Lone Star

Lakshmi Menon is one of the few South Asian models to have achieved international modelling success. Bangalore-native Menon began modelling in 2006 at the ripe old age of 25, purely as a means to finance her University studies in developmental economics and sociology. Menon is an intelligent and insightful woman whose beauty lies more than skin deep. Menon's beauty is mesmerising. The quality that I find most striking about Menon is her eyes which emote a rare combination of fragility, strength and sense of knowing. 

Menon was fast tracked to the upper echelons of the modelling pyramid when she was championed by Jean Paul Gaulthier and Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci. In an interview with American Vogue, Tisci says of Menon "When we saw her, we said 'Wow! She is so strong. She has this elegance that is rare to find these days." Tisci swiftly cast Menon in Givenchy's Fall/Winter 2008 campaign alongside Lara Stone, Natasha Poly, Kristen Owen and Maria Carla Boscono. Tisci reveals in a press release statement for the campaign that "I chose these five women that represent elegance, femininity and masculinity with character. The new Givenchy star for the Fall/Winter 2008 season is the Indian model Lakshmi Menon." In an interview with Vogue.it, Menon also acknowledges Gaulthier's instrumental role in her entry into the international modelling circuit when he cast her for his Spring/Summer 2007 show exalting that "Jean Paul Gaulthier has an eye for women as such. If you come across as a striking woman, he will cast you."

Menon has since fronted campaigns for Max Mara, Hermes, H&M and multiple Givenchy campaigns and has posed for Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier, Terry Richardson, Mikael Jansson and Craig McDean for American Vogue, V Magazine, Allure, Paris Vogue and Dazed & Confused. In 2008 American Vogue went as far naming Menon model of the year. Menon was also selected as part of the illustrious line-up for Pirelli's 2011 calendar lensed by Karl Lagerfeld. This is far cry from her early days of modelling in 2006 when Menon recalls in an interview with the Independent that "When I first signed with agencies in Europe and the US I barely did anything; it was one show here another there. At that time it was completely dominated by Caucasian girls, particularly Russians." 

London stylist Nicola Formichetti, who cast Menon for the cover of Dazed and Confused in April 2009,  cites fear as the motive for under-representation of Asian models in the modelling industry speaking with the Independent, "It's a shame; there are even fewer Asian girls then black girls, which is why it's so exciting when you find a girl like Lakshmi. I think people are just scared of taking risks. They won't start doing it until everyone else does." Lakshmi adds in the same interview that "If there aren't many South Asian girls modelling, that's because the agencies haven't looked. I don't think anyone has really come to India to scout for girls, or at least not in the same way they go to South America or Eastern Europe. In a country of more than 1.2 billion, there are bound to be beautiful women - I mean, come on, who are we kidding." 

Photographer - Benoit Peverelli
Source - thefashionspot.com

L'Officiel - May 2008
Photographer - Jon Compson
Source - models.com

V Magazine - November 2008
Photographer - Cedric Buchet
Source - models.com

US Elle - December 2010
Photographer - Horst Diekgerdes
Source - models.ocm

Photographer - Prabuddha Dasgupta
Source - thefashionspot.com

US Vogue - May 2009
Photographer - Mikael Jansson
Source - thefashionspot.com

US Vogue - December 2008
Photographer - Patrick Demarchelier
Source - models.com

US Vogue - May 2010
Photographer - Sebastian Kim
Source - chungkitblog.wordpress.com

US Vogue - May 2009
Photographer - May 2009
Source - thefashionspot.com

US Vogue - May 2009
Photographer - Mikael Jansson
Source - thefashionspot.com

Paris Vogue - October 2008
Photographer - Mario Testino
Source - models.com

L'Officiel - May 2008
Photographer - Jon Compson
Source - models.ocm

Vogue Espana - May 2010
Photographer - Tesh
Source - models.com

Eniko Mihalik & Lakshmi Menon
MaxMara - Spring/Summer 2009
Photographer - Craig McDean
Source - thefashionspot.com

Lakshmi Menon & Maria Carla Boscono
Givenchy- Spring/Summer 2009
Photographer - Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin
Source - thefashionspot.com

Vogue India - May 2009
Photographer - Jean Francois Campos
Source - models.com

Dazed & Confused - April 2009
Photographer - Josh Olins
Source - models.com

French Review des Modes - F/W 2009
Photographer - Thierry LeGoues
Source - models.com

Vogue India - April 2008
Photographer - Prabuddha Dasgupta
Source - thefashionspot.com

Velvet - February 2009
Photographer - Takay
Source - thefashionspot.com

Maria Carla Boscono, Lara Stone, Ana Claudia Michels & Lakshmi Menon
Givenchy - Spring/Summer 2009
Photographer - Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin
Source - models.com

Hermes - Srping/Summer 2008
Photographer -Thierry LeGoues
Source - models.com

Lara Stone, Natasha Poly, Lakshmi Menon & Maria Carla Boscono
Givenchy - Fall/Winter 2008
Source - models.com

Divine Intervention

French beauty Anais Mali has confirmed her status as one of Anna Wintour's staple models, scoring her first only-girl editorial for US Vogue captured by Raymond Meier. Mali has a look that transcends race, being of African and Polish heritage, and of French nationality. Mali is a versatile beauty, capable of alternating with ease between haute couture looks whilst posing for Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia, to sporting more consumer-friendly attire for commercial end clients like the GAP, Levis and J Crew.

