To find out what ails Indian beauty, we called in those who understand it best. Having produced one world winner after another, the fashion industry is still trying to come to terms with declining standards and admits as much.
Sharan Mishra, who won the Metropolitan Top Model contest last year and has just returned from a stint in Milan, claims the Indian ramp has become a victim of its own success. "There's no dearth of talented girls in our country but they are not being identified in the right manner. A new beauty contest appears every second day and talent gets split among them. Earlier there was just one pageant of repute and it would attract the cream of our talent. As a result standards were very high," she says.
According to the Bombshell from Bengal, the repeated failure to win a crown in the last four years could also be due to larger forces at work: "Our girls won till India needed to be promoted as a brand in front of the global audience. But now that India is better known, other countries are being given a chance."
With a number of Miss Indias having made the move from ramp to reel, it's set a wrong precedent for budding models, feels former catwalk queen and emcee Mehar Bhasin who also runs a grooming institute. "India has had its share of Miss Worlds and Miss Universes. Most of the talent has already been churned out and that's why we see a sudden vacuum. A majority of the models we train today don't have a passion for the profession. They see it as a stepping stone to bigger things - namely films," she says.
Beauty queens are weighed down by too much expectations and it is having a cascading effect, feels couturier Rohit Gandhi. "Good models are vanishing. Talented girls are not being spotted and the fear of losing is keeping many away. Newcomers need to be encouraged and only then can India get back to its winning ways," he says.
With a number of Miss Indias having made the move from ramp to reel, it's set a wrong precedent for budding models, feels former catwalk queen and emcee Mehar Bhasin who also runs a grooming institute. "India has had its share of Miss Worlds and Miss Universes. Most of the talent has already been churned out and that's why we see a sudden vacuum. A majority of the models we train today don't have a passion for the profession. They see it as a stepping stone to bigger things - namely films," she says.
Beauty queens are weighed down by too much expectations and it is having a cascading effect, feels couturier Rohit Gandhi. "Good models are vanishing. Talented girls are not being spotted and the fear of losing is keeping many away. Newcomers need to be encouraged and only then can India get back to its winning ways," he says.
Dusky Nayanika Chatterjee, one of the few supermodels India has produced, does not believe the talent pool is shrinking. "Indian girls are struggling because there's been a change of perception worldwide. Till some years back India was only known as the land of exotic beauties. Today it is Indian fashion that enjoys top-of-the-mind recall," she insists.
There are others who haven't given up on Indian beauty. At least not yet. Style diva Ritu Kumar has designed Sindhura Gadde wardrobe for the Miss World pageant and will certainly be rooting for her. According to her: "India has won so many crowns in a row and we cannot expect our girls to keep doing it year after year. Miss Indias have consistently reached the top five or ten positions and that's commendable enough.