PASSION for FASHION

By - Natasha Rai
Holidays always bring about the fashion mood in us. With all the christmas and new year parties, after work cocktails and fancy dinners, we have enough reasons to get pretty and fabulous. Being a south asian abroad, its alwyas a dilemna whether to go with the westernised look or to be in our Indian best. The choice is ours because as far as fashion is concerned, India has never been behind the western world. Our designers, models and fashion shows are on par with the international market.

So, lets first take a round of the Indian fashion world. Fashion Shows like Wills lifestyle and Lakme always give us a look into the indian fashion designers' new collections usually presented by the famous models and bollywood celebrities. Bollywood is all about drama and its love affair with Fashion, the look and what it takes to shine out on red carpet.

http://in.specials.yahoo.com/willslifestyleindiafashionweek/

http://www.bharattextile.com/features/lakme-fashion-week/2008/autumn-winter/

http://www.highheelconfidential.com/

Bollywood fashion has been a craze in India and abroad as we tend to follow what our favourite stars wear. Keeping this in mind, actor Suneil Shetty has opened a chain of stores abroad called Crossover Bollywood se where we find all the bollywood embellishments. Utsav Sarees is another site where we can shop for all our Sarees and Lehnga needs including the accessories.

http://www.utsavsarees.com/

Dressing with all the westernised glitz and glamour has its own advantage as you can
choose from a wide range of make up, hairdo and haute couture available out there.
You can choose from a classy look of sixties to modern style of 2000s. All looks are IN from tweeds, florals, animal prints to country and frills and from bob hair to straight cut bangs to wavy curls. Light hues to lush mascara, thick eyebrows and luscious lips are the new additions. Vibrant colors are back in dresses and make up and the dusky belles are hot. You choose a look that suits your lifestyle and your mood of being nice or naughty and wear a strong color to make the statement.

Lets look at the fashion and beauty of 2008, the winter ramp shows of international designers and the fashion house of elle canada. ULTRA Milano brings in the mens' line of fashion.

http://www.ellecanada.com/ellecanada/client/en/today/home.asp

http://www.urbanmixer.com/index.php/2008/10/17/ultra-menswear-vip-party/

For bedtime and seduction we have Victoria's Secret and Aqua di Lara for the pool. These designs will leave you spellbound with their out of the world creations. The looks and the colors are vibrant. The laces and frills give us the ultimate sex appeal.

http://fashionism.ca/Runway/victorias_secret_2008.htm?feedname=PHOTO_GALLERY_RUNWAY_VICTORIASSECRET2008

http://fashionism.ca/Aqua+Di+Lara/Runway/Spring_Summer_2009/Articles/aqua_di_lara.htm?isfa=1

High fashion footwear like knee high boots, shoe booties and peep toes, straps and heels always bring the sexy in you and complete your looks and the wardrobe. Platforms and wedges are still in styles in different colors, material and heights. They transform the way you appear and how you feel about yourself. A matching purse accentuates the look. A stilletto is the ultimate sexy and glamorous piece of footwear.

http://www.aldoshoes.com/us/women/sandals/dress-fashion

http://www.sterlingshoes.com/media/default.html

Finally, Fashion has less to do with the rules and more to do with making confident decisions to mix and match. Its not what we wear but how we carry it that makes a fashion statement.

So lets get ready and rock the party...Happy New Year 2009 everyone!!

Trollywood to Bollywood

Kanti Raj presents an exclusive interview with the first Trolly actress, supermodel and beauty queen to cross over to Bollywood - Shinata Sangha.

Since you are already an accomplished supermodel and actress at such a young age, please tell us what motivated you and continues to motivate you today?

Firstly it’s a pleasure to be approached for this interview. When I was only 17 years old I began my career as a showgirl, one day I was picked on and bullied by a group of South Asian drag queens who were a lot elder than me so badly. They taunted me, bullied me and also attacked me, they did what ever they could do to get me off the scene, but I didn’t let that get to me. I told myself that one day I will make my name so big and make something of myself. I guess that was what motivated me the most back then. What continues to motivate me now is that fact that I have achieved so much within the past two years of my career in a short span of time. I have provided other South Asian Transgender women a platform to voice and view there opinion and come forward to showcase there talent and realize there dreams. I believe the Asian society is very backward minded especially towards transgender/gay/bi/lesbian and look down upon us. My only message to them is that no matter what creed or walk of life we come from we too are human beings. I’m here to fight all odds and battles to become triumphant and victorious, to stand a strong independent transgender woman that I am today. Until our community doesn’t let us live in peace, I wont stop fighting for the rights of transgender women from around the world. I guess that is what continues to motivate me today.


We've heard that you've bagged a Bollywood film opposite Govinda and Celina Jaitley. Please tell us how you managed to break the glass ceiling for other T-girls with this amazing accomplishment?

I have been getting movie offers from both British mainstream producers and also from Bollywood, I was firstly offered two British films namely ‘The Dancer’ and ‘Diana’ but I rejected both the roles as I felt they were not a character I wanted to portray. Bollywood movies have included transgender women in the past but I felt they made us out to be a laughing stock and a joke, something I wasn’t prepard to do. If I was to make my debut in a Bollywood movie I would only do a role I felt comfortable with and a role which would allow me to speak out for the rights of transgender women to show the world we too are talented and beautiful human beings. A friend of mine who is a make up artist was on the sets of one of the shoots with the producer of Kingcon and he showed the producer a picture of me from his mobile phone and told the producer about me. The producer was very interested and immediately contacted me for a role, which I rejected at first. After a lot of convincing I was invited to come to India to go through the scripts and meet the director and from there it was history.

