The fashion juggernaut rolls on with the Autumn-Winter 2014 edition of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in Delhi. It’s a robust mix of 119 designers participating in the five-day event, which packs in 31 shows. This edition will also see some new faces on the ramp. As many as 11 new models (five Indian and six international) will make their debut on the ramp. The line-up of newcomers include Aditi Mishra, Parul Duggal, Shashi Bangari, Pooja Mor, Leno, Katya Telesheva, Dunja, Dominica Sedlakova, Bianka Bodis, Jelena and Katarina Krstic. These leggy ladies (with Russians ruling the roost) auditioned a month ago before a jury comprising designers Suneet Varma, Rakesh Thakore and Gautam Rakha, choreographer Vidyun Singh, Aparna Bahl, and Sunil Sethi, President of Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI). “These days, there are so many pretty, tall and smart girls around us but what we were essentially looking for was an extra something,” says Varma, who welcomes the increasing number of international models that are now part of the Indian fashion mix. “They are very professional and easy to work with,” he says. The brief to the jury was to look for fresh faces with a good height (minimum of 5’8”) and girls with a personality and the “right” attitude. “Those with a style of their own scored well. Frankly, everyone on the jury was looking beyond the classic beauty,” he says. Jagmeeta Thind Joy
