Designer Anjali Phougat believes in empowering women of all shapes, sizes and color through her designs!

There has been a conventional standard of beauty set by society especially for women but for Indian-American well-known designer #AnjaliPhougat, who represented India at the #CannesFilmFestival, it has always been about not conforming to any norms. She rather believes in empowering women of all shapes, sizes and color through her designs.

Model Sia Parikh recently wore an outfit by Anjali for her Cannes red carpet appearance. The 16-year-old model is 4 ft 11 in tall. And Anjali crafted Sia’s mesmerizing gown from French tulle and adorned it with loads of pink and blue neutral undertones flowers on the front and cut-out details to the bottom and matched it with minimal swarovski jewelry to maintain the elegance.

“I wanted to use this platform for a wonderful cause and help each girl to spread their wings and fulfil their desire to be on such a huge platform like the Cannes film festival. Can’t wait to be there in person next year!!,” Anjali says. Anjali says her aim has always been to break stereotypes in fashion and beauty standards.

“We got inspiration from nature and tried to present a very realistic idea that fashion should not be restricted to just tall, beautiful and Barbie doll size girls. Every woman is beautiful in their own way and should be celebrated. Every girl desires to look and feel stylish and explore the fashion world,” she adds. The Cannes Film Festival kick-started from July 6 and concluded on July 17. Talking about styling Sia, the renowned designer says, “She is a very bright, talented and beautiful girl and I will keep doing my best to support others to boost their confidence. She carried the look with full grace. I just did what I love to do to make others look beautiful.” Anjali says she truly believes in supporting and empowering women.

“‘When women support each other, incredible things happen.’ ‘Her success is not your failure.’ ‘Empowered women, empower women.’ ‘Be the kind of woman who makes other women want to up their game’,” all this has been Anjali’s motto. The designer believes every woman is beautiful in their own way and should be celebrated. “Beauty should not be measured with external looks only but definitely adding the right style and cuts can help anyone to boost their confidence.”

In the past, Anjali says she styled plus style, short height and gender-fluid models. “…if my work is not challenging I don’t enjoy it. There is no fun in working when everything is perfect and we all should embrace flaws because that makes us stand out,” she adds. Anjali says via her fashion line ‘designer dream collection’ she promotes diversity. “I believe in shattering fake beauty standards. That was the whole idea to create a platform for everyone and be inclusive with my fashion line,” she says, adding, months of hard work and several sleepless nights went behind crafting the line.

In 2019, New York Fashion Week, Anjali launched her fashion line and presented her exclusive collection. “It (line) was created for 5.1 to 5.11 inches tall and size 0 to size 14 models including one pregnant model, Miss South Asia 2019, Miss Bharat elite New York, Miss Teen Bharat USA, some doctor models, Miss Bharat New Jersey 2019 and many intelligent professionals,” she says.