Insta Girls are the haute- est
There’s a new breed of models who are scorching the runways and gaining popularity by the minute: the Insta Girls
Is the supermodels era over? Looks like it’s Insta Girls’ time to shine now. For it’s September issue cover, Vogue magazine features a new breed of models — the Insta Girls: Joan Smalls, Cara Delevingne, Karlie Kloss, Arizona Muse, Edie Campbell, Imaan Hammam, Fei Fei Sun, Vanessa Axente, and Andreea Diaconu — instead of a Hollywood celebrity. We find out if the term Insta Girls is here to stay and supermodel is on its way out.
For mer- model- t ur ned- g rooming expert Meher Bhasin, doesn’t mince words when she says, “One is so fed up of seeing the same old models of 15 years strutting the same look and walk. In the tech- savvy era, one is so used to change in fashion, in movies and in television shows, so why not in models? Considering every second person claims to be a model and probably is, that supermodel era is over and done with.”
Insta Girls seems a part of the hashtag fad: here for now, but not forever JATIN KAMPANI FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER
Designer Namrata Joshipura feels that this is just an interchange of words. “Insta Girls is just another way of calling them supermodels. This new terminology piques people’s interest. Karlie Kloss is a supermodel, and calling her an Insta Girl is just another hip and modern social media label. I won’t be surprised if it remains a popular term internationally.”
Fashion photographer Vikram Bawa misses the power and respect the supermodels commanded. “They were big and drove the magazine sales but today, we no longer have Mehr Jesias and Malaika Aroras. Sadly, that phase is over.”
Talking about why supermodels no longer rule the fashion world, Vikram shares, “Bollywood drives fashion today. Models are overshadowed by heroines. Younger actresses have taken over the magazine covers, from Sonam Kapoor to Alia Bhatt and now, Shraddha Kapoor. Fashion in Europe continues to be driven by models, while US fashion is more to do with branding, publicity and Hollywood stars. And India is going the American way.” Fashion photographer Jatin Kampani feels that Insta Girls may have been coined to keep up with changing times. “I don’t think it has anything to do with the model fra-
Insta Girls is the emergence of new age models who’re gaining popularity by the minute RASHMI VIRMANI CHOREOGRAPHER
ternity or the supermodel fraternity at all. We photographers are constantly on a lookout for new faces. However, Insta Girls, as the name suggests, seems a part of the hashtag fad: here for now, but not forever,” he says.
Acclaimed designer Wendell Rodricks says, “After the supermodels cover in the early 90’ s, it is only natural that Insta Girls will find its way not only in fashion parlance but also as a noun in the world’s dictionaries.”
Choreographer Rashmi Virmani, who’s worked with hundreds of models, sums up saying, “Mehr Jesia, Sheetal Mallar, Madhu Sapre defined the term supermodel. After them, we’ve had good quality, hard working and popular models but none of them were divas or had the following earlier supermodels had. There was a time when there were roughly 50- 60 models between Delhi and Mumbai. Now, we call them ramp routines. Out of 24 models in the show, eight are foreigners, six are professional and the rest are newer ones. It’s the age of social media; everybody is on Facebook and Instagram 24 hours a day. We’re going digital; magazines have been replaced by phones. Insta Girls is the emergence of new age models who’re gaining popularity by the minute.”