Transgender model Anjali Lama made her share making history when she conquered Lakmé Fashion Week in Mumbai on Feb 1 to 4. Among the sea of models, she transpired every step on the runway.
In one of India's highlighted fashion event, Lama is the first transgender woman who graced the occasion. After the prejudice and discrimination, she experiences from her childhood, conforming to the machismo culture and the gender stereotyping from her own family, this did not stop her to walk the life she chooses, and that is through fashion.
The transgender fashion model expressed in CNN Style, "I enjoyed wearing women's clothing, and at school, I mostly had female friends. The kids at school used to mock me and say 'he's a girl.' Then at home, my father would scold me, asking 'what will you do with your life?'" during her childhood, she described her experience as "mental torture" and this is a common situation among her peers.
The Lakmé Fashion Week in Mumbai is a cultural breakthrough when Anjali Lama established her grounds in a community when she encompassed her transgender identity. According to the report on Out Magazine, she was rejected by Lakme Fashion Week in 2016. She felt the same emotion when she got troubled with her family and cut ties with her when reports from her neighbor reached her family about her sexual orientation.
Anjali Lama joined the fashion modeling academy in Kathmandu without coming out to her family as a transgender woman. Although, she said, "My mother, to some extent, was more accepting but there really wasn't much awareness then. There are more awareness and acceptance now in Nepal, and that has helped more people like me to come out."
In her career, she made an advance opportunity in fashion modeling in Nepal but still encountered resistance because of her sexual orientation. Being a transgender is in contrast to belief for many people and acceptance and tolerance cannot be achieved in one setting.
"Lakmé Fashion Week's commitment to inclusive and breaking stereotypes in gender, size, and beauty, even transgender women can be part of the fashion week," quoted IMG Reliance Head Jaspreet Chandok on Reuters. Anajli Lama finally proved her worth in her persona of being a true woman.
