There is a predictable script the mainstream fashion industry likes to follow when it comes to inclusivity: find a token face, put them in a dedicated campaign, tick the diversity box, and move on. For years, digital creator and fashion influencer Sakshi Sindwani was handed that script. Also read | Sakshi Sindwani replicates Alia Bhatt’s Cannes look amid ‘brutal’ online scrutiny: ‘I’m being called ugly a lot’
But if her 2026 trajectory — spanning from the red carpets of the Grammys to the podiums of Harvard — proves anything, it’s that she has entirely rewritten it.
Sakshi is no longer allowing herself to be confined to a single, comfortable category. She is demanding to be seen for her art, her grit, and a purpose that goes far deeper than the ‘plus-size’ label.
Shattering the inclusivity box
For a long time, Sakshi was celebrated primarily as a ‘body-positive’ content creator. While she acknowledges the initial power of that movement, she has grown out of the restrictions it imposed. “While I was very open about considering myself a body-positive creator, people always called me that,” Sakshi said in an interview with HT Lifestyle.
She added, “And now I’ve started talking about how I’m a creator more than any other label… I want to be recognised for my art, and I don’t want to be put in a label because it’s restrictive.”
Sakshi noted that being categorised so narrowly actually shrinks a creator’s horizons, blocking international opportunities. “I’ve seen that possibilities become fewer, and the global possibilities that come to me don’t come to me because I’m just one person under one specific category. I think people are finally realising that I have something bigger to say than this body creator category,” she said.
Looking back at the industry’s evolution, she views the ‘inclusivity box’ concept with a nuanced perspective. “When that box was being ticked at that time, it felt like a really big box and a very important box to tick,” Sakshi said, crediting social media with driving vital representation for this generation. “But slowly and steadily, I think people just became more okay with seeing different faces, different body types… the box of body positivity got smaller, but the conversation stayed very, very big,” she said.
Ultimately, Sakshi’s ambitions couldn’t fit into the industry’s pre-moulded boundaries: “The kind of conversations I wanted to hold were very, very big. And my opinions were very big. So, I needed a bigger box to tick when it comes to people defining my art.”
50 stitches and the inner tigress
Nowhere was Sakshi’s indomitable spirit more evident than at Lakme Fashion Week 2026. To the outside world, she was a flawless vision walking the ramp. Inside, she was navigating a profound physical and emotional crisis following an accident that required extensive facial plastic surgery.
“This surgery happened three months ago. This is a fairly recent incident in my life. This really challenged my beliefs about beauty. Because this accident didn’t occur in a place that could be concealed. It happened on my face. It happened right above my lips. I’m known for my smile,” Sakshi shared openly.
When she took to the runway, she was a mere 10 days post-accident: “I had completed nine days of plastic surgery, wherein I had about 50 stitches on my face. End-to-end muscle rupture surgery. And my face was frozen. My swelling hadn’t gone down. You could still feel the sutures.”
Backed by her senior doctor’s reassurance that returning to her life would bring her joy, Sakshi pushed through severe vulnerability. Backstage, the reality of the trauma hit hard: “I still remember I had a full breakdown during my makeup… the makeup artist, through no fault of her own, had brushed my injury, and the brush’s touch felt alien. And I completely froze. That made me break down because I think it triggered the pain that I went through.”
After a five-minute release, she put on a Beyonce song, tapped into her inner strength, and walked out under the blinding lights. “I couldn’t smile. My face was frozen… because of my muscle rupture. It takes two to three months for your muscles to rebuild. At that point in time, my rebuilding hadn’t even started, and I was in extreme pain,” Sakshi shared.
Yet, crossing that threshold changed her relationship with herself forever: “Because I ended up doing that, my own respect for myself became tenfold. I said to myself, if I can do this, I can really do anything else.”
For Sakshi, modeling isn’t a superficial pursuit — it is a calling. “Being on the ramp, being a model, opening shows and closing shows, just walking for the brands that believe in me and want to show an inclusive model walking for them, just that is so much more important and bigger than even an accident on my own face. This job I have is so much more than just a job for me. It’s my whole life. It’s my purpose. And it’s the most beautiful part of my existence right now, this legacy that I am trying to build,” she said.
Redefining health: from positivity to neutrality
The forced physical stagnation of her recovery period drastically shifted Sakshi’s outlook on physical fitness. Confined to complete bed rest for a month, she found herself yearning for movement. “I understood at that point that today I am moving my body for all those people who are sitting in their beds and don’t have a choice,” she said, adding, “So if I have a choice, I’m going to move my body and be the fittest self for me, my family, and my loved ones.”
This realisation allowed her to seamlessly blend high-structured wellness — like tracking macros and prioritising sleep — with self-love, debunking the myth that fitness and body acceptance are at odds. Sakshi said, “Body positivity was never about prioritising your health. It was about being okay with how you look at every stage of your life. That is what body neutrality actually is.”
Rejecting the pressure to perform toxic positivity, she added, “I don’t like the term body positivity because I don’t think it’s fair — or realistic — to be positive about your body every single day… the baseline for me is simple: am I being overly critical, and do I feel ashamed of being in this body? Never.”
For Sakshi, structured fitness is the ultimate form of self-care, not self-punishment: “I’m very grateful to be in the body I’m in, which is exactly why I prioritise fitness… because without fitness, there is no health. And if there is no health, then you are truly not body neutral, not body positive, and not a body advocate.”
Keeping the Delhi authenticity alive in high fashion
Now that Sakshi has moved from a teenager searching for representation on early YouTube to a high-fashion regular fronting luxury campaigns, she remains fiercely protective of her personal style from being homogenised. Her approach to luxury is deliberate, mindful, and entirely unswayed by seasonal micro-trends.
“Luxury is supposed to be a luxury, right? It’s not supposed to be something you buy every time a season changes. It’s something that you invest in, something that you feel you can pass down for generations,” Sakshi said.
But while she appreciates a beautifully curated luxury investment, her sartorial roots remain firmly planted in Delhi: “The Delhi in me is still alive because I shop from small stores that have been around in places like Rajouri Garden and Lajpat Nagar. I find really good pieces there. I shop a lot from homegrown brands and from smaller Indian stores around Delhi.”
Sakshi added, “I’m not classist in the sense that I won’t shop from a particular brand because it’s too small. Nothing is too small. If I like something, it’s truly about my taste and my style — nothing else.”
Sakshi Sindwani’s story in 2026 isn’t just about fashion. It is a masterclass in resilience, a refusal to be neatly categorised, and a reminder that true beauty is forged when a woman decides she is the author of her own narrative.
