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An aspect missing from most of the media we consume, from books to films, and everything in between, is this: it does not represent the world around us. There exist different, wonderful, beautiful people in the world and yet all we see are a few select individuals with ‘desirable’ features –– a fair skinned, small waisted woman, or a bulky and scruff man. With no diversity in gender, sexuality, skin tones, religions, (dis)abilities, and other sections that make up the global population, it is often challenging to find consonance between what we see on screens, and what we see around us.
Homegrown underwear brand Tailor & Circus and their ideology stem from denying this narrative to continue. Indians experience far too much scrutiny for their choices and whether they’re ‘appropriate’, and Tailor & Circus makes us believe that if it makes us happy, all’s well.
We spoke to Abishek Elango, Co-Founder & Creative Director of Tailor &n Circus to understand how, through their brand campaigns, communication vision, and messaging can help us create a slightly more inclusive world every day; using tools of digital media, visual ideologies, and advertising - how, in fact, do you make someone feel like they belong?
Body positivity in advertisements and marketing is not something professionals in India are taught academically. Why is it important and how do we get Indian brands to pay more attention to it?
From a business standpoint; inclusivity is a no brainer. A part of the momentum this idea has gained, especially within the scope of body positivity is due to the shift from aspiration to relatability. Luxury is still thriving in many sectors but most consumer brands have harnessed, or are trying to harness, the power of friendship as a means of getting the message out. Friends don’t judge, not the good ones anyway. So, brands are paying attention to it when most of them are trying to be your friend. We suspect all brands are trying to figure it out while simultaneously measuring the window of acceptable public opinion but it has to start from the bottom up in terms of identifying the ways in which the products you sell, and the services you offer could be more inclusive. Often, that is an expensive and potentially risky course of direction in a traditional business model. Luckily, consumers are driving the change they want to see by demanding representation and responding to it. Cancel culture is really just accountability culture –– and we’re here for it.
Inclusivity across groups and intersectional identity portrayal – how do you navigate your creative direction of campaigns to ensure visibility?
There’s a huge gap between the regular, everyday bodies in our lives and the aggressively unrealistic standards of beauty in advertisement bodies. You can’t cross a chasm in little jumps. So, we keenly seek underrepresented and ignored segments of body types and actively engage with non-straight sized members of our community. Our goal is to put as many different kinds of people as possible in underwear and every day we learn that we have barely scratched the surface. Of course, this comes with a sense of responsibility; a sincere recognition of the vulnerability that comes with underwear modelling and a constant self-check to ensure we don’t just end up fetishizing marginalised sections.
The changing face of modern Indian advertising seems to be moving progressively, but how can brands ensure active participation in the movement, and not just lip service?
To participate, brands have to educate themselves. That involves a fundamental review of the company guidelines, a willingness to dismantle regressive internal structures, and the resources to invest in new verticals complete with an overhaul of the existing advertising approach. But with highly established brands, a little goes a long way. This is why even one non-straight sized model on the runway, one ad featuring an actor with vitiligo, and one campaign around a gay couple can create the kind of buzz they do. But this has to be supported at an institutional level to sensitise the people of the country so brands don’t end up alienating their customers and eventually going backwards. Inclusivity is both the means and the end.
How do you convey to the audience that something as personal as undergarments can provide one with liberation?
Liberation is sometimes about stripping away everything that is not conducive to your well-being. Underwear is sometimes about the same thing too. But it’s not really a word we use and it’s not what we envision for our customers. Our focus is on softness, comfort, sustainability, and allowing people to feel validated by what they wear without having their worth come from it. To that end, we try to create a safe space where the barriers to self-love are removed. This is not to say we ask people to love their bodies; we just want it known that we love their bodies while making it clear that we don’t love them for their bodies. Our underwear and in fact all our products are a reflection of that space and an extension of our beliefs. Letting go of society’s expectations of what you should look like can be liberating. We help our community let go.
A review on your website reads, “They are not in the business of making underwear, they are in the business of making people love themselves.” What does it take to get your customers to reach this belief?
Each person’s journey to self-acceptance and eventually self-love is different. Not everyone makes it, not everyone even gets started, but what we try to do is facilitate the process and help make it possible to believe in a world where people are not valued based on their weight or their shape or their size. With our products too, we are constantly implementing processes to ensure our higher size range is never out of stock. We’ve seen tremendous growth in our product range beyond XL and we encourage our customers to get in touch if we are not stocking their size. In some cases, we’ve worked on custom orders. We also keep our prices consistent across sizes; this actually costs us. But it is a price we are willing to pay as part of our vision to convince everyone that all bodies are beautiful.
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