In a fascinator hat that had ribbons in green and purple and yellow and fuschia cascading on one side of her face, Chhetri walked with abandon and looked in the eyes of the audience. An unapologetic gaze. In this world, all expressions are deeply personal. The binaries of gender and constrictive and trans fashion remain a challenge for designers. Representation even more so. Things have been changing, though. In 2017, designer Marc Jacobs had an 18-year-old trans model walk down the runway in a turban inspired by one of the most irreverent fashion editors called Diana Vreeland and in an orange pantsuit that echoed Elvis Presley’s style. Casil McArthur, the model, said it was all about acceptance and it could go a long way in changing a lot of things for the trans community and culture at large. But in India, the non-inclusion is pervasive. Even with the film industry, the trans characters are mostly played by cisgender actors. For instance, Sushmita Sen will now play trans-female Gauri Sawant in a biopic called Taali. In 2018, designer Sohaya Misra presented a runway show called “Bye, Felicia” which was to signify the ultimate dismissal with a sassy movement of the hand. Misra, whose brand Chola made drag queens walk the ramp at the Lakmé Fashion Week, had actor Prateik Babbar in ‘drag’, who closed the show with make-up artist Jason Arland dressed as his bride in a veil and a peach dress. The nuance of drag was lost somewhere. That has always been the case. The casting has always been an issue.