Since the season for fashion weeks is upon us (Aamby Valley India Bridal Week,PCJ Delhi Couture Week just wound up in Delhi and Lakme Fashion Week starts this weekend in Mumbai),its hard not to extol the people who really make it happen. Not les egoistes designers,not the self-important journalists and certainly not the clueless-but-cash-rich sponsors. Its the runway models who live,breathe and thrive for fashion. Its the catwalkers and them alone who make a fashion show a truly classy act. Put Nethra Raghuraman or Carol Gracias in a boring LBD,with little make-up and on a blank-white ramp,and watch them trip the lights fantastic. Youll still come back touched by glamour. This only proves the might of a supermodel,everyone else in the ecosystem only plays a supporting role. Indians love their models. Many of the top models are over 35. They open and close shows with such grace and pizzazz,the womanliness of their persona overcomes their age. Nayanika Chatterjee,well into her 40s,a swarthy and a reluctant beauty,opened almost every show at the India Bridal Week in Delhi. Her more-swan,less-human stride induced a collective gasp each time she appeared. Diandra Soares feline strut is unmatched; she was sorely missed when she took a year off to nurse her broken heart after a failed relationship. Bhawna Sharmas Lolita-esque pout sends pulses racing,those on the wrists of men and women. Indrani Mukherjees luminescence makes her one of the most beautiful women in the world. And Waluscha Dsouza,mum of three at only 30,is ready to heat up ramps with her impish sex appeal once again. Europe is waking up to mature models with striking stage personalities only lately. Carolyn Murphy is ensuring a glamorous comeback. Christie Brinkley models for swimsuits at 59. And watching Cindy Crawford on the Cannes red carpet was a lesson in ageless oomph. Wendell Rodricks superb memoir The Green Room is also a loving ode to runway models right from Meher Castelino to Malaika Arora Khan. The seasoned designer recalls precious moments in the make-up rooms of the girls,recounting their insecurities,celebrations,starriness and snobberies. Did you know he was the first one to put Frieda Pinto on the ramp? It was at Lakme Fashion Week,a year before she began shooting for Slumdog Millionaire. Now,she is the most envied red-carpet fashionista in the world. Us fashion folk hate it when we lose our models to Bollywood. Aishwarya Rai,Malaika Arora Khan and Deepika Padukone were a fashion shows reigning queens,albeit they have happily moved on to different roles in the far-out riches and reaches of the movies. Designers,who called the shots earlier,now have to go through a brick-wall of public relations types to get through their once-favourite babes. Its the show-stopper syndrome that irks models and their mentors the most. Gorgeous as Sonam Kapoor,Nargis Fakhri and Alia Bhatt are they already have a job. Lets not have them on the runways,they belong on the front rows instead. Newspaper editors must update themselves an actress on a runway is just old chestnut,nothing newsy about it. Let the runway be ruled by women who can rock it. Our models arent extras. They are,if anything at all,extra special. namratanow@gmail.com
