The March 2022 issue features ‘Body Portfolio’ which is a first-ever Asia-Pacific collaborationin the pages of Vogue. Unpacking the cultural nuances of women and their bodies today from our counterparts in Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan. This is a special issue as all the Asia Pacific Vogue editions are following the same body positivity theme. All covers feature models who are 40+ years old and the main messaging is that all bodies are beautiful.
Editors Letter – Bandana Tewari
After a hiatus from modelling and becoming a mother, I’m so thrilled Menon agreed to return to Vogue India as the March cover star. Her lithe elegance and Keralan beauty is the perfect pairing for the homage we make to the sari in ‘Shapes and drapes’, photographed by Ashish Shah. We’ve all been thinking a lot about all things to do with ‘the body’ after a spring/summer 2022 season that revelled in putting it front and centre—that Miu Miu midriff-and-mini look has taken on cult status and will no doubt con- tinue to dominate our feeds for many scrolls to come. As such, the sari seemed the obvious sartorial protago- nist for this issue, and Bandana Tewari explores this won- derfully in her beautiful essay, ‘The sari holds our secrets’, where she writes: “The sari and the body are inseparable. In the way that water takes the shape of the container into which it is poured, the sari too becomes the very body that it is swathed in. The nature of the body, vilified by the social constructs of ‘perfect’ shape and size, ceases to matter. The sari becomes the body, the body the sari.” Styling this story led me into a deep dive into the varied regional iterations of a garment that is utilitarian, feminine, ancient and yet completely modern all at once.