I recall being transfixed the first time I laid eyes on Mali during the Spring/Summer 2011 collections. Mali's crescent shaped eyes, luminous skin, impossibly divine bone structure and engaging personality have landed her a slew of editorial appearances in V, i-D Magazine, Vogue Italia, US Harpers Bazaar, Interview and US Vogue. In an interview with Bethann Hardison conducted back in July 2010 for Vogue.it, Mali forecasts the future, "I would love to work with photographers like Steven Meisel, Mario Testino, Stevn Klein, all these people that you dream of because they are such big photographers for the likes of Vogue magazine." Mali is well on her way to achieving her goals and her innate love for fashion and chic sensibility make her an attractive proposition for many designers.  

Solo Girl Spot - Anais Mali
US Vogue - August 2011

US Vogue - August 2011
Photographer - Raymond Meier
Source - thefashionspot.com

Photographer - Unknown
Source - models.com

GAP - S/S 2011
Photographer - Craig McDean
Source - thefashionspot.com

Photographer - Unknown
Source - vogue.it

Fabulous Five

i-D Magazine delivers another set of innovative covers for it's Summer 2011 issue featuring a diverse group of models truly worthy of the "Super" tag. Amber Valletta, Behati Prinsloo, Stella Tenant, Kristen MacMenamy and Daphne Groeneveld pose for Craig McDean, Matt Jones, Paolo Roversi, Josh Olins and Dan Jackson respectively sporting the trademark i-D wink. Prinsloo looks uber cool with ghoulish Joker style makeup covering half of her face and ends up bearing a striking resemblance to Elle MacPherson. Valletta works it to full effect with electrifying, neon highlights and a hair style which pays homage to Blondie whilst McMenamy looks positively regal with her now trademark silver grey tresses encased in a crown of thorns. Rounding up the covers are hippie chick Groeneveld and the fashion's perennial favourite Stella Tenant. 

Amber Valleta
Photographer - Craig McDean
i-D Magazine - Summer 2011

Behati Prinsloo
Photographer - Matt Jones
i-D Magazine - Summer 2011

Kristen McMenamy
Photographer - Josh Olins
i-D Magazine - Summer 2011
Source - models.com

Daphne Groeneveld
Photographer - Dan Jackson
i-D Magazine - Summer 2011

Stella Tenant
Photographer - Paolo Roversi
i-D Magazine - Summer 2011
Source - models.com

Perfect Fit

The casting of a show plays a vital role in ensuring that the designer's vision for a collection, translates onto the catwalk and continues to resonate long after the final turn on the runway. Casting director, Natalie Joos knows a thing or two about the casting process, having cast shows for Hugo Boss, Philip Lim, Helmut Lang, Yigal Azrouel, ADAM, Jill Stuart, VPL, Valentino Red, Bruno Pieters and Cosello Tagliapietra. Joos' interest in casting developed during her five year tenure as a studio manager for photographer Craig McDean, when she would assist with castings. McDean encouraged Joos to pursue casting full-time and in 2003, Joos formed her own casting agency, Natalie Joos Casting. 

Model Visionary - Natalie Joos
Source - streetpeeper.com

For Joos, the casting of a show is akin to assembling a puzzle and involves the painstaking selection of the right line-up of models to embody the designer's aesthetic. Speaking with style.com, Joos shed light on the casting process, "for a show especially, your trying to sell a coherent story. You want the whole group of girls to have the same feel. Casting ADAM is very different to casting Yigal, you know? It's a different girl. Yigal's girl is tough, she struts. The ADAM girl is a bit softer. You have to translate the vibe of the clothes through the girls wearing them. It's not just, oh, let's find the prettiest ones. There's a whole process of interpretation."

Joos sees hundreds of models in the lead up to the shows and concurs that the appearance of a particular model on a particular runway is anything but arbitrary; "I start by seeing all the new faces at the pre-casting. They come in have their polaroid taken, do the walk and leave. I then make my wish list board. I place all the girls' cards on the board who I could/would like to see in the show. Then I request options for each of the girls on my board. Once you get all of them in place you start confirming, scheduling the fittings and calling them in for the show. Done."

Natalie Joos' picks for Fall/Winter 2011
V Magazine - Issue 69

With the increasingly rapid turnover of new models each season, Joos has mastered the art of distinguishing between a mere pretty face and a model with true staying power, "There are certain gems that emerge every season. The ones that truly possess all the right qualities to survive model trends, with or without great management. A great model really has the right face, body, proportions, walk and personality and there are only very few girls who have all the elements in place. I don't think it's necessarily the clients who get fed up with the same faces, but if you have a little bit of an eye you can easily tell who are the true wonders; the rest are fillers."

As for the Fall/Winter 2011 collections, Joos reveals to the New York Times that, "I'm seeing two different scenarios emerge as I'm looking at all of these new girls, which I already predicted from last season. We're looking at a more characteristic girl. She's a character, she has a signature all of her own. She's something different." Joos concurs though that character and beauty go hand in hand, "I like beautiful girls. That's my taste, and yeah, if you work with me I bring my own aesthetic to the table. I like a girl who you look at and say, wow...where did you come from? Who made you? I like a model to be a model. Taller, more beautiful and a little unreal."

Natalie Joos
Photographer - Paolo Kudacki
Source - style.com