Bhumika Arora - Indienne - 1m80 - 79/62/86
Agence
Elite
L'Officiel Inde
Octobre 2015
Onin Lorente
Love Magazine
Automne/Hiver 2015/2016
Solve Sundsbo
Bhumika was awarded 'Model of the Year' at Vogue India's Beauty Awards 2015
Age: 22 Height: 180cm (5’11?) Place of Origin: New Delhi, India Ethnic Origin: Indian Birthsign: Virgo How discovered: Thanks to my selfies! I was just having fun with my friends, posting our pictures on social media when I discovered they had landed the fashion column of a monthly magazine, and I was approached by an Indian fashion photographer based in New Delhi: he saw my pictures and insisted to do my portfolio for free. He was very confident, saying I was tall and would work a lot, and could pay him later. Favorite things: I love all things creative, that inspire me, feed my imagination, and take me to other realities: fashion, music and food have this tremendous power on me Favorite music, band: I like Yo Yo Honey Singh, who’s become a music star in India, but I’m also very eclectic and love to discover new bands thanks to my friends who take me to concerts and festivals, it’s the best feeling in the world. Favorite movie, tv show: Favorite movie: I am the big fan of ‘If Only’, even more since I learned that Jennifer Love Hewitt wrote the two songs she performs in the movie. Tv show: this might be due to my love for vintage, but nothing beats ‘Friends’ Favorite designer, fragrance or beauty product: Favorite designer: there are too many I can’t name just one, but I am very proud and supportive of the new generation of Indian designers, led by fashion stars Manish Arora & Prabal Gurung. Fragrance: I wear ‘For Her’ by Narciso Rodriguez. Beauty product: I couldn’t live without mascara and lipgloss What would you be doing if you weren’t modeling? I studied business and found it so interesting, I’d definitely be working as HR manager, to deal with people, I feel like nothing is more complex and fascinating What’s something uncool that you love anyway? Don’t tell anybody but I wear casual and comfortable clothes… and worse, I enjoy it! Favorite modeling experience so far? Being part of the prestigious Paris Fashion Week was like my dream come true, and the 3 shows I did (Viktor&Rolf, Dries Van Noten and Maxime Simoëns) are the highlights of my life until this day What’s the best thing about your hometown/country? Apart from the food? Well, the spices! We have all sorts of spices you can dream of, which make our typical meals so special and unique. Which brand would you really love to model for? There are too many and not enough time! But I’m in love with Burberry and Chanel Place you would love to visit: I’m crazy about Italy right now, and can’t wait to discover Venice and Milan, I’ll make sure I come back with the best spots for pasta Currently you’re obsessed with/about: My job! I can’t get enough of modeling, meeting so many creative minds, traveling the world to create beauty alongside amazingly talented people, who often I can call friends.
Final Showlist - Spring & Summer 2016 Opened: 0 | Closed: 0 Total Shows: 29 New York: 11 3.1 Phillip Lim Anna Sui Brandon Maxwell BCBG Max Azria Carolina Herrera Derek Lam Diane von Frustenberg Lacoste Ohne Titel Opening Ceremony Vera Wang London: 6 1205 Daks Emilia Wickstead Issa Maragret Howell Preen By Thornton Bregazzi Milan: 8 Alberta Ferretti Bottega Veneta DSqauared² Dolce & Gabanna Etro Fendi MSGM Roberto Cavalli Paris: 4 Balmain Dries Van Noten Kenzo Stella McCartney
Bhumika Arora, a runway model from Karnal, India, is having a breakout season. The 27-year-old has walked the runways in New York, London, and Milan in recent weeks. She has landed some big gigs including Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs in New York, Gareth Pugh in London, and Bottega Veneta and Salvatore Ferragamo in Milan. She is expected to be in a few shows at Paris fashion week, which is going on now. Many models walk at fashion week. Only some make a name for themselves. Ms. Arora’s New York-based agency, the Society Management, has been preparing for months to get Ms. Arora noticed by influential casting directors, fashion stylists, and other industry taste makers. “It’s really important to lay the groundwork,” says her New York agent, Christopher Michael. “Once you’ve built that, you can move on to the other arms of her career.” The agency was behind the 2014 push for Kendall Jenner of the Kardashian clan to be taken seriously