From the NDA to the nation’s frontlines, India’s women in uniform are reclaiming power and reshaping authority. Fashion should take note

The recent passing-out parade of India’s first women cadets from the National Defence Academy (NDA) wasn’t just a military milestone. It was a visual moment of power—erect spines, disciplined pride, identical buzz cuts and crisp uniform. It marked a historic shift in India’s defence forces—one that goes beyond optics.

In 2021, after a Supreme Court directive, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) opened NDA admissions to women. This first cohort of 17 women graduating from the tri-service academy in Khadakwasla, near Pune, alongside 300 male cadets signified inclusion, but also transformation.

Unlike the more debated but equally telling moment in May 2025—when two female officers fronted the media briefing for Operation Sindoor. One was Colonel Sofiya Quereshi, of the Corps of Signals, who specialises in military communications and systems. The other, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, a decorated helicopter pilot, had earlier led a high-altitude rescue operation in Arunachal Pradesh in 2020. These statements in representation were also shifts in operational reality.

To reduce them to symbolism alone would be to miss the ongoing churn. In a country where the uniform has long been a bastion of masculinity and state power, the entry of women into these roles marks a reordering of hierarchies.

The ripple effect may not be immediate—but it is inevitable in a decade or less. These moments will seed new aspirations. They will travel from photographs and television news to cities and towns. Into families and then into attitudes and mindsets. Especially where a girl’s career is still a negotiation with parents and is dealt with caution while safeguarding “family expectations”.

The armed forces have seen other breakthroughs too. In 2023, Lt Commander Prerna Deosthalee became the first woman to command an Indian Navy warship—INS Trinkat—and had earlier served as the first female observer on the Tupolev-142, a maritime reconnaissance aircraft. This year, Lt Commander Yashasvi Solanki became the first woman naval officer to be appointed Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the President of India.

Even the paramilitary forces are catching up. In 2024, the Home Ministry sanctioned an all-women battalion in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), comprising over 1,025 personnel, led by a senior commandant. It is called the “Reserve battalion” Women currently make up 7 per cent of the CISF’s 1.8 lakh force. Nationwide, women constitute just 11 per cent of India’s police personnel—about 1,05,325 officers.

A push in 2024 added over 4,000 women to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), including the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force), CISF, BSF (Border Security Forces), SSB (Sahastra Seema Bal), and Assam Rifles. 

In its optics, now the uniform is both gendered power and performance. But at its core lie other realities that sometimes skid out of notice as appearances take over. These are the realities of rigour and vigour, soft skills, strategy and critical thinking, and all that it takes to become a soldier.

For instance, Operation Sindoor’s Vyomika Singh had participated in a tri-services mountaineering expedition to Mt. Manirang (21,650 ft) in 2021. Deosthalee was initially deployed at Siachen, a posting that requires extraordinary mental and physical resilience. 

Why Fashion Should Pay Attention

As fashion absorbs societal shifts, the growing visibility of women in uniform is not just a style cue—it is power dressing itself. Fashion is one of the few industries that publicly celebrates gender-neutral design. And yet, Indian designers have rarely explored what a uniform—especially a woman’s uniform—represents. From shapes and silhouettes, to embellishments and colour palettes. From the meaning behind materials used or creating entire fashion collections immersive of cultural and political moments. The visual metaphor of women in uniform looms large enough for couturiers and designers to notice.

The CISF combat uniform alternates between camouflage-print shirts, cargo trousers and tan boots to khaki attire every Monday. The Indian Navy, a few years ago, replaced its old dress No. 10A with a digital camouflage design in black, grey, and white. Police and CAPF uniforms range across olive, camel, tan, khaki and brown.

As fashion pins down trends, and trend forecasts are all about reading the moment—both in terms of environment, political and social climate—designers can tell us what it feels to look like a soldier.

At the NDA, the uniform is almost a curated “collection”—ceremonial wear for summer and winter, sports kits, combat uniform, mess dress, and even mufti codes. It is an aesthetic ecosystem waiting to be referenced.

The 2024 Republic Day Parade offered a moodboard for the fashion world. Led by President Droupadi Murmu—the country’s first tribal woman in office—and themed around Atmanirbhar Bharat and Nari Shakti, it showcased 100 women musicians playing traditional instruments. For the first time, an all-women Tri-Services contingent marched down Kartavya Path. The flypast featured only women pilots. CAPF contingents were exclusively female. In 2025, the Railway Police Force joined the march of firsts.

Historically, both male and female soldiers and police personnel have spoken on record of the transformative power of uniform as second skin. A shift takes place in their minds, they say, once they buckle up. It stays on as a cordon of patriotic commitment for some and a life mission for others.

As fashion absorbs societal shifts, the growing visibility of women in uniform is not just a style cue—it is power dressing itself.

For Lt Colonel Deepika Chauhan, wife of Lt Colonel Rajveer Singh Chauhan (retd), the pilot who died in the Uttarakhand helicopter crash ferrying pilgrims on June 15, it was the ultimate homage costume. Dressed in her army uniform, a black sari, epauletted blouse, black boots and cap, she held her husband’s garlanded photograph facing the procession of mourners as the coffin was led to the cremation grounds in Jaipur this week.