Body Positivity And Lingerie: A New-Found Bond

Women-centric industries like lingerie or cosmetics have always narrowed the beauty standards and made perfectly normal women feel inadequate about their bodies. In India, several brands have chosen thin, fair and young girls as their faces, while they were predominantly targeting women who had dark complexion and different body shapes. These brands have failed to showcase the diversity of the community, harming the self-esteem of Indian women.

However, times have changed as women have become vocal about such misrepresentation. They have used several social media platforms to call for a change in how apparel brands advertise their products. The wave has enabled the body positivity movement to bloom in India, and brands have become more inclusive, empowering, and aware. Like everyone, lingerie brands in India also had to up their game to feel relevant in these changing times.

If you asked a woman in the 1800s what an undergarment was, she might've shown you a restrictive corset. In the late 1800s, pioneer Lucile Duff-Gordon introduced lightweight liberating designs. A century later, the focus of lingerie makers shifted to altering body shape and practicality, like hygiene and modesty. Comfort was still in the picture.

However, between 1920 and 1960, the agenda changed to breasts and hips. There was a dramatic shift in the lingerie industry in the 1970s as sexual appeal became the purpose of lingerie.

However, this was the case in American and European countries. The concept of innerwear for men and women was brought to India by the British and the Mughals. Chinese-origin fancy lingerie gained popularity in India in the 90s, and Bollywood played a role in promoting lingerie.

But in the last two decades, the industry has ignored the need for inclusivity and empowering lingerie. Only in the last few years have brands started to promote diversity and self-love.

Ornela Celebrates All Shapes & Sizes

At Ornela, body positivity is one of the cornerstones of our identity. We recognise that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. To ensure everyone feels included, we have offered diverse styles and sizes and celebrate every body type. Our goal is to make all women feel comfortable and pretty in their skin. Ornela has also tried to tackle the over-sexualisation of lingerie in India and showcase it as a garment that beautifies and supports women.

Ornela has taken the following steps to make positive changes in the body positivity movement:

- We hire models of all ages, sizes, ethnicities and abilities.

- We have expanded our size range in all products.

- We do not photoshop our models & embrace their natural beauty in the images present on our platform.

- We focus on confidence and self-love over sexual appeal.

- Our content is directed to provide confidence and inspiration to women.

While the body positivity movement has picked up in India, and we have become a part of it, there is still work. You can help us become better in our body positivity journey by writing to us at ornela.help@gmail.com.