Brown girls in the ring: Indian supermodels rule as catwalks become more diverse
Outside, beautiful, warrior like women strut fiercely the gallery of a modelling agency on upscale Park Street trying to crack auditions for the forthcoming New York Fashion Week. Inside, getting her make up done, Rasika Navare, 26, sits unfazed, uninhibited. She has come a long way from the time she wrote to a modelling agency on Facebook asking if she could be a model and was told to return after putting on some weight. It is a tough world in New York City, but she seems to have arrived. As she strikes a pose for the photographer in Times Square, dressed in black leather jacket and white shirt, passersby turn to look at her. A few even claim to know her face. And it's not just her. A few blocks down, on 52nd Street, Pooja Mor, 25, one of India's biggest exports to the western modelling world, stares out of a poster outside the Ann Taylor store.
As the notion of beauty begins to change worldwide, catwalks are becoming more diverse, Indian designers and actresses are making a mark abroad, the Internet is providing both exposure and opportunity, and Indian women are stepping on to international runways and gracing the covers of top international fashion magazines. There have been 10 breakout models from India in just the last year. Radhika Nair, 26, became the first ever Indian model to walk for Balenciaga, and Dipti Sharma, 22, closed the Spring/ Summer 2018 show for them at the Paris Fashion Week. Bhumika Arora, 28, closed the show for Marc Jacobs at the New York Fashion Week; Mor featured
A 'traditional' model in the industry was also required to meet certain height and proportion standards. Today, says Yang, if someone has an effusive personality, or if their back story is intriguing, there could be place for them in the business even if they are not tall. As Susannah Hooker of Elite Model Management puts it, "It's important in these times, when there are so many new faces, to stand out and let your personality shine. It's not enough anymore to merely be a pretty face, you need the character to back it up."New York Fashion Week 2016 remains the most racially diverse in recent history. After examining 116 major New York shows and tallying 2,700 runway appearances, industry watchers said 31.5 per cent of castings were non white. This was the first season where every runway included at least one model of colour. In an open letter on Instagram just before Fall 2017, Ivan Bart, president of IMG Models, encouraged designers "to celebrate our diverse talent by considering all of our models, regardless of size or background"."The Indian modelling scene for women is pretty good," said Prasad Bidapa, 55. A renowned fashion stylist and choreographer, Bidapa has groomed and trained Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma, among others. "You must remember that categories exist," he added. "Runway models are required to be very tall (5'10") and don't have to be good looking. Commercial models for print and TV can be of any height and the curvy, pretty girls work very well here, and have the highest chance of getting into Bollywood." The Western fashion market, too, he explains, is divided into specific categories runway, print and catalogue, as well as specialised sections like hands and feet. Indian models like Laxmi Menon and Pooja Mor, he said, are cast in runway shows for the exotic factor. Ethnic models rarely become part of the mainstream in the West. Paris and Milan accept more Southeast Asian models than London or New York. New York still prefers blue eyed blondes. But from the woefully small number of Indian models abroad, the situation has improved, he concedes. There was no response initially, till she walked for Louis Vuitton. Much sought after today, Pooja is associated with the biggest names, be it Victoria Beckham, Derek Lam, Tory Burch or Calvin Klein. She worked with Patrick Demarchelier for the August 2016 issue of Vogue US, Txema Yeste for Numero China magazine and featured on the cover of The Edit magazine of fashion portal Net a porter.Natasha Ramachandran, 27, who has walked for big design houses such as Del Pozo, said she was stunned when Anima approached her but now takes the international catwalk in her stride.
