From being a regular Delhi girl to walking the ramp in a swimsuit as a plus-sized model, life has come full circle for Sakshi Sindwani. Yes, does the name sound familiar? If you are into the fashion blogging scene, you’d know she’s one of the most popular fashion influencers and bloggers in the country, that too on plus-size fashion.
She runs a popular fashion channel- Style Me Up With Sakhi, on YouTube and other social media channels. And she has been instrumental in starting the dialogue around normalising plus size on social media in a conservative society as ours. On the occasion of this International Women’s Day, we caught up with her to talk about the future of plus-size, how to build an inclusive society and more.
This Is Where It All Began
Sakshi was a regular college girl in Delhi when she realized that fashion is her true calling. In her own words, “When I started my Youtube channel, I just wanted to be like one of those bloggers who I had been following for so long. I was really moved by international video blogger, Bethany Mota’s journey and how much these international bloggers had achieved through social media.”
Image Source: Instagram/stylemeupwithsakshi
Image Source: Instagram/stylemeupwithsakshi
In a conservative society like ours, where girls are expected to be a certain size or else they won’t find ‘grooms’, changing mentalities around such an issue can be quite a task. But luckily, Sakshi’s viewers have been nothing but supportive. She added, “There was so much girl-love on my comments, I received such positive reviews that even my own body positivity journey started from the viewers! In fact, the strangers online were a lot more supportive than my immediate friends and relatives.”
Rebuilding The Beauty Standards
One of the main reasons why Sakshi started the curvy girl fashion series on her channel is to break and rebuild the beauty standards. And she feels we are already getting there step by step.
“I feel we are already getting rid of this deep-rooted bias because more and more designers are talking about it and those are the people who are in power. Ever since Sabyasachi’s campaign came out, it has deeply affected me, affected so many brides out there. Then FDCI decided to take me on board as the first plus-sized girl to walk as a pool model for India fashion week was a huge thing. All these have been milestones. We’re definitely putting in the work and I can see a visible difference. And at the end of the day, I don’t want the term ‘plus-size’ to be the norm. We’re just the regular size that’s just bigger.”
It’s About More Than Just Fashion
Image Source: Instagram/stylemeupwithsakshi
If you follow fashion news, you’d know that just a couple of months ago, Sakshi created quite a stir when she walked the ramp in a swimsuit for top designers Shivan & Narresh. That was definitely a huge step in redefining the beauty standards, especially in a country like India where no plus-size model has ever walked the ramp as a professional model!
And Sakshi, in her heart, knew that she was creating history, “Just a few seconds before going on the ramp, I realized that I can create history by becoming the first plus-sized girl to have walked in a swimsuit in a major fashion week. I knew I can either nail this or completely screw this up! Because there were tons of challenges that we faced backstage. But when I walked on the ramp, people applauded like how! They were so accepting as if they were waiting for this moment to happen. That’s where my confidence came from. And at that moment I realized that it’s not about me or Shivan & Narresh or FDCI. It’s about doing something which means so much more to so many people. It’s about changing the mindsets.”
From walking the ramp in a swimsuit to being on the cover of Bazaar magazine, life has definitely come around for this Delhi girl. So what does the future hold for her? She told us, “I’ll continue doing whatever I am doing. I feel when you are doing hard and smart work, things fall in place for you. I focus on ‘Am I creating value with content that people will resonate with and that can make a difference in any way?'”
Talking about the International Women’s Day, Sakshi spoke about the equality of women and freedom to wear whatever they want, irrespective of their size. She signed off, “Wear whatever you want to but be safe a the same time. Equality is definitely something that we aspire for! It’s definitely not there in so many aspects of life. And when it comes to body size, don’t worry about it. You rock your own curves! If you are not curvy, if you are thin, if you are medium or whatever size or shape, it doesn’t matter. Own who you are and be a kind person.”
Featured Image Source: Instagram/stylemeupwithsakshi
