đ The Creator Breaking Curve Models into Indian Couture: Sakshi Sindwani
Is Indian Fashion inclusive?
In this episode, I ask one of India's most prominent curve models and content creators a simple question:
How do you measure success for yourself?
If youâve followed Trailblazers for the past 9 Seasons, you know itâs one I love to ask. But Sakshiâs answer is one Iâll be putting to work myself:
How people meet me.
Sakshi Sindwani is the FIRST curve model to appear in a Manish Malhotra bridal couture campaign; the FIRST Indian creator invited to the Grammys.
She broke ground as a curve model on the runway at Dubai Fashion Week and Cannes Film Festival. Sheâs walked for Gaurav Gupta and Papa Don't Preach; sheâs partnered with LâinclOrĂ©al, Johnnie Walker, and Swarovski.
But in response to this question, she relays the story of a mother-daughter duo she encountered â and their poignant reaction upon meeting her. (For my more curious readers, the details are in episode excerpts below).
âItâs not a measure of success. Itâs a measure of impact.â
I am ever a skeptic of vanity metrics, but I recognize that for creators, numbers like followership arenât really a vanity metric â itâs a KPI you live and do business by.
And thatâs why I admired Sakshiâs answer even more. She couldâve cited a number, a milestone, or even moments of self-efficacy.
But instead, she measured her success with something simple, but tactile, exogenous to her, but endogenous to what she stands for:
How people meet you is an honest reflection of what you and your platform signify to them.
The answer is an honest capture of how Sakshi has built an audience of 700,000 women in Indiaâs competitive creator market brick-by-brick â with zero eye toward virality, nor any desire to sensationalize inclusivity in stalwart Indian fashion.
Sheâs just here to change the conversation, and sheâs not afraid to admit that the greats of the industry have a ways to go.
If youâve struggled with body image, with the parts of our culture that are beautiful but can oft rear an ugly head, with how to cut through millions of noisy opinions, hit play on this one ASAP đ.
Find us YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or SouthAsianTrailblazers.com. đ
P.S. đ«đ· Iâll be at Cannes Lions next week. Send me a note if youâll be around!
đ Sakshi Sindwani at a Glance
Originally from Delhi, Sakshi launched her channel in 2015 and broke out during COVID under the handle StyleMeUpWithSakshi
Sheâs known for fighting tokenism and normalizing inclusivity in Indian and global fashion â cold-calling designers to put herself on the runway at Dubai Fashion Week and pushing for representation to transcend surface-level inclusion.
đïž Sakshi Sindwani: Is Indian Fashion Inclusive?
đȘ On growing up without the language of inclusivity
Simi Shah: When you look at the beginning of your journey, what gave you the initial confidence to actually go and build this platform?
Sakshi Sindwani: Thereâs no way that I ever thought that this could be my platform, because I didnât grow up with inclusivity as a conversation. Curvy â that wasnât the word that was used.
âYouâre fat, youâre not accepted, and youâre never going to be valued, youâre never going to be worthy of love.â
Those were the words that I was familiar with. So now we talk about big words like inclusivity, representation, curves, body types â that wasnât the language at all when I started. So I didnât know the future of it. I just knew that I had this undying need and want to storytell. Storytelling can be done in different ways â it can be cinematic or it can be through fashion. For me, I chose to storytell my life through fashion, through my interests, through my hobbies, through my opinions. And I was my most authentic self every step of the way. People were not investing in me as a trend, they never saw Sakshi Sindwani as a trend. They always saw Sakshi Sindwani as this movement. And then they wanted to join my story.
đ« Advice for building your platform
Simi Shah: What do you say to young women who look to you, see someone that was able to build a platform, and go on to walk in Dubai Fashion Week and the Grammys with the biggest brands in the world?
Sakshi Sindwani: I donât think I would make it very far in this industry if I just waited. Dubai Fashion Week did not happen to me, it happened because of me. The designers didnât come to me, I reached out to them.
These are the Indian designers who are showcasing at Dubai Fashion Week. Nobody from India, specifically not a curve model, has ever gone and done a ramp walk globally. Can I please be in the room? I did so many things free of cost. I didnât want to be paid for a lot of the things, because I knew: Itâll start a bigger conversation if I walk down the ramp.
I did three shows in my first year of doing Dubai Fashion Week. It was incredible. It started a wave of a conversation. People reached out to me: âFinally, we can see somebody who looked like us represented in fashion the way we would want to see it.â
People think that all of these opportunities sort of come to you or are happening to you. It doesnât. We have to hustle for it â like for every good thing in any entrepreneurâs life, you have to hustle it out.
đ Key Lesson: Measuring Impact over Success
Simi Shah: How do you measure that impact? How do you measure success for yourself?
Sakshi Sindwani: What people write to me â thatâs enough measure of success. Or when they meet me, how do they interact with me? This mother-daughter duo came to me during a fashion week. I was standing with my mother. They came to me, and both of them started crying. The mother looked at my mother, and she told my mother that youâve raised the most incredible daughter whoâs helping me raise my daughter better. And that conversation â it was just the four of us â that changed everything for me. I then realized that whatever Iâm doing, sitting in my room in front of a phone or a camera, is creating a much bigger impact than I can possibly imagine. I needed me when I was growing up, so the least I can do because of this platform is help them feel better about themselves.
âš Key Reflection: Normalize it, donât sensationalize it
Simi Shah: What are the conversations you still feel like youâre having that weâre not necessarily privy to, that are still going on behind the scenes?
Sakshi Sindwani: The prevalence of tokenism in the industry is the one big conversation Iâm having. You jumped on the bandwagon when inclusivity and representation were cool, and when the Ashley Grahams of the world were walking the ramp for the biggest fashion houses. Thatâs when it became cool to hire a curve model who fit into your idea of beautiful, curvy. But now, are you still going to be on that bandwagon, or are you going to go back to conformity?
Can I just be honest? I donât think I care anymore about these conversations. What I care about is strengthening my own voice, talking about it like itâs normal. I donât want to dramatize inclusivity and representation. It needs to be as normal as drinking a cup of chai. Itâs not about having the big conversations to change something. The change has already been made. Now you have to stick with the change, and how do you stick with the change? You have to normalize it.
The brands that already get this â Gaurav Gupta, Papa Donât Preach, so many small homegrown businesses â those are my allies. And if youâre not going to be on that bandwagon? Well, youâre missing out.
Loving Season 9âs return to the subcontinent? Catch up on our most popular episodes YET:
⥠Rapid Fire
đŹ Oscars red carpet or New York Fashion Week? Oscars.
đ A fashion rule you swear by? Break the stereotype.
âš Designer youâd love to collaborate with next? Michael Kors.
đ„ Who plays you in the biopic about your life? Ashley Graham.
đŁ In this movie, what would the audience be screaming at you? She was fearless.
đ„ A hot take about your industry? Inclusivity is still on the surface. Theyâve not internalized it.
đ§ Something youâre unlearning? Beauty standards.
đ Something youâre learning? The true meaning of authenticity.
đ« A trailblazer whoâs inspired you? Simi Shah. đ„ș
đ What trailblazing means to you? Just being so unapologetically yourself â and hustle.
As Season 9 draws to its close, I hope you can take 10 seconds to support us:
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