If there’s one thing you can’t accuse designer Masaba Gupta of, it is of being boring. Unconventional, wild and alluring; her creations take after her. It may seem like things come easily to someone who’s a hundred per cent assured of her individuality, but Masaba will have you know that body image issues don’t discriminate.
In her own words, acne and weight issues are common woes that you get over eventually, but what do you do when you’re slap-bang in the middle of it? The designer took to Instagram to post a throwback photo accompanied with a heart-warming confession that the best of us would have squirmed at admitting in the privacy of our own thoughts, let alone to a daunting 3-lakh strong anonymous audience online. But we doubt Masaba would ever have the easy route anyway.
“It’s taken me a LOT to put up this picture. But I felt like I had to. Of course acne is common & weight problems are common and people deal with it and get over it with time. But what do you do when you’re bang in the middle of it? I’ve had terrible acne for 14yrs and by terrible I mean, most days it looked like I had a cigarette stubbed in my face. Dark scars in my face & in my head. There were days I would refuse to leave home without putting powder on my face & refused to put any lights on in the room.
“I’ve had men tell me they want to throw up when they see my face. I’ve run out of my house to school with concealer on my face because I couldn’t take it anymore. So many of you must be bang in the middle of this. Some extra weight, a whole lotta acne. The truth is… You have to go with it. That also means you have to work at getting better. Better health, better skin. Better everything. It’s well-being after all. Don’t live with what you don’t like. Punch it out of your system! You have to cringe when you see yourself in the mirror, cry until you choke. DO. IT. ALL. But once you’re done with that, you have to run your finger down all the clear, beautiful spots on you & you have to do it every single day. Brush your teeth. Practice confidence. Practice self-esteem. Practice strength. Because we all know it will be knocked out of us 3 minutes after we step out of home.
“Don’t expect to read an article about ‘beauty coming from the inside’ and expect to wake up the next day feeling like you’re beautiful. Doesn’t work like that. If beauty to you is stepping out with a face full of make-up, then so be it. If it’s about flaunting your scars. So be it. But when you come back home & the lights are out. And every tear has been shed with every remark that hit you.. until you build your wall & you will be the biggest, bestest version of everything that has happened to you. Collect your scars & build them into something beautiful. #throwback”
