No wafer-thin waifs here: Indrani

Model Indrani Dasgupta feels the wafer-thin versus well-rounded row raging on runways abroad is largely irrelevant in the Indian context.

"I believe in the concept of a healthy body and mind,” says model Indrani Das gupta. Back from the New York Fashion Week where she walked the runway for designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Dasgupta feels the wafer-thin versus well-rounded row raging on runways abroad is largely irrelevant in the Indian context.

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“I don’t really know whether this skinny argument affects us or not, since most of our clothes and silhouettes require models with fuller figures. The models there are definitely younger and the body type is different.”

Models internationally start working when they are as young as 12 or13, something that most Indian parents would hardly be comfortable with, Dasgupta says. What’s more, they work for 10-12 years and retire by the time they are 26.

“Besides, going under the knife is much more common abroad. I mean there are models who get their ribs surgically removed,” Dasgupta says, adding, “There has to be a limit to this insanity. Modelling is a serious job.”

Dasgupta feels things work very differently abroad. “The shows are only 10 minutes long and the front row is filled with serious buyers, unlike here. And shows there have stars as well, but these are people who seriously endorse the designers.” And wardrobe malfunctions? “Internationally there is nothing like a wardrobe malfunction. Though they have clothes that are much more revealing, no reports are filed or demonstrations held and the me dia certainly doesn’t run stories on it. They understand that a wardrobe malfunction is just a freak incident.”