The modelling industry has done a lot of growing up in the past two decades. It has us given glorious names like Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif, stellar ladies in their own right, responsible for denting the glass ceiling and then doing away with it altogether. But what earlier served purely as a launchpad for Bollywood stardom is now responsible for producing capable names that later go on to take over the global runways.
If in doubt, look to our ELLE April covergirl Bhumika Arora who is slowly, but surely, invading the foreign runways. After being discovered at Lakmé Fashion Week, she has since racked up appearances at Chanel, Balmain and Fendi among (many, many) others.
A little closer home, Anjali Lama, Nepal’s first transgender model, became the breakout sensation of Lakmé Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2017. Her journey, predictably, wasn’t smooth — After being rejected at several auditions, she effected a complete makeover. “I watched videos of models walking the ramp, changed my make-up and wardrobe. I practiced posing in front of the mirror so I would be able to present myself to the judges well. And it worked,” recalls Anjali.
As another cycle of model hunt for the Lakmé Fashion Week begins, maybe it’s not too much to hope for more success stories to add to this list.
Auditions for Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2017 will take place on 13th June at St Regis, Mumbai and 15th June at Hyatt, Bengaluru.
