Bollywood Fashion Designer Comes Out As Trans Woman

Article by Suman M Published on: 8:41 pm, 6 January 2021

Bollywood’s famous fashion designer Swapnil Shinde took it to her Instagram account to come out as a transwoman. Swapnil changed her name to Saisha, also said she is not a gay man.

Swapnil Shinde is very well known for designing dresses for top Bollywood actors and celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Sunny Leone, Tara Sutaria, Taapsee Pannu, Kareena Kapoor, Bhumi Pednekar, Hina Khan, and many others.

In her Instagram post, Saisha (Swapnil) wrote: “Here we go 2021. P.s: Saisha means a meaningful life and I plan to make mine an exceptionally meaningful one”. Saisha shared how she was bullied for being different, writing, “Irrespective of your origin, there will always be something that reminds you of your childhood. For me, it takes me back to the kind of loneliness that aches, to pressures that pushed me into solitude and the chaos of confusion that grew every moment. All through school and college, while the boys outside tormented me because I was different, the internal pain was far worse. I felt suffocated living a reality that I knew wasn’t mine, yet one that I had to stage every day because of societal expectations and norms.”

“It was only in my early 20s at NIFT where I found the courage to accept my truth; I truly bloomed. I spent the next few years believing that I was attracted to men because I was gay, but it was only 6 years ago that I finally accepted myself, and today that I accept you,” She clarified, “I’m not a gay man. I am a Transwoman.”

Saisha seems to be relieved from the pain of being called sir for all these years instead of ‘ma’am’, as she also revealed it on Insta stories, “The sheer agony of hearing – sir for all those years! Never thought this would ever be a reality but here we are chasing our dreams. My team started saying good morning ‘Ma’am’ about a month ago with utmost pride.”

Saisha’s recent works include Kiara Advani’s look for Laxxmi song Burj Khalifa and she shot to fame for designing costumes for Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion in 2008.

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