/gain a few pounds – that is really her problem and it shouldn’t be anyone’s business. And TBH, when you truly own your body, it shows. Look at Mindy Kaling – that girl works her clothes like no other.

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  21. I guess everyone should thrive for perfection in everything they do. It makes you a better person. For actresses its all the more important to look good enough (Don’t mean just thin. One can look good just by dressing according to body type) coz lakhs of people see them everyday and no one wants to pay and walk up to the cinema hall to see unkempt.

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  22. I don’t know…the message is powerful and Huma does seem to be the right person to endorse the message. But, is she really that voluptuous as has been shown on the cover or again it’s been heavily photoshopped. I feel even though this might seem like hypocricy at first but it is important for some known faces to stand up for positive body image. Especially, for the youth/ teenage girls. Huma might be trying to lose weight but she has never gone skinny and is just the right body type to project a positive message.

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  23. The thing that bothers me the most about this is the “I don’t owe you perfection” tagline. So she is not ‘perfect’? That is so wrong. Also this would have been more convincing if they hadn’t photo shopped the heck out of her arms and face.

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  24. I don’t remember who it was but an actor was once asked a (rather prying) question about looks/beauty and while she graciously replied, she was quick to note that her craft is acting, her job is to act and looking a certain (glamorous) way has nothing to do with it. It’s as simple as that.

    The way you look is not the same as acting and we as an audience have totally forgotten that. The cover is right. As far as I’m concerned, actors do not owe us sh*t. It might be nice to see them looking the way we want them to (vicarious living and all) but when it boils down to it, they have no obligation to act as living mannequins for is. We have become waaay too involved in their real lives. When it really, really comes down to it, does it matter if they look like a walking bin off-screen, so long as they act and look the way their character should in the movie?

    For those comparing these people with other professions, NONE OF US are obligated to look a certain way outside of work. Are you telling me you criticise your dentist’s out of hours wardrobe in the same way as you do an actor? And for those who love to claim that actors get paid a lot and so it is their duty to look good: no, it’s not! Yes they get paid ludicrous amounts, like so many other glorified professions, but that does not mean they have to tailor their bodies – their own bodies, the one they were born in and will die in, the one we do not have a right to dictate – to please us.

    Fashion is personal and the point is to see/celebrate people’s styles, not mold everyone in the same clay. It’s ridiculous that whether a person (and no other individual) holds the rights to their own body is even up for debate.

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  25. That’s one vicious circle to death. Celerities are given a license-to-look-pleasing as we all want to see the best of ourselves on the ‘big parda’. (C’mon even in the days of kodak film cameras, all of us posed forward our thinnest angle). But when such leeway to illusion becomes the new reality(2 is the new 6), then a new license is issued(0 is the new 4). And thus starts the downward spiral!!

    In today’s flat world where everyone is under a ‘tweet-iscope’ celebrities’s image on & off screen are entwined as much as we are entwined to them.

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  26. I would be interested in seeing whether Femina changes the kind of models it features in its pages and includes more realistic / less photoshopped images of women going forward. Else this is just a farce and yet another way to cash-in on women’s size-related insecurities.

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  27. Well it depends. If the actor/actress is really good at what they are supposed to be doing
    (acting..duh!!), then I totally agree with this statement… BUT but as long as they doesn’t involve in ad-campaign, as you said for shampoos, lipsticks
    (silly pouts), fairness creams, and doing self-proclamation as glam-diva, then I wouldn’t be really giving a damn about how they look as a “perfect” actor in terms of dressing and body weight. At the end of the day their appearance and health should be THEIR concern.

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  28. Body measurements have nothing to do with acting prowess. Unless the actor is essaying the role of an anorexic, perhaps.
    It is important to be fit and healthy. But it is not necessary to be skinny. It is not necessary to have a head full of hair, glossy skin, golden ratio, etc, etc. It is only necessary to be likeable on screen (and also off screen, I think :-)).
    Skinny = Beautiful is no better than fair = beautiful. Both have no logic underneath them.

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  29. I’m happy to read such sensible comments here. Coming to the point, I agree with the viewpoint that forget the people, what’s important is that what the actors think of themselves. Do they want to be good at their craft and be good actors or look good on screen, endorse a thousand brands to afford exorbitantly priced clothes and lifestyle, and do everything but act? A Huma Qureshi is different from a Deepika Padukone, who are polar opposites to a Anjali Patil or a Tillotama Shome; a competition amongst such dissimilar contemporaries is stupid. But doesn’t the obsession to fit into a specific size go beyond entertainment industry? We all want to be thin, fit into minimum size clothing, and aspire to look dream like. And since we can’t achieve the unattainable, we want to see aspirational, unreal heroines on screen and well, that’s what we get.

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  30. It works in theory but c’mon who are you fooling? A women’s magazine that in itself is going through a “fashion” makeover is just trying to catch eyeballs with this one. Huma is a fine actress but she’s no spokesperson for curvy women. And nobody expects her to be. This is not the way to do it. Do your work and make a statement with your body of work not with such sensationalised media outings. In all probability, they did this cover because they were probably out of ideas on how to shoot a big girl in a beautiful way. Also since nobody is commenting on it – TERRIBLE STYLING! What’s up with that hair-do? So reminiscent of Aishwarya’s weird do from Cannes last year.

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  31. Salute to the team that came up with this cover… IMO both Huma and Vidya would be perfect for the shoot :) I like the strong message it is portraying and honestly hope Indian media wakes upto the fact that sticks do not make beautiful women!

