CHENNAI: Nine women strike a pose in front of bright neon backdrops. Dressed in equally bright complementary colours, the scene is both empowering and fulfilling.It was in April 2018 when Maal Gaadi, a boutique in Besant Nagar, began the #WhyNot campaign to celebrate women’s choices. It worked against societal pressures on beauty. This year, the campaign focused on the stereotype that dark-skinned women could not wear bright colours.

“Fashion is a very personal choice. The campaign was started to promote women’s own choices in fashion, and not to conform to societal norms,” said Shahin Ansari, owner of Maal Gaadi. She added that she notices the fact that some people have deep-rooted ideas about their skin tone and colour, which may not be overtly seen but do affect their fashion sense.

“Growing up, school, and sometimes family, was a little tough for me. But, my father always supported me. He told me to wear whatever I want. It boggles my mind that we still have to hold campaigns about this,” said Renuka Retnaswamy, one of the nine women who took part in the campaign.

The city-based women were styled by Divya and Navya Niranjan. Each picture shares their story and how they learned to love themselves as they are.

Prakruthi Ananthakumar, a make-up artist who modelled for the campaign, hopes to spread this message further. She said, “People like my work because I don’t compromise on skin colour. I stay true to it and bring out their beauty.”