Size zero is out

Size zero isn���t a plus in the world of modelling anymore. That���s what emerged from the recent auditions to select models for the upcoming fashion weeks.
The selectors, comprising designers, models, choreographers and ad gurus, ruled out the skeletal-looking aspirants, voting instead for the slender, proportionate ones.
According to one of the jury members, choreographer Vidyun Singh, ultra-skinny doesn���t work for Indian fashion weeks: ���The models should be fit and proportionate.I, for one, looked for a versatile person with a naturally good walk who can fit the needs of all designers.��� Vidyun adds that despite a tremendous response to the auditions, nobody displayed the promise to be a supermodel. ���When Deepika Padukone had auditioned, we knew that here was somebody special. But this year nothing amazing came out of the auditions, though we did pick up a nice fresh bunch,��� she says.
Leading model Tinu Verghese, who was also among the jury to pick models for the FDCI fashion week says, ���Indian girls are mostly curvaceous and a model should wear her curves in the right proportion. During the auditions, the girls who were slim, tall, dark and a little edgy appealed to me. An absolutely thin model looks disgusting.��� She says she picked girls with a great attitude and Indian features.
Designer Malini Ramani, panelist to pick models for the Fashion Foundation of India Fashion Week, feels that the body structure of the model should reflect fitness and health. ���I feel that a slender figure is the best way to showcase a designer���s collection. In the recent auditions, there were quite a few girls who fitted the bill and my clothes fall well on women with a real bust line,��� says Malini.
But designer Varun Bahl says body size is not the only criterion to select a model. ���I would look for a fresh face with lots of attitude and confidence to be on the ramp. A model can be beautiful in a conventional or unconventional way. We did not disqualify some girls even if they didn���t have perfect bodies. They were shortlisted and advised to work on it,��� he says.
Meanwhile Sushma Puri, director and CEO of a leading model management agency, who is closely associated with the upcoming fashion week in Kolkata, feels that one should focus on things like walk, poise, gait and attitude of a model rather than their BMI equations. ���Indian models have never been ultra-thin and we should conform to the slim rather than the size-zero image,��� she says.