Photo of Anita Bhagwandas. Credit: Leo Ward.
By Jade Lennon
Anita Bhagwandas is an award-winning journalist, beauty editor and broadcaster based in London who has spent the last 15 years writing for some of the most well-known fashion and lifestyle titles, including Marie Claire, The Guardian Saturday Magazine and more.
Bhagwandas started writing professionally when she was just 15, interning at local magazines in South Wales, where she was born.
After graduating from an MA in Journalism course from Cardiff University, she moved to London to intern at prestigious fashion and lifestyle titles, which included Vogue, Sunday Times Style, Esquire and The Observer.
She later became a full-time a staff writer at Top Santé, which she balanced with a writing a digital beauty column for The Guardian.
But what is a staff writer?
According to Career Explorer, a staff writer is a writer who “works for a company or publication as a regular employee”. Roles of a staff writer include researching topics, writing and Drafting Content, meeting Deadlines and collaborating with the team.
Bhagwandas has also published a book, Ugly: Giving Us Back Our Beauty Standards. It discusses beauty standards and how people are treated differently by society depending on how they look. On social media now the phenomenon is known as “pretty privilege”, which means people are treated differently, usually in a positive way, because they are conventionally attractive.
Bhagwandas attended the Beyond Body Positivity conference at London Metropolitan University on 11 March.
She talked about how the power dynamics and influences on beauty standards have shifted from fashion media as the gatekeepers to celebrities and regular people on social media.
Anita Bhagwandas talking about inclusivity. Video by Leo Ward.
Bhagwandas said the fashion industry is “inherently fat-phobic”. This is shown through the limited sizing of clothes. According to Mare Alexandrin, the majority of fashion brands only offer clothing in a narrow range sizes, often stopping at size 12 or 14.
This is disheartening, as people who wear larger sizes are excluded, forcing them to seek other alternatives.
At the same time, not every attempt at size diversity should be taken as genuine dedication to progress. “It’s a gimmick,” Bhagwandas said, noting that some fashion brands use inclusivity as a marketing tool instead of being genuine.
But why is inclusivity such a popular marketing strategy nowadays? It’s simple – it targets the younger generation, Gen Z specifically.
So will the fashion industry change for the better?
While Bhagwandas doesn’t think the industry will change fully to become a welcoming environment for all sizes, she says it’s influenced by the outside world. For example, she links it to political climate, saying that the traditional ‘narrow’ beauty standards go hand in hand with the rises in conservatism.
That broader climate, she suggests, doesn’t stay abstract — it filters down into everyday newsroom culture. During the panel, she spoke about her experience interning at Vogue, where she ‘was publicly fat shamed in front of the whole office and it was awful’. The experience eventually inspired her to take action: “So when I went to Marie Claire, I was like what can I do? So I started a column about it.”
Bhagwandas’ story is a reminder that change often starts small — with one voice refusing to stay silent. In a world obsessed with narrow ideals, sometimes making a ripple in the newsroom is the first step toward shaking up the whole industry.
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