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Dark and desirable
Dark is powerful and it has presence but in the world of fashion in India, the colour chocolate is not really favoured, says Vinod Nair.
And as he walks, he first breaks his nose out and puts the pieces in ice cream as he walks past a bunch of women; then as he watches a movie, in the cinema, two girls on either side start licking his ears. Then our man is inside a metro, the girl sitting behind him bites a piece of his behind! Of course, girls were going crazy for this bizarre looking species because it was chocolate.
Did they go for the chocolate or the guy inside the chocolate? Well, my guess is that they went for the former. In real life, and in the world of fashion in India, the colour chocolate is not really favoured. A slight difference from this attitude is only seen on the runways where dark-skinned models are gaining popularity. That, too, is restricted to a handful of female models.
Male models on the runway are still fair skinned. I can’t recall any dark male models (the last one and rarest of rare being Milind Soman). Even now, at model auditions, preference is given to fair faces. Or, is it that the dark-skinned never apply?
I think a fair mix would be a fair thing. I was happy when I heard about dusky model Mugdha Godse debuting in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion.
I think, as a model she had far exceeded expectations. Dark tones evoke much better response in fashion. Perhaps this is why Naomi Campbell is still doing great guns and Alec Wek is making ripples on Western fashion runways even now. Dark-skinned Indian model Lakshmi Menon, who made her debut at the Gaultier and Hermes show a few seasons ago, is now the face of Givenchy’s international ad campaign.
Dark is powerful and it has presence. Have you ever thought why in Hollywood films and television serials, the head of the FBI or NYPD is always an African American?
Back to the deodorant ad, I still feel that the guy’s bottom was getting bitten off because of chocolate… not because he was dark. And that, I think, shows the mentality that we have today!'
