‘Has De Behen’ Sabyasachi’s Jewellery Campaign Shamed For Having ‘Depressed’ Models

When it comes to choosing the ‘IT’ desi wedding ensemble, people often think of ace designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee. And those of us who can’t afford to wear the exquisite yet highly-priced couture often take inspiration from his designs.

Recently, the brand ventured into the fine jewellery business making celebs like Patralekhaa and Deepika Padukone a head-to-toe Sabyasachi bride.

Image source

While his looks are often appreciated, recently, the designer was at the receiving end of trolls when he posted pictures of ‘unhappy’ models posing for his latest jewellery ad campaign.

Yes, people online thought that the models posing with a straight face were too ‘serious’ to inspire customers to buy the jewellery they were donning.

First, let’s look at the picture from his ‘Autumn/Winter 2021 Collection’ that’s being trolled online.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Sabyasachi (@sabyasachiofficial)

And ever since this pic was dropped online, there were incessant comments saying ‘behen, thoda has le’. Take a look at some of the reactions here:

We know, a smile is the best jewellery one can wear. However, there are reasons why models often wear a furious death stare while posing or walking the ramp. On Quora, when someone asked ‘Why do models on catwalks always look so unhappy?’ a practising model responded:

“When a model is on the runway, the focus is supposed to be on the clothes. If the model was smiling or making a variety of facial expressions, the viewers’ eyes would be drawn to the models’ faces, since it is a natural human instinct to want to connect with another human being.

A model being almost expressionless (or even having RBF – resting B* face) makes it more desirable to look at the clothes, and keep the focus on the clothes (which is what the designer is paying for the focus to be on).

This is the same reason why many designers use the same models over and over again as signature models for their brands, or why models are often not looking at the camera in clothing ads. If there were always new models instead of familiar faces, we would want to look more at the models’ faces instead of the clothes. If the models were making an engaging stare into the camera, we would focus on the model and not the clothes, or maybe even not remember what the ad was for in some circumstances.”

There’s also this tweet:

A handful of people on Sabyasachi’s picture also extended their concern for the ‘extremely thin’ and probably half-starved models.

According to a report by The Guardian, “Looking miserable is the facial expression equivalent of extreme thinness, in the sense that the more miserable and more thin the model, the more elite the fashion show or magazine.”

On the contrary, Sabyasachi was also once applauded online for hiring plus size, dusky models to exhibit his designs. The designer also recently withdrew mangalsutra ad after he was threatened with legal action.

What are your opinions after reading this? Share with us.

📣 Storypick is now on Telegram! Click here to join our channel (@storypick) and never miss another great story.