Gender no bar on the ramp

CHENNAI: At 5 pm, when the lights went off, the chatter stopped, and everyone turned to look at a ramp, lit, and highlighted by delicately printed weaves at its backdrop. At the energy-filled hall at Hotel Savera, trans persons kept the audience’s gaze glued to the ramp for the next 30 minutes. They were models, dance exponents, physiotherapists, mothers, and working professionals. The confidence with which they carried themselves, made it hard to tell the struggles they had endured to get where they were now.

To mark Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31), Aeshaane, a sustainable clothing brand by Neesha Amrish, along with the Duchess Club, organised this show to bring trans lives to the limelight. They invited Prince Manvendra Singh of Rajpipla, Gujarat, an openly gay member of the royal family, who shared his journey of coming out to his family, “My lineage made it more difficult to tell my parents, and it went on to become a ‘breaking news controversy’,” he said in a conversation with Nina Reddy, joint managing director, Savera Hotel.

“But I’ve realised that talking and hosting events, is a great way to break taboos, and build a sense of community,” he added, while speaking about the relevance of such events to bring forth LGBTQ issues.
For Neesha the event was an effort to connect community service with fashion. So, she met Sunil Menon from Sahodaran, a city-based NGO that works on sexuality related issues. “He introduced me to five trans women, and their stories moved me. I immediately agreed that the real life heroes must walk the ramp in the organic weaves, which are years of community work with artisans,” she said.  

In the past few years, fashion shows with transgender models have become common, and Sunil shared that these spaces have been encouraging and supportive too. “The effort is to make transgender models mainstream in the fashion industry. So we consciously decided to include members from the community and outside.”

Namrita, a trained model, Selvi, physiotherapist, and Anjali, a Bharatanatyam dancer were among the 10 transwomen who walked the ramp. Dressed in black, with a stunning green, block printed dupatta around her waist, Sandra, a trans woman, actor and employee at Kochi Metro, was the showstopper for the evening.