as a high-fashion model. “I want to make a name for myself by doing good work,” says Ms. Arora. “No matter how much hard work I have to do, I will do that and hope for the best.” In recent seasons, many influential shows have been mixing up their lineups to sprinkle in more models who have a distinctive look or carry themselves in a striking way, rather than being interchangeable blank slates for the clothing. Ms. Arora’s arrival comes as the industry continues to try to address criticism that there still aren’t enough women of color on the catwalks. When it comes to diversity, the conversation usually focuses on adding more black models or models from China. While there may be a few working models of Indian descent, a model born and raised in India is very rare. Growing up in a small town in the state of Haryana, Ms. Arora was a tall, skinny girl. While some people teased her for looking “like a guy,” she says, others said she looked like a model. Ms. Arora sometimes started to watch fashion shows but then changed the channel. “I used to think I was really, really ugly,” she says. “So modeling couldn’t be my thing.” In her town’s conservative culture, nice girls weren’t models. Her parents objected any time she brought up the idea. After she moved to a bigger town, Chandigarh, for college, she indulged her modeling fantasies through selfies. A friend submitted pictures of her to the “Model Watch” feature of a publication called “Cafe Beat” distributed at a local café. Ms. Arora was surprised to hear a few months later that the magazine had published her photo, placing it alongside three other young people it dubbed “steaming hot.” That convinced her—and helped convince her parents—that she could try modeling. Ms. Arora started to pursue an M.B.A., but soon a photographer who had seen the published picture offered to take her first professional photos. Armed with those, she moved to Delhi and modeled there for a few years. She began sending out her pictures to agencies in Europe, including Elite Paris, in December 2013. The agency signed her soon after. Both Elite Paris and the Society Management are part of Elite World, a global network of agencies. The following February, Ms. Arora walked her first runway show in Paris, for Dries Van Noten. Ms. Arora’s determination appealed to Mr. Michael of the Society Management. He also cited her work ethic, eagerness for feedback—good or bad—and her journey from India. A team at the agency that includes Mr. Michael, the Society Management’s executive agent, helps Ms. Arora and other models with personal development, including finding a personal style and dressing for castings. The team also advises her on things like traveling around cities. They also guide her and other models on social-media activity. Ms. Arora currently has a relatively small presence on social media, with an Instagram account that lists nearly 1,700 followers and 63 posts. The agency hopes to increase her interaction with her audience. While she was in Paris last February, Ms. Arora didn’t have a visa that would allow her to work in the U.S. But her agency was laying the groundwork for a future move. It introduced her to Anita Bitton, a well-known U.S.-based runway casting director who was in Paris. “We kept her on our radar of people we like,” Ms. Bitton says. The agency regularly updated Ms. Bitton—and it let her know when the model obtained her U.S. visa. As the fall 2015 runway shows approached, the agency’s first big step was targeting a few big, high-impact shows for Ms. Arora. For her first New York Fashion Week, “we didn’t want to have an anticlimactic start,” said Mr. Michael. “We were really quite targeted in terms of where we wanted to begin with her in terms of our shows and where her first appearance would land.” Ms. Arora started New York Fashion Week with a bang, making her runway debut at Alexander Wang’s show, one of the week’s must-see events. The casting director was Ms. Bitton. Ms. Bitton’s team requested that Ms. Arora not appear on any other runway before the show, which took place Feb. 14, two days after fashion week started. Ms. Bitton says the show had “a very strong point of view and one that Bhumika was a very key part of. We wanted to preserve that moment until she had walked our show.” Mr. Wang, the designer, says: “She exemplifies a unique look and I was immediately persuaded by her.” The usually earnest Ms. Arora says she jumped excitedly when