As women, we’re force-fed a certain image of what is considered ‘beautiful’. Magazines, films, and the entire society tell us in glossy pink calligraphy that you’re either too thin, too fat, too conservatively dressed, too ‘provocatively’ dressed, too short, too tall; you’re just too much and nothing seems to be enough.
Vashnavi Poovanedran aka Navi Indran Pillai saw these stereotypes put on female beauty and said one word- NO! She took to Instagram and shared photos from her bridal photo shoot titled ‘The Bold Indian Bride’ and they went completely viral.
In the posts, the Malaysian bride of Indian descent spoke about how cancer has robbed so many women of looking their ‘best’ on their special day and this was done so that more survivors could embrace their journey and understand that all of them were just as stunning!
She said, “Cancer treatments have given us a lot of limitations, has robbed us from beauty and taken away our confidence. As a little girl, we have always dreamt of what our big day will be like and how we would look as a bride. But having cancer has stripped some of us from fulfilling these dreams. A lot of cancer survivors has postponed or even cancelled their big day.”
She further elaborated, “For me, as a cancer survivor, I dreamt the day I marry the love of my life. Dreamt, what it is like to look like a bride, to feel like a bride. Having gone through cancer treatments (chemotherapy, etc.), losing my hair was by far the hardest thing I ever had to go through. I felt that I was not beautiful enough to be loved and was not beautiful enough to look or ever feel like a bride. Hair, it is our ‘crowning glory’ and having that taken away from you is devastating. But we choose to accept what we have, appreciate what we are and welcome what is coming.”
She opened up about her cancer journey talking about how she thought she was rid of it but it was back after five years and even spread to her liver and backbone. But after treatment and painful chemotherapy, she won the battle again.
Kudos to the entire team who put together her look, she looked drop-dead-gorgeous! The hair and make-up artist at Blush, Beauty and Beyond who dolled our lady up spoke about the challenges she faced. She said, “The first challenge was to create & carve eyebrows on a canvas that have lost their own. I had to draw individual hair strokes to mimic the appearance of real brow hair & to ensure it didn’t look too fake. The next challenge was to choose and fix a headpiece, without a single hairpin involved. This wasn’t easy but I’m so glad we figured it out.”
Even the photographer, Celes Gerard did a great job of capturing the raw beauty and sheer happiness that dripped from her being. We absolutely love it!
Repeat after me: all women are gorgeous and no labels of beauty standards can tell you otherwise. We’re lauding Vaishnavi, you’re an inspiration to a generation!
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