New Faces Going Places audition for fashion week
(No Ratings Yet)A group of 60 aspiring models listened wide-eyed as Shyamoli Varma, arguably India’s first supermodel, Wednesday gave them a crash course on scorching the ramp at the upcoming Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) - if they make it that far.
What brought these muses of the future together was an audition to select 10 New Faces Going Places who will rub shoulders with their peers at the Sept 5-9 fashion extravaganza.
The aim was to give aspiring models or those who have just begun walking the runway an opportunity to gain confidence and kick-start their careers.
“We are on the lookout for great looks, carriage, poise, personality and attitude on the ramp,” explained Rathi Vinay Jha, director general of WIFW organiser Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), of the initiative.
The first stage of the audition saw the aspirants sashaying down a mini runway in a variety of outfits ranging from skirts to turned-up-at-the-knee jeans, after which the number was whittled down to 18.
For the first time, six foreign models featured at the audition, but only one - Barbora Brablova of the Czech Republic - made the cut.
In the final stage, the number will be reduced to 14, of whom 10 are certain to turn out at the fashion week while the other four will be standbys - but could still get a chance to model at the event.
These lucky 10, or 14 as the case may be, will join 34 top-notch models at WIFW.
“I was looking for style and naturalness. A healthy skin, good hair and catwalk presence is equally important,” Varma, who was one of the six judges at the audition, told IANS after the event.
The others on the panel were designers Manish Arora, David Abraham, Suneet Varma, Prasad Bidapa, and Sumiko Murgai Nanda.
What were they looking for?
“I looked for the ones who could carry off what they were wearing; someone possessing potential and presence,” said Arora.
Bidapa was looking for “models who could compete on the international stage”.
Nanda listed her priorities as “a good height, well toned body and someone who can change her look quickly.”
According to Suneet Varma, “it is not just the body and face we are looking for. They must also have an impressive persona and great ramp skills”.
Some of the 14 models who will finally be selected could well see their career graphs zooming as nearly a dozen “Faces That Went Places” in the past three years have emerged from the auditions at previous fashion weeks.
They include the likes of Neha Kapur, Upen Patel, Piya Trivedi and Sonalika Sahay.
The auditions are among the many initiatives of WIFW organiser Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) to broadbase the country’s burgeoning fashion industry and to increase its stakeholders.
Among the other initiatives are a contest to select upcoming designers to showcase at the fashion week, a photography contest, fashion-related quizzes, and seminars and workshops on a plethora of issues relating to the industry.
— IANS
Leave a Reply