Huma Qureshi says issues like female empowerment and gender equality may have taken the centre stage but the fact that women are still expected to dress up for “male gaze” saddens her.

The 32-year-old actor says women are still objectified and expected to be “corseted” to match up to the beauty standards set up by the society.

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“Commodification of women still persists. They are still expected to be very prim and proper and corseted to look a certain way. The idea behind this is that we are supposed to dress up for male gaze. We are not supposed to dress up for ourselves.

“I love dressing sexy and looking my best, but there is a big difference when you are dressing up for yourself and when you dressing up for someone else. It shows,” Huma said.

The actor says the patriarchal mindset has “packaged a female body in a certain way,” but its high time women should start being comfortable in their skin.

“Beauty comes in all packages. For years people have sold the idea that fair skin is beautiful. Why can’t a brown or a black woman be beautiful? We have someone like Priyanka Chopra who has made brown so sexy in the West. I believe beauty is not a standard version of what some fashion magazine is trying to sell.”

The actor was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2018, where she walked the ramp for designer Anvita Sharma’s label Two Point Two along with her brother Saqib Saleem.

Huma says fashion for her is all about being comfortable and confident.

“I think fashion for me is to be yourself and be in your skin. I don’t understand why so many people in the fashion industry are trying to stand out all the time, which I believe stems from deep-rooted insecurities.

“I just feel insecurities makes people look what they are not. I am very classic in my choices. I will never wear something outrageous to make a headline or to get praise,” she says.