Click to play videoNew Delhi: For years, there has been no model of the star appeal of a Madhu Sapre or a Mehr Jessia or even a Noyonika Chatterjee on the Indian ramp. So who has come in place? Someone like a Yana Gupta, may be. So while there are more fashion weeks than ever and more work, what Indian fashion is looking for is a new supermodel.
Snapping shutterbugs, coats of war paint is a model’s life. Or is it? Four fashion weeks a year and the industry is seeing more work and more assignments than ever.
“I would be walking the ramp for the first time. Fashion week for me is not for survival but it’s for a name right now,” said Rachael Varghese, Get Gorgeous Winner.
“I cannot ask for payments, it’s my first exposure to the fashion week,” said another new babe on the block.
While big runway names like Joey Mathew and Sapna Kumar are demanding and getting fat pay hikes, new models get that all elusive break on the coveted fashion week ramp. The rules of pay though vary for the veterans and the newcomers.
"The bargaining power has dropped. There are no more supermodels in India left anymore,” said Stylist Ambika Pillai.
Sapna Kumar, a veteran model said, “It’s tougher for a new models to break in today. There are many faces from everywhere in the world coming in. It’s a lot tougher now to start modeling now than it was when I started.”
But if Indian modeling has one big issue today, it flies in from abroad. Year after year, more foreign models especially from Eastern Europe and Russia sashay down our ramps.
"It is important for designers to show on the ramp everybody. So many designers are going for the New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week. Then what’s wrong with having foreign models on the ramp?" asked Ujjwala Raut.
And the stress levels are hitting an all time high
“I think there is more de-glam than glam situation in the fashion world of today. There is lot of stress, long working hours,” said Sapna Kumar.
"My friends didn’t have to struggle as hard as I had to do. I have gone through days when I had no money for my meals. And I had to just hold on for my cheque to come in,” said another model.
In a sense, the foreign models are filling the space of the missing Indian supermodel. Deepika Padukone was beginning to show some promise and now she is lost to Bollywood with her first film opposite Shah Rukh Khan, Om Shanti Om which is ready for release.
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