Please tell us the total number of pageants you've won because we have lost count!

Well including all my Main titles and sub awards I have won in the pageants I’ve competed in it reaches a grand total of 18! A staggering amount, I have been competing in pageants since the age of 17. I am now 20, however I have decided to retire from beauty pageants for the time being to venture into different fields. Pageants take up a lot of time, preparing/dieting/rehearsing getting outfits made and designed, plus they also get very expensive. Many of the organisers have told me it’s about time I give other girls a chance to compete and win. Plus when you do too many pageants eventually the judges will get bored of you. So I would rather retire and quit the pageants whilst I’m still hot property. You never know I may compete again in two years but I have won most of the major ones including Miss UK Transvestite 2006, Miss Glamour Queen UK 2006, Miss Gay India 2007, Miss Transvestite 2008, T-girl of the year 2008, Outstanding achievement award Queen of Nations 2007, runner up Miss Alternative London, Miss Mango Tree International 2007 and placed highly and won sub awards in many others. In the future my dream is to go to USA and Thailand to compete for prestigious pageants there, maybe when I am 23.

I am sure being a huge transvestite celebrity is not easy. Please shed some light on what must have been a very difficult journey.

Ofcourse the journey has been so difficult and a very long ride but like I said before I’m a independent strong transgender women who has my head firmly placed on my shoulders and my feet firmly placed on the ground. I know what I want in life and I will work hard to achieve it. I no longer let petty comments or remarks get me upset or feel hurt. In the past I have had such disgusting messages sent to me (even including Malati Chopra sending me abusive messages swearing at me) I think it is down to sheer jealousy and people only pick on those and their achievements because they don’t have the courage to achieve their dreams so they don’t want to see other people succeed in life. However, I do feel that a lot of people have praised my achievements. I get a lot of kind messages from other South Asian transgender women thanking me to help them realize there dream. All they need is a push and I do feel the Asian society is slowly starting to accept us. I recently landed my own Gossip page and blog for a mainstream British Asian Magazine called ‘Brit-Asian’, and I never thought a big magazine would give a transgender women her own gossip page. Ive also been approached by mainstream designers who want to use me for there model to shoot campaigns, slowly but surely we will get there one day and get the respect we truly deserve.

Who is your role model and what have you learned from her?

My role models include the likes of Bipasha Basu, Koena Mitra and Rakhi Sawant. I simply adore and love these women a lot, and I admire their determination to succeed in life. Rakhi Sawant is an indivdual who speaks her mind, she doesn’t take crap from anyone and will always stand up for herself a true independent woman, and she is very gracefull and a brilliant dancer. Bipasha Basu because she made the world realise big is beautiful and girls with curves and hips are beautiful, when Bipasha entered bollywood she was not skinny like other actresses, she still managed to carve a niche for herself and became one of the most desired women in the world. And Koena Mitra I think she ozzes sex appeal and she is beautiful to look at.

My last message to all my fans and admirers is no matter what creed or walk of life one comes from, do not judge them. Only respect and accept them and realize the world too can be a beautiful place to live in especially with peace and harmony. God please.



For more info. please visit Shinata Sangha Bipasha Beyonce's official websites:

WWW.SHINATA.CO.UK
WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/SHINATA1
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SHINATASANGHA
SHINATA_SANGHA@HOTMAIL.COM

NEPAL'S THIRD GENDER

By Natasha Rai
______________

The court of Nepal has given a favorable response to the petition filed by Blue diamond society (BDS) the LGBT organization in Nepal for the protection and rights for sexual and gender minorities. The court has also ruled that cross dressing should be taken as a freedom of expression and that all LGBT issues should be considered as natural phenomenon and that the court is open to look into the same sex partnership/marriage act. This makes me proud since even though Nepal is the only Hindu nation of the world with traditional and religious beliefs; it has proved to be open, sensitive and democratic to the individual sexual orientation of the people as compared to most of the developed nations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/world/asia/20pant.html?_r=2

httphttp://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/11/nepal-supreme-court-approves-same-sex.php

Having said that, let’s not forget the fight the LGBT community of Nepal had to go through for their rights and freedom. The only gay organization, Nepal Blue Diamond Society and its LGBT members established, expressed and celebrated the LGBT diversity through public forums, dances and parades in the last 5 years. It also fought its battle with the local police.

http://www.bds.org.np/

http://picasaweb.google.com/Roshan.Verghese/CelebratingDiversity

http://sheilaandroshan.blogspot.com/2007/08/its-gai-jatra-festival-again.html

http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/2005aug/2002.htm

The society also organized beauty pageants for Nepalese transgender and crowned first Miss T Nepal who represented the international transsexual pageant in Bangkok.

http://www.globalgayz.com/nepal-news07-08.html#article8

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/5242

It was international news, when BDS organized the openly gay marriage
in Kathmandu without any protest from the public.

The Transgender contesting for the local election was news that was widely accepted by the people in Nepal

http://sheilaandroshan.blogspot.com/2006/08/bold-and-beautiful.html

The head of BDS Mr Sunil Babu Pant is the only elected openly gay member of parliament of the region who has been nominated by the Maoist Government of Nepal.

We are proud of LGBT community of Nepal for its achievements in such a short term and we celebrate its victory and learn that with pride, expression and acceptance we can win any war!