Body Positivity

This incident happened a while back at the store. There is this old customer of mine and she has been shopping with Pari’s for over 12 years. I have personally seen this lady go from a size M to 2XL. This is always a difficult journey, spurred on by the stresses of life and I personally know and recognize this struggle and how hard a pill weight gain is to swallow.

She very badly wanted a change of look as she was feeling bad about how her clothes were looking on her. I was explaining the concept behind IMSWANK to her, and giving her strength as she was very low in self-confidence. At this time her husband snickered, “Bhais ke jaise tumhari size hain, bhaise ke tera he lago gi” translating to, “You are built like a buffalo, you will look like one only”.

This poor thing has struggled with a thyroid problem and to hear this coming from her husband, whose second child she had recently borne, caused her to tear up. My heart went out to her. Luckily at this point, he got a call and stepped out. With tears she confided in me that this was a regular feature in their home. So much so that her older child, a six year old, would tell her to not come to school to pick her up, as she gets teased by her friends and is embarrassed by the mother.

I was completely shocked and angered but could not say much as she proceeded to try a few garments. The husband returned with his snarky comments. Now mind you, he was more obese than her but the stereotypical expectation is that the women must be slim and trim always. She walked out with a sad face without buying anything. Few days later she came back alone and bought many garments for herself and at that time I was able to give her confidence and strength.

I ask this of all those who keep names - who has given you the right to hurt another in this way, so what if you are related, be it a husband, wife, in-laws, friends or just people on the streets and on social media? When you look at yourself in the mirror, do you see Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie staring back at you? No, right? So just zip it and STOP HURTING OTHERS!

I feel the pain of my customers as I myself am a big-built woman. This and many other instances have inspired me to design cuts, fits, and styles which give our customers confidence. We design and produce garments which lets our customers appreciate her size and not fear it. Embrace your body, embrace yourself. Our IMSWANK Motto says it all…

Size Doesn’t Matter

I Matter, IMSWANK

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IMSWANK Story

I love Bangalore. The city has been very good to me. I love the food, the weather, the

people, everything. Most of all, I loved the independence I found when I moved here. No depending on public transport anymore! When I wanted to go anywhere, I just hopped on my bike and off I went. Well, one day, my clothes told me that my good life had gotten just a little too good. Sigh! A predisposition to being big built and my Gujju genes now made it impossible to fit into my jeans. Off I went, shopping for some new clothes. When I asked the salespeople that I wanted clothes in my size, they were shocked. They looked at me like I was asking for the moon. Mission impossible!

Now while I can still find denims at some stores (not without difficulty), Western Formal clothes were almost impossible to find in my size. The big brands did not cater to big built women. Was I alone in feeling this way?

Apparently, not. Over the years, at the store, conversations with my customers told me that they tended to purchase their Western Formal clothes from abroad, mainly because the range available locally was either limited or completely unflattering to their figure. I learnt that a lot of my customers were undergoing rigorous fitness regimes, mainly to be able to fit into good-looking, fashionable clothes. This shocked me. I exercise and eat nutritiously, but that is mainly to remain healthy. The idea that someone had to go through a fitness regime not for their own health, but for the purposes of fashion spurred me into action.

It is my firm belief that you should not have to work hard to fit into good-looking clothes. The clothes should be the one doing all the work to make you look good. Now, the Indian woman has a very unique body shape, one we have extensive experience in catering to. The challenge was to create a line, which would be aesthetically pleasing, enhance the inner beauty of the wearer while camouflaging that what the lady did not wish to show. My team and I mulled over this and came up with designs that combine optical illusions, slimming and comfortable fabrics and figure enhancing cuts. We were finally ready with a line which would make the wearer look fashionable and stylish, feel cool and comfortable and provide her with clothes which made her look good, no matter the size.

Now the only challenge remaining was the name. My experiences, as well as my customer’s experiences reminded me of the humiliation we faced at several stores. Asking for formal clothes in our size made us uncomfortable because the stores themselves made us feel uncomfortable for being big. They distinctly made us feel “not stylish”, “not hep”. The word “Plus Size” has come to have a very negative connotation. However, I believe that “Plus Size” just means that there is more to the lady; more oomph, more style, more personality, more beauty. With all this running through my head, out came the online thesaurus, where I saw the word Swank. Swank. Now that had a nice ring to it. It made me feel stylish, it made me feel cool, precisely what the new line intended to do for the wearers. I am stylish, I am cool, I am fashionable. I AM SWANK.

At IMSWANK, we believe in one simple philosophy: “Size doesn’t matter. I Matter. IMSWANK.”

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