It’s a thin line – Namrata Sharma Zakaria

DIANDRA SOARES is my favourite model. The 25-year-old is arguably India’s highest paid runway walker and a muse to many designers—the likes of Tarun Tahiliani and Aki Narula. She also beat Madonna and Britney Spears by tongue-lashing a fellow model years before the musical icons did. She was big and big-boned when she started her career (at 18, I think), but the skinny new Di is much softer and far lovelier.

I hate runway shows that do not exploit the swan-like grace of Vidisha Pavate. The svelte Maharashtrian floats on the ramp like a ghost without feet, bringing much class to the mundane chore of walking up and down. I love Bhavna Sharma’s pixie look, Sapna Kumar’s blitheness, Joey Matthews’ feline stride and Nina Manuel’s brazen sexiness. I love them all, a painful BMI notwithstanding.

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I seem to be the only one vexed by this business of banning too thin models. Madrid Fashion Week is still of little consequence to international fashion. But when London cancelled its fashion week’s opening photo call last week, and with Italy seeking a similar ban for this weekend’s Milan Fashion Week, I’m worried for the industry that is otherwise pushed into a corner as “niche”.

I’m all for healthy teenagers, but don’t we all know that the biggest eating disorder inflicting the world is obesity? I accept that anorexic and bulimic youngsters abound, but if we cannot raise our kids well, must we blame a magazine cover?

Not employing a person on account of his or her weight is discrimination. Just as we cannot pink slip someone who is too fat, we should not show the door to someone who is too thin. Besides, banning anything only shows us what an intolerant and insufferable world we are becoming.

Five centuries ago, the Grecian beauty—hook-nosed and paunchy—was considered beautiful. Fifty years ago, the gamine Audrey Hepburn made the urchin look ultra chic. Beauty does lie in the eye of the beholder. It’s fashionable to be reed-like these days, just as it was trendy to be curvy a decade or so ago. Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen, Karen Mulder, Claudia Schiffer and Yasmin Ghauri were celebrated for their hour-glass bodies.

We choose our role models, they do not choose us. We love Kate Moss because we want to, not because she wants us to. She can push cocaine, evade arrest, host debauched parties, have a child out of marriage and marry a junkie—we still adore her unconditionally. That explains why she has graced the cover of Vogue more often than anyone else. And why she continues as a blue chip model, she’s the face of Chanel, Burberry, Versace, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.

I wonder if they will ban Hollywood stars next. Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz earn more than actresses ever have. Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson are iconic newbies. And then they will ban slim women from holding public office too.

It’s very simple, the sense of aesthetic is an esoteric thing. A government body cannot define beauty. They cannot decide who we should find beautiful and who we should not. They can tell us cigarettes are bad for our health, but cannot deny that nicotine does provide an enjoyable kick. They can advise us that Coca Cola is bad for our children but it’s finally up to us how we regulate our progeny.

As for the models, I sincerely hope they stay away from McDonalds. That will definitely kill them.