In the fashion industry, transgender and gender non-binary models have often felt compelled to hide their identities to secure jobs and find success. “Even when the industry does include individuals, it remains influenced by beauty standards intertwined with transphobia, often favouring trans women who conform to traditional feminine appearances,” says Rudrani Chettri, Founder of Delhi-based Mitr Trust, an LGBTQ charity. However, as a trans model herself, Chettri saw this disparity as an opportunity to create more robust spaces for people like her.
In 2015, she took the first step in this direction by starting Bold, a transgender modelling agency, which has now also expanded to include casting opportunities for the trans community as well. Almost a decade since, Chettri says all her work has amounted to little change in opportunities for trans talent in the fashion and entertainment industry. A battle to begin with “Transwomen, especially, spend much of their lives and income trying to fit into a society that often rejects them.
This includes their transitioning, beauty and fitness costs that are inherently connected to their health,” she says. “The goal for them is to be accepted as any other cisgender woman, not as transwomen, and not everyone can afford to do this, nor should they have to conform to these expectations,” says Chettri. The founding of Bold was not just about creating opportunities for trans models; it was about representation—about showing the .