Re-imagining Indian Beauty

The Business of Fashion Podcast

The Business of Fashion

Fashion & Beauty, Business, Arts

4.6 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed sits down with Anaita Shroff-Adajania, Bandana Tewari, Lakshmi Menon and Bollywood superstar Katrina Kaif to explore the country’s evolving beauty landscape.

Background:

It’s been 16 years since Vogue India’s inaugural issue put a global spotlight on India’s fashion and beauty industries. Today, the beauty sphere in particular is in the midst of a transformative shift, embracing inclusivity and making an impact far beyond its borders.

“This is a 5,000-year-old culture of great style and heritage,” said Bandana Tewari, journalist, former fashion features director of Vogue India. “We had to do things to tell the outside world … what our cultural heritage of style and fashion is, that it existed over time.”

This week on The BoF Podcast, Imran Amed explores the changing dynamics of the Indian beauty industry through conversations with Tewari as well as Anaita Shroff Adajania,former fashion director of Vogue India; model Lakshmi Menon and Bollywood superstar Katrina Kaif on stage at the second annual Estée Lauder Beauty & You Awards in Mumbai, India.

Key Insights:

Featuring Australian model Gemma Ward front and centre, flanked by actresses Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra, the first cover of Vogue India “did not really nail diversity, did not nail India. It was trying to package India into some kind of modern context without any of its own culture in play,” Menon says.

On the other hand, an inside story shot by Prabuddha Dasgupta showcased traditional Indian beauty, rather than in contrast to the westernised interpretation on the cover. “We had a lot of freedom because it was a space where the western powers didn't know what I was meant to do, so we were left to be ourselves and we were ourselves and we celebrated it,” says Tewari.

Colourism is still an issue in the Indian beauty industry. The industry is driven by skin whitening products and Menon recalls a time she turned down a contract which included whitening cream. “It's not always about the money. It's also about who you are and how you want to put yourself out there, especially coming from a country like India, you know, who's had a huge colonial past.”

Over time, the need for greater diversity in all aspects of the beauty industry is also essential, beginning in product development. “One thing that came out repeatedly was that there's no research on women of our skin colour. … I feel [the global industry] underestimates the power of the beauty revolution that's happening here,” says Shroff Adajania.

For Kaif, authenticity is the key for success in the beauty market in India and beyond. “No amount of advertising can substitute the fact that the consumer and our audiences can see the truth. … They can sense what has been sold to them and what is genuinely coming from a place of authenticity,” Kaif says.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Imran Ahmed founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion.
0:08.1	Welcome to the BOF podcast. It's Friday, November 10th.
0:12.3	Last week, BOF touched down in Mumbai, India to participate in the second annual beauty and
0:18.3	new awards created by the S.Aee Lauder Company. I had the opportunity
0:22.3	to sit down with some of the people responsible for shaping the definition of beauty in India
0:27.1	over the last decade, Anaita Shraf Adajanya, the former fashion director of Vogue India,
0:33.2	her former colleague, Bandanathawari, the fashion features director of Vogue India, and the breakout Indian model of the day, Lakshmi Manon.
0:41.3	We looked back at the launch issue of Vogue India in 2007
0:44.3	and dissected how the definition of beauty in India is shifting.
0:49.3	I think what was wrong with the cover was the skin color had changed
0:52.3	as far as all the Indian skin tone was concerned
0:54.8	and the fact that the hair texture was made into some it looked like a cover about homogeneity
1:03.7	actually towards the end i mean it did not really nail diversity did not nail india it was
1:09.8	trying to sort of like package India into some kind of like a modern context
1:14.0	without any of its own culture in play.
1:18.0	This is a 5,000-year-old culture of great style and heritage.
1:23.1	So we had to do things to tell the outside world that let me tell you about what our cultural heritage of style and fashion is that it existed over time.
1:36.8	There's no research on women with skin of our color.
1:41.3	It's all westernized research which is then put into product making or whatever. And I feel they underestimate the power of the color. It's all westernized research, which is then put into product making or whatever.
1:45.0	And I feel they underestimate the power of the beauty revolution that's happening here.
1:50.4	I think, honestly, if I were to say more than a fashion revolution, it's a beauty revolution.
1:55.6	Then, to go a bit deeper, I had a conversation with one of India's biggest Bollywood stars, Katrina Kif, who founded
	...

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