coverstory
“Therewillalwaysbeaplace
forgirlswhoarenaturally
slim,butI’dlovetoseemore
beautiful,curvywomenon
thecatwalk”knowisn’t goingto endtoo soon.“From
thecolour to theflavours,the sights,the
smells –it’squite amazing.Recently,
Ivisited India formydear friend Isha
Ambani’sweddingcelebrationsin
Udaipur, and it wasanextraordinary
experience,whichgavemeanauthentic
flavour of Indian traditionsand culture.
Thebeautyof Indialiesinits glorious
diversityandthe enthusiasmof the
peoplewholivelifetothe fullest.
“I love Indianfashion. Idid acover
shootwithPriyankaChopra and Padma
Lakshmiin2017 and got to wear rich
brocadesand vibranthues from Anita
Dongre,PayalSinghal and Amrapali. It
wasamemorableexperience.
“I had my fangirlmomentmeeting
ShahRukh Khan fortheVogueWomen
of the Year Awards in 2017. He had been
an idol of minegrowing up as ateenager
and Iloved his filmsKuch Kuch Hota
Hai(1998),DilwaleDulhania Le Jayenge
(1995),DilToPagal Hai(1997)and
dancingtohis songs.
“IshaAmbaniis also avery close
friendand is an advisoryboard member
forElbi India. At her weddinglast year,
Imet ahostofcelebrities including
KareenaKapoorKhan,KaranJohar,
VarunDhawan, SonamKapoor,Manish
Malhotra, HrithikRoshan,all of them
aresowonderfuland kind. Iamalso very
fond of TwinkleKhannaand Akshay
Kumar.Iamreallyinsyncwiththeir
powerful work in tackling taboosaround
menstruation in Indiaandhow theyhave
usedcinemaas aforce forsocialchange.”AMoDeL WorLD
ForALL
Modellingis basedon good looks:but
today’s worldasks foracceptanceof
all. Large-sized bodies,nomake-up,
bad skinoutings,genderfluidity...
all thesehave addedanewdimension
to what one mustconsider beautiful.
As aformer supermodel, howdoyou
interpret this change?
“It’s true that in the past models
were judged on whohad theslimmest
waist, butnow thereisanecessity for
theindustryto showacceptancetowards
peopleof all bodytypes,gendersand
ethnicities.Ithink we arewell on our
waytoseeingimprovementsin this
regard butit’s certainlynot complete.
“Bodydiversity hasyet to
revolutionisetheworld of
catwalk high fashionas a
lot of designers create their
clotheswithslim women
in mind.That is the way
they want to see it. But
thenoftenwhat is in
the catwalkisnot
what youfind in the
shop.TherewillF8 WeLLNess sPecIAL