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Men, beware. Women are going on a rampage — or rather ramp-age — in 2013. In the world of modelling, brawn is out and curves are in. Male models, fashion experts claim, are dimming out — as women strut their stuff like never before.
“The likes of Milind Soman and Marc Robinson seem to have disappeared. They were charismatic, distinctive and a cut above the rest,” ad guru Prahlad Kakkar says. “Currently, there are hardly any male models worth any recall. Most are simply clones of one another,” he sighs.
Women, on the other hand, are making haute waves, oozing oomph and pizzazz under the arc lights. Fashion industry insiders predict that like the year that was, the year ahead will see at least a handful of them also doing the lights-camera-action act in Bollywood — the common yardstick of success for a model. Designers stress that that these women are a combination of beauty and brains, attitude and perseverance — and nothing is going to stop them.
Kyra Dutta, Kingfisher Calendar Girl 2013, standing tall at 5ft 7 inches, is a case in point. A Bengali beauty high on fashion equity, Dutta has what it takes, vouches Atul Kasbekar, ace fashion photographer and chairman-managing director, Bling Entertainment Solutions. Having played a significant role in grooming and launching stars such as Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif, Kasbekar would know.
Dutta, a trained belly dancer who has also studied jazz and contemporary dance, and is now learning kathak, began modelling with television advertisements such as those for Close Up and Wildstone Deo. Brimming with supreme confidence, she says, “My competition is with myself. To be the best I can be. So other girls don’t matter to me.”
The model says she has also received some film offers, but is taking her time “to make the right choice”. She sounds determined as she shoots off some oft-heard lines: “There’s no stopping me from here on. And excellence is what I strive for. I don’t want to be just another pretty face that’s forgotten.”
That, sadly, is something the six-pack brigade is having to fight at the moment — no recall. Of course, male models will walk the ramp in 2013 — and feature in advertisements. But designers point out that they are nowhere near the top like the women.
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Fashion designer Dev of the Dev R Nil label makes a valid point. “Most of the male models today sport a lean, non-muscular, neutral look as that fits in anywhere and everywhere.” That leaves many of them without a distinctive flavour — the kind that women exude. Be it Vaibhav, actor Vijay Anand’s son who is gunning for a break in Bollywood, Adhiraj Chakrabarti who made his modelling debut with Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) in 2010 or, for that matter, Nitin Chauhan, better known for J.J. Valaya’s creative mood catalogue, the male models all look global — but seem to be cast from the same mould.
“The competition among male models is alarming. Every day hundreds of boys are lured towards this profession,” Nitin Chauhan says, although work is apparently limited in terms of commercials, ramp and editorial [ads in magazines and so on], as compared with the opportunities for the female hot bods.
Needless to say, the hot and hip among the women models are making the most of the fair weather. Angela Jonsson, a favourite in the fashion fraternity, enjoys high stakes. With one film, Kya Super Kool Hain Hum, under her slim belt, she is now likely to star opposite Salman Khan in his next venture Sher Khan.
“She is by far the best in the current crop, although the grapevine has it that she is maintaining a low profile, having signed a three-film contract with a renowned producer-director,” says Kakkar.
Designer Wendell Rodricks and Dev, however, put their bets on Rikee Chatterjee. “It’s obviously for her looks and fresh presence on the ramp,” explains Rodricks. Chatterjee, born and brought up at Jamshedpur, has done the Colombo and Dubai Fashion Week circuits, apart from LFW and the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week. “She has a universal appeal and carries off all kinds of clothes. She has the potential to make it big,” adds Dev.
Kanishtha Dhankar, Miss India 2011, is another name rapidly emerging as the premier contender for fashion campaigns. Dhankar recently took an international leap by walking the runway at the New York Fashion Week Spring Summer 2013. Rated high by designers Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Manish Arora, among others, Dhankar has been on the cover of magazines such as Elle, Marie Claire, Grazia and Cosmopolitan.
For Dhankar, a good model is someone who is as fit as a fiddle and has the personality to pull off any look — whether it’s in a sari, a mini skirt or androgynous pants. With those criteria, small wonder she fits the bill perfectly.
Another model you are going to see a lot of next year is Priya Emmanuel. This half Irish-half Indian beauty, Kasbekar stresses, has by far the most incredible body he has shot in 11 years since the start of the Kingfisher Calendar. A former Miss Malaysia, she is moving to Mumbai in January and therefore is to be watched out for.
And last but by no means the least, there is half Goan-half Peruvian Elena Fernandes, a resident of the UK. “She is like an exotic goddess with a lethal pair of legs,” gushes Kasbekar. With a degree in law from King’s College, London, Fernandes claims to be a super geek who has done, as Kasbekar puts it, “more editorial work in India in six months than most of her contemporaries put together”. She has catwalked at the London Fashion Week, was booked for a 12-page editorial in Vogue, loves editorial more than the runway and, for a change, wouldn’t like to take the road to Bollywood as acting isn’t her passion.
Evidently, Fernandes — who loved the tax and criminal modules of law — is an aberration rather than the norm. But then that’s what goes into the making of a signature style. Rodricks, Kakkar and Kasbekar believe that considering the shelf life of a model, the bond between fashion and films is understandable. Models hunt for films while actors eye the catwalk. That’s been true ever since Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai crossed over from the ramp to the screen.
As the women gear up, the male brigade had better look out before they are wiped out altogether. The time has come for them to fine-tune their act — a New Year resolution they could consider in the year ahead.
