A day after being called out for 'fat-shaming' social media personality Dr. Tanaya Narendra, popularly known as Dr. Cuterus on Instagram, renowned designer Tarun Tahiliani has released an official statement and shared his side of the story.
Tanaya, who recently tied the knot, shared pictures from her wedding ceremony and penned a lengthy note on being body shamed. The influencer said that she wanted to wear a Tarun Tahiliani lehenga since she was 12, but will never go to his store again as she was 'body shamed' at the store.
Anonymous fashion watchdog Diet Sabya picked up on Tanaya's social media post and started a conversation about bridal brands fat-shaming, on their Instagram.
After being called out, designer Tarun Tahilini issued a statement on his Instagram page in which he said that as a brand, "We look at individuals beyond their shape and size," adding that "shaming has never been a word in their vocabulary."
Following this, the designer requested some time to investigate the matter since the news had "Deeply disturbed all of us here at Tarun Tahiliani."
Have a look at the full statement here:
However, soon after Tarun issued the statement, Tanaya questioned the brand asking if this was meant to be an apology.
Replying to Diet Sabya's anonymous Instagram account, she said, "If they wanted to apologise, they could have done that directly," since they have her name and email. She also revealed that she called the store and informed them that she was plus-size and this incident still took place.
The statement clearly did not go down well with Tanaya. She shared the designer's post on her Instagram story and wrote, "Very convenient disregard of my experience without hearing it from me in what way I felt body shamed. I didn't feel unwelcome because of the time issue. I was never made aware of that. It was the way their salesperson looked at me up and down and asked, "oh, 'you' are getting married?" as if I am inherently unmarriageable. It was the way they kept saying "we don't have this in 'your size'." It was the general disinterest in showing me around. It was the way that, as they led me out of the store, the salesperson said 'maybe this outfit would make you look more... in shape.' These were the things that made me feel unwelcome, shamed and unfairly commented on."
On Tuesday, Tanaya also stated that her post where she blamed the designer's brand was actually to talk about body shaming that brides experience in general instead. But this did lead to a war of words between the doctor and the couturier.
