The world of fashion is embracing nodels — non-models — as designers opt for people with interesting personalities, backgrounds and even disability to showcase creations
After the supermodel and size-zero phases, the world of fashion is entering a new era: The age of the “nodel”. Nodel — or non-model — is the breakout buzzword from fashion weeks across the globe, with designers taking to using a combination of models and nodels to showcase creations and bringing about a more dynamic texture and quality to the clothing.
Closer home, Indian designers too are also opting for diverse casting both on and off the ramp, the most recent instance being Archana Kochhar having a model with a bionic arm walk the runway for her at the New York Fashion Week. Couturiers J.J. Valaya, Rohit Bal and Rajesh Pratap Singh have also roped in nodels for some of their shows and shoots in the recent past, and the trend seems to gaining favour among the fashion fraternity.
PEOPLE MATTER
Kochhar, who presented her ahimsa silk creations at the New York Fashion Week recently, opted for not one but three nodels to present her collection on the international platform — Rebekah Marine, a lady with a bionic arm, a wheelchair-bound lady and a lady with a rare disease which had made her lose all her hair.
Archana says, “I have always believed that everyone is beautiful the way they are. It is a major misconception that only a certain body type can look good walking down the runway. Fashion is accessible and inclusive to all, and I think using a girl with more standard proportions or a disability as a model communicates this very clearly. People matter, not clothes. Clothes, when worn by real women, come to life. Which is not to say that a model is not a real woman.
For me, ultimately, the wearer’s personality gives the garment its structure. We keep telling people to accept their bodies, but it is time that we as a society start reflecting the same in our own actions. I chose fair American girls, girls of colour and people like Rebekah for my show because they represented courage and true spirit.”
Rebekah Marine, the 28-year-old born without a right forearm and who walked for Archana in New York, became an ambassador for Touch Bionics four years ago and was given the i-limb quantum — an advanced prosthetic arm that moves according to her muscle movements just as a hand would. Talking about her casting, Archana says, “I was hesitant to hire her at first. But once I met her and got to know her, she was my perfect muse. Many other designers too chose her and it is an expression of how the catwalk aesthetic is moving from uniformity to the unexpected.”
AESTHETIC DIVERSITY
From the point of view of a master couturier as well as an accomplished photographer, J.J. Valaya finds that using nodels gets his creativity flowing. He says, “Casting is one of the most important aspects to be taken care of when you are, as an artist, putting together something that is really close and personal to you for display to the outside world. And fashion is such a stimulating world because it gives you the freedom to work with many interesting personalities and to play them up the way you want to in your creations.
I like working with people who have a story, character, background, history, personality… I love the misfits and the game-changers. It doesn’t matter which strata of society they belong to as long as they invoke an element of intrigue. The typical photoshoot is too sterile for something like that. For many of my photoshoots, I have used my tailors, craftsmen and artisans as models and muses. For me, it is all about the aesthetic and my aesthetic is very open and inclusive because I find beauty in many forms, shapes and colours. Beauty is not about straight or curly hair, red or dark lips, blue or brown eyes — it is about diversity, which is what defines the world we now live in.”
BEAUTY STEREOTYPES
Photographer Rahul Saharan, who recently did a widely-acclaimed fashion photoshoot featuring five acid attack survivors, feels the most important thing this trend can bring about is a freedom from certain stereotypes. “The word ‘model’ is itself quite a stereotype the world over. Whenever you think of a model, you think of typically sharp features and angles, an impressive height, a sufficiently lean frame… I think this is a stereotype we need to break. Doing so can also, subsequently, free women from some of the body ideals that often intimidate them.
As artists, I think this is one power we have — the ability to set as well as break stereotypes and standards — and that we should utilise as well as we can for a healthy movement like this one,” he says. Talking about his experience of shooting nodels, he says, “It is ultimately all about confidence. If you’re shooting with a nodel who thinks she isn’t photogenic, you have to get her to set that notion of herself aside. It is a challenge to guide them and make them come out of their shells.
One thing I must mention is that whenever I shoot a confident nodel, I rarely edit the final pictures. With models, you have no idea of the extent to which heavy editing is involved, no matter how beautiful they are. With nodels, the whole idea is that they should be seen as they are. Personally, I feel they have more expression on their faces, more character that is perhaps born out of their thought process. They have so much more to them than the pose they strike for a picture. If a nodel is being himself/herself and not trying to imitate the model stereotype, the beauty you can capture through him or her is out of this world.”
CATEGORY CONUNDRUM
Expressing a different opinion from a professional model’s point of view, supermodel Noyonika Chatterjee says the emergence of nodels is a blow to the modelling fraternity, second only to the increased use of Bollywood stars for ramp walks and photoshoots. She says, “Why are there any professional models in our country then? Actors, sports personalities or nodels can do our jobs very well evidently, then why have the category of professionals in the modeling space at all?
We have plus size models, size-zero models and all of us constantly keep working on our body types to cater to every single need of the fashion industry. And what happens in the end? All campaigns and special shoots go to Bollywood actors, sportspersons, friends and peers of designers and now to nodels, and we are left with only one or two big shows! We never enter the studio of an artist and start painting, do we?
Then why does everybody want to interfere with our profession? In India, anybody and everybody can walk the ramp! Today we know of Indian model Bhumika Arora because she is an Indian who is being extensively covered by the international media and not because she is beautiful and doing a wonderful job. Nobody in India really cares about professional models.”
SYMBIOTIC NOVELTY
On the other hand, supermodel Amit Ranjan likes the idea of the fashion industry opening up and embracing people from different walks of life. He says, “I feel fashion and art should be inclusive. You have to extend parameters and explore out of the box concepts without any barriers if you really want to grow, right? The trend of nodels walking the ramp adds a certain novelty to the runway. Also, it’s a lot more interactive when you have common men with different stories and backgrounds bringing their own sensibilities to a show. I have found it enriching to walk the ramp with achievers from a wide array of fields. For instance, I recently walked the ramp alongside a real Naga warrior. He walked with so much ease and confidence that I was amazed. So for me, working with nodels is a great symbiotic experience.”
Inputs by Nandini D. Tripathy, Aditi Pancholi Shroff, Geetha Jayaraman
