This century is all about giving respect to choices! The latest personality who is being lauded for her bold choice to turn into a trans woman is none other than fashion designer Swapnil Shinde. Swapnil, now known as Saisha, is one of the most popular designer in the Bollywood industry and is known for styling various artists like Kiara Advani, Shraddha Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Hina Khan, Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone amongst others. Swapnil announced to the world about the decision to turn into a transwoman on social media where she wrote about her new identity as Saisha Shinde. Not only this, but she even shared few pictures of her new appearance alongside the meaning of her new name.
Taking to Instagram, while sharing her new pictures, Saisha wrote, "Here we go 2021 P.s : Saisha means a meaningful life and I plan to make mine an exceptionally meaningful one ."
Her long and meaningful note goes as follows:
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 everyday 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 to myself, and today that I accept to you.
I am not a gay man. I am a Transwoman.
As soon as she announced the news, a lot of celebrities started pouring in congratulatory comments. Sunny Leone wrote, "I love you and I am so proud of you for being the BEST YOU!! The YOU you always wanted to be. Congrats and happy birthday SISTA!!" While Parineeti Chopra commented, "So happy to read this. Up and up from here, Saisha."
Comments on Saisha Shinde's post
Saisha even expressed her gratitude to her team who have now started referring to her as 'ma'am.'
Speaking about all the criticism she has faced, Saisha told Indian Express in 2010, "Critics are highly judgemental of my work. They call me the ‘Britney Spears of the fashion industry’ for breaking the rules!"
On the work front, she most recently designed Kiara Advani’s look in the Laxxmi song, Burj Khalifa.
Apart from this, Saisha is known for designing the outfits of various A-listers for their red carpets, award nights, magazine cover shoots and even designing costumes for movies. Her work during Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion (2008) is well known.
