Looks matter for new-age moms

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Actress Shilpa Shetty, with her husband waves at the shutterbugs after the birth of her son Viaan

Recently, Time magazine published an article titled The Tyranny of the ‘Sexy’ Mom about the increasing pressure that new-age moms face in order to look “sexy”. Seems like pressure is building on mommies back home too.

Be it dropping kids to school, attending parents’ meetings or accompanying children to social gatherings, mothers feel compelled to look good, says Dr Geetanjali Kumar, psychologist, counsellor and family therapist.
“Sometimes children also insist their mother to dress up well before stepping out. I know some daughters who either monitor or join their mothers on diets to shed some extra kilos. Mothers these days feel threatened or disconnected from their children if they are not following the latest fashion trends or are not in sink with the changing time,” says Geetanjali.
She considers an increasing influence of Western culture, cinema, Page 3 and TV a reason behind the changing psychic of mothers.
When Lara Dutta gets back in shape within a few months of delivering a baby and Karisma Kapoor, with a seven-years-old daughter, looks stunning than ever before in the latest film, Dangerous Ishq, women wonder as to why can’t they achieve the same.
“And this is why mothers are now turning to image consultants for professional help,” says Sheena Agarwal, an image consultant. “In last one year, number of mothers coming for makeover have increased eight times. Women want to look younger by wearing the right kind of clothes, makeup, haircuts,” she adds. “After having child I hardly had time to care for what I wear, so, I decided to take professional help,” says Hiral Divatia, a new mom.