Although it should have happened years ago, the rise of the beautiful Lakshmi Menon into the ranks of the supermodels is a sure sign that the world of fashion is opening up to women of all ethnicities who dream of becoming a model. So says Damian O’Connor, Managing Director of one of the biggest modelling agencies in the UK, Models Direct.
O’Connor believes the high fashion end of the modelling industry has been slower to reflect the increasingly multicultural nature of society than other areas of the sector, where there has been a lot of work for models from different ethnic backgrounds for quite some time.
“We frequently have clients come to us to find a model from a certain ethnicity – or age or gender, for that matter,” says O’Connor. “Usually it’s because the advertiser is wanting to target a particular community with their campaign, or they don’t want to be seen to be excluding anyone.”
“As a result, we have found that more and more Asian men and women are approaching us wanting to have a go at starting a career in modelling,” says O’Connor.
At 26 years of age however, Lakshmi Menon looks set to become the first Indian supermodel. This has prompted much discussion in the industry about why it has taken so long for Indian and South Asian models to appear on runways and in fashion magazines.
Lakshmi herself struggled to find top jobs when she first began her modelling career in Europe and the United States. She credits the launch of Indian Vogue in 2007 and the election of Barack Obama as sparking far greater interest in Indian models in particular and non-white models in general.
Still, she thinks agents could be doing more to find the next Indian superstar. “I don’t think anyone has really come to India to scout for girls, or at least not in the same way they go to South America or Eastern Europe,” she says. “In a country of more than 1.2 billion, there are bound to be beautiful women – I mean, come on, who are we kidding?”
Further links/information:
* To find out more about Models Direct: http://www.modelsdirect.com/
* Find out about how you could become a model: http://www.modelsdirect.com/locations/worldwide.html
* To find a model for your business: http://www.modelsdirect.com/find_a_model/index.html
Dave Chandler
Campaign manager
t +44 (0) 870 041 0459
[email protected]
