Terri, Ven Budhu'southward client (Flavour 10, Episode 6)

Past Sayantani DasGupta

I've been feeling a bit run down lately and function of my self-care regimen has (obviously) been the online watching of a lot of back-episodes of the TV shows I've missed this summer. Over the last couple days, I've been communicable up on that Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum-fueled hour of eyecandy for armchair fashionistas: Project Track (Flavour 10). Finally, I was up to terminal week's challenge – episode 6: "Makeover My Friend."

It was one of those "real women" challenges when the Project Runway designers brand clothes for not-model folks. Oh, yeah, theoretically the folks they should be making wearing apparel for most of the time anyway.

Just I digress.

The episode quickly became a size-bashing fest courtesy of (to my Desi shame) the one Southward Asian American designer, Ven Budhu. Dear sometime average-sized Ven apparently has some serious hatred of women he's working on – because he took every opportunity possible during the episode to baby-moan about how "shocked" he was that his model was perchance a *titter, titter, laugh* SIZE 14! And how it was "evidently unfair" that he had the "largest" model when others had clients who were the same size as regular models.

Just Ven didn't just proceed it to himself, or his mentor, or his fellow contestants. He took it right to his customer herself – commenting how "surprised" he was at how pretty she looked after the haircut function of her makeover, and how, even though she didn't want to wear black, he had decided to go with blackness because information technology was (become your compression-face on) "slimming."

Cheque out this terrible-funny recap from tvgasm, or this clip from Hulu entitled, appropriately, "Bad Budhu" to get an up close and personal load of his kvetching to Tim Gunn ("she has no shape," "she has no fashion"), deadpan disgust, and "oh none of these belts are big enough for your ginormousity" insulting statements. His antics were so bad both backside his customer'south back and right smack in front end of her face that he made her and the friend who dragged her in for a makeover in the showtime place actually CRY. (Oh, yes, and me besides.)

Meanwhile, fifty-fifty previously crabby designers (Elena, Gunnar, I'm looking at yous, darlings) were having sob-worthy love-fests with their clients. Things were all fairy-wands and rainbow-scented unicorns, even with some of the normally mean judges (Nina Garcia, Fashion Editor of Marie Claire mag, I am and so looking at you lot), fashion was meant to uplift a woman, bring out her real personality, make her more herself, just amend! (Clap! Clap! Pixie Bleat! Hooray!)

But affect-challenged Ven wasn't having whatever of that. No, he was quondam-schoolhouse, all the way. Fashion isn't to make you lot experience practiced! Fashion is about unflattering dressing room lights, funhouse mirrors for trying on swimsuits, and a nosy saleswomen who pops open the curtain correct when you're naked merely to suggest you need SPANX. To Ven, habiliment is designed to make 99% of women feel bad well-nigh themselves, and he wasn't going to have it any other way. A woman who isn't a model wants to wear pretty apparel? Unthinkable! She wants to come on a telly show designed to make the fashion industry feel meliorate about its treatment of women and be treated nicely? No way! And no amount of Nina Garcia getting teary from the life stories regular-women models was going to change his heed about that.

Admittedly, the fashion industry does take a great deal to do with promoting size-based discrimination and body-shaming among women. A prove similar Projection Runway and a high-profile host similar Heidi Klum could actually do a lot of good by calling Ven Budhu out on his behavior.

With all of America (er, Lifetime TV watchers) watching, this guy trunk-shamed a difficult working female parent of four to tears during an episode designed to brand "regular women" feel special. Shaming him in plough for this behavior would at to the lowest degree do some piece of work in conveying the message that such attitudes – on the office of designers, on the part of salespeople, on the part of ANYONE isn't okay. Not behind a woman's back, non to her face up, and certainly not without repercussions. Peradventure then we could come a little chip closer to the 'we're-then-not-there-nevertheless' vision this bear witness was trying to promote that wear's role was to raise all women'due south innate, inner beauty.

Come up on, Project Runway hosts, judges and producers – you lot wouldn't sit past and let this guy be racist or sexist to a customer; Tim Gunn! You lot're my moral compass! Say I'yard correct! Why allow him get abroad with being then hurtfully narrow-minded and sizeist? In fact, I agree with this reviewer at Styleite, who suggests that elimination during such a challenge should be determined past the clients themselves, based on how well a designer treated his or her customer.

So, Ven Budhu, this Desi sis is sayin' Auf Wiedersehen – to you lot, your unrepentant size shaming, and your ugly cruelty.

I like my relaxation Boob tube watching filled with barm and fun, not inhumanity or injustice.