she learned she had landed the Alexander Wang show. “I actually had a little tear in my eye,” she says. “That was such an amazing moment for me.” After the show, she says, she “actually ran” from the show back to her agency’s office. “They were so happy, they all congratulated me. They all hugged me.” Ms. Arora’s appearance in that show sparked interest from other casting directors, Mr. Michael said. Three days later, Ms. Arora walked in Vera Wang’s show. Vogue.com singled her out as No. 3 in its “7 Things We Loved Today” feature, writing: “Our hearts were stolen by a fresh face on the Vera Wang runway: the moody-eyed, sultry-lipped, and enviously angular Bhumika.” Ms. Arora then walked on Anna Sui’s runway and closed out New York at Marc Jacobs, one of the most sought-after shows for a model. Ms. Bitton, the founder of New York City-based Establishment Casting, cast her for that show as well. The next stop was London, where Ms. Arora appeared in shows for Daks, Gareth Pugh, Jonathan Saunders, Preen and Simone Rocha before heading to Milan, where she landed a coveted spot in the Fendi show, walking for Karl Lagerfeld. Mr. Michael had sent Ms. Arora’s model show card—which features her picture and details such as height and shoe size—to stylist Charlotte Stockdale while Ms. Stockdale was in New York. “She just blew me away,” says Ms. Stockdale, who styled the Fendi show and played a role in choosing models, in collaboration with the show’s casting agent. “She looks different from everyone else. She’s new-looking. Somehow she’s kind of powerful-looking but sensual at the same time. Her face is kind of classical beauty but then she’s not a classical beauty. At the same time she also has an incredibly sweet personality, which really helps.” Ms. Stockdale says she put Ms. Arora in one of her favorite outfits for the Fendi show. After Fendi, Ms. Arora walked in six more shows, including Roberto Cavalli, Emilio Pucci and Missoni. After the show season ends, Mr. Michael hopes for Ms. Arora to make ”an impressive splash” in magazines and ad campaigns in the coming months. Mr. Michael, who is in Paris, meeting clients and supporting the models there, says several of the shows Ms. Arora walked in provided “a stamp of validation.”
Top 10 Newcomers F/W 15 - Bhumika Arora One newcomer that IMA has been barracking for more than any other this season is Elite Model Management Paris' Bhumika Arora from Karnal, India. IMA first crossed paths with the enigmatic Arora during the Spring/Summer 2015 collections backstage at the Cédric Charlier show and was enchanted by her gentleness of spirit, her unerring professionalism, and jaw-dropping beauty. At age twenty-seven, Bhumika is symbolic of the kind of diversity that is paving the way towards some of the most exciting and transformative times seen in modelling history. The scarcity of Indian models on the modelling landscape in recent years with Lakshmi Menon being the most recognised modelling export is inexplicable given the nation's estimated population of 1.27 billion inhabitants. Arora's distinctive powerful looks, magnificent brow line, and sensual androgyny make her a standout in any show line-up. Indeed Arora's road to modelling stardom has been paved by sheer determination and an eagerness to improve and evolve within her craft. Discovered by a photographer who spotted her amateur modelling selfie pics in a local magazine, Arora relocated to Delhi where she modelled for a few years before taking her career to the next level by signing with Elite Model Management Paris in December 2013. Following a year of development, test shoots, and meetings with prospective clients, Arora was unleashed at the Fall/Winter 2015 collections debuting at Alexander Wang before blazing a trail through a riveting 24 show appearances. With the backing of key industry players including casting director Anita Bitton and stylist Charlotte Stockdale, watch for Arora to make an indelible mark in the Fall/Winter 2014 editorial and campaign stakes.
INAL SHOWLIST - FALL/WINTER 2015 OPENED|CLOSED: 1|1 TOTAL SHOWS: 25 New York: 4 Alexander Wang (semi-exclusive) Anna Sui Marc Jacobs Vera Wang London: 7 Anya Hindmarch Daks David Koma Gareth Pugh Jonathan Saunders Preen Simone Rocha Milan: 9 Bottega Veneta Fausto Puglisi Fendi Francesco Scognamiglio Missoni Pucci Roberto Cavalli Salvatore Farragamo Trussardi Paris: 5 Balmain Estaban Cortazar Kenzo Manish Aurora (O) (C) Stella McCartney