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  32. Femina is throwing its might behind a wholesome idea. But what I don’t get is why cover her body up with that headless mannequin. The cover should have allowed her to show off her curves, not hide behind a plastic mannequin for gods sake! Coming to your question P&P, it is true that audiences expect their actresses to look svelte and sexy at all times. There was a time when actresses were expected to have a big bosom and full hips – which actresses of that bygone era pandered to. The norm today, of course, is abs of steel, long legs, slim arms and a sculpted face. The question here, I think, is do such actresses (the skinny ones) perpetuate an unhealthy body-type? Do we expect every woman to look the same – skinny and slim – making them clones of each other? Actresses like Huma, Vidya Balan, Parineeti, I think, give the rest of us- those struggling with achieving “perfection” – some hope. They let us think that it’s not necessary to be thin to be successful. And, I think that is great. Imperfect bodies and look where they’ve gotten – on the cover of Femina!

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  33. I think it’s important that we all stop holding celebrities or anyone else to impossible stds of photoshop beauty. They are people, just like the rest of us, and we should all just give ourselves a break and not strive for size zeros and what not.
    Be healthy, be fit, accept that there are different body types in this world, and accept what you’ve got to work with.

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  34. I like the idea behind the cover – I think it’s a powerful message – but to say “I don’t owe you perfection” implies that she accepts that there is a current societal norm for perfection. We need to do more than reject the norm, we need to break it. This cover while is a step forward doesn’t quite achieve that.

    All that being said, massive props to Huma for doing this cover and opening up herself to a barrage of responses, both positive and negative. Much prefer a cover like this compared to how we usually see Bollywood stars – Chitrangada Singh’s blown out skin colour on L’Officiel Nov 2012 comes to mind, as does Deepika on Bazaar March 2014.

    Also like to point out the similarities between this and the other ‘body’ issue – Sonakshi on marie claire July 2013. Same minimalist tone, body hugging dress and straight look to the camera. Mag editors need to get some new inspiration when portraying this theme!

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  35. It’s a good idea. Copy is strong. But graphically somehow it’s just now working. Sorry that I’m going off on such an unnecessary tangent in this super important debate, but my graphic designer germs are killing me. But to still remain in the discussion … this whole thing is same-same to the grossly overpaid chairmen of ngo’s and rich people evading taxation through charity work … you HAVE to make certain statements in order to balance out … erm … karma? In any case, that’s not Huma’s statement, it’s a fashion magazine making a statement in times where the industry is facing harsh criticism in these times of awakening. As a business, you want to attract certain attention … and a positive one would help.

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  36. First things first… the cover is fab. It was meant to start a debate and that’s what it is doing. I love it that she took the step and posed for this cover. That being said, I also think she is not doing this to bring awareness about body shaming or about loving your body the way it is. She is in a business where she has to keep herself relevant and in the news. This is the perfect way to do it. I know it is a very cynical perspective, but just coming out with one cover like this does not prove anything about your attitude.

    These are actors, who play parts on screen – who take on different roles and try to don each persona that they play on screen. As long as they do that honestly and well who are we to judge how they look outside of the screens – body wise. After all, they are human beings and they should be allowed to look however they want outside of their movies. Some of the actresses may want to be perfect even outside the movie roles – that is fine. And some of the actresses don’t because they don’t want to – which should also be fine. It is their personal choice. Being a part of the industry comes with an immense pressure to be on top of the game and also to be better than your peers. It must not be easy to do this day in and day out. The expectation from the audience that they should perfect every time they step outside of their homes is not a realistic one.

    Today she is embracing her body, but come tomorrow she might decide to shed weight – and why should we have a problem with that too. Today she might be ok with her body … but tomorrow she might think she needs to lose weight. Again, its her body – its her decision. I know some of the actresses are being shamed for making the effort to lose weight instead of embracing their bodies. Its a choice that they have made and as long as they don’t go to extremes to achieve it and are doing it in a healthy way, why should we be judging them? Not all of us have the same figure throughout our lives. Most of us gain, lose, gain weight. That is how the real people live. We as audience should be more forgiving about the actor’s bodies, and only then they will become secure enough to ‘own’ their bodies at whatever size they are at.

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  37. Personally, for actors in particular, if they are amazing actors i like them even if they are not particularly skinny or fit. Kajol, Madhuri, Tabu never had flat tummys in their time but I love them. They can act. But then if someone cannot act and got an easy entry into the industry through connections, then people have every right to make their lives miserable and weight is one way to go about it. It is sad but atleast it is a little fair.

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    • Little fair? So you are implying that it’s some kind of revenge you take because someone got lucky to be in the show biz? Ha ha ha.

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  38. Photoshop is just photoshop. One in a long line of technological improvements of photographic manipulation. All portraits, including paintings and your instagram, are guilty of manipulation.

    Body size on the other hand. Ideals change. Now its size 0 and six packs carried to ridiculous extremes. Soon it will change as we go bored of it. And the push starts with girls like HQ and Hendricks. Who despite weight loss and photoshopping – because after all they are as influenced by the times as you and me – are still bucking the trend. The cover is not revolutionary. But it tells you what may be around the corner.

    Likewise celebs are always news. If HHC featured non-celeb models – no matter how well dressed – your viewership will drop. There are few timeless looks. As such there is no good or bad look, just current norms of fashion. So its good to have a mix. Those who conform to these norms and do it well. And those who don’t care. And those do their own thing. Fashion should not be monotonous. Bad enough that we have stylists throttling individuality, we shouldn’t restrict ourselves only to those who meet certain imposed standards. Much as I think Karishma and Dia are well groomed, a steady diet of just that would leave me very bored.

    imo HHC does a good job in putting across this mix. It’s the comments that make me facepalm. Criticisms requires more insight than what we sometimes see in the comments.

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