Pooja Mor - Indienne - 1m76 - 81/61/88
Agences
Supreme
Elite NY
Numéro Chine
Avril 2016
Txema Yeste
Vogue Paris
Décembre 2015/Janvier 2016
Gregory Harris
With her major runway debut at last month’s Louis Vuitton resort show in Palm Springs, Indian model Pooja Mor is one of the season’s breakout stars—she was discovered via Instagram, after detouring from her expected career path. While still an engineering student, Mor entered a university beauty pageant (“It’s a girly thing to do, and I’m not girly at all, but I won!” she says), prompting her to take a “vacation” after graduating school to pursue modeling. Now Mor’s on permanent holiday, flying to all corners of the earth for shoots and fashion shows. But no matter how far she gets from India, she always carries at least one reminder of home with her: a coveted blue jar of virgin coconut oil. It’s the secret behind her tousled lengths of hydrated, raven waves, and Mor says she uses the natural moisturizer weekly. “In India, it is really normal to put coconut oil in your hair, and my family has always done this,” she says of the frizz-fighting trick also beloved by newcomer models like Marga Esquivel. “I do it on the weekends, put on a towel, and sleep with it. Then I wash it with [Moroccanoil] shampoo and conditioner.” And the au naturel beauty regiment doesn’t stop at the roots. “I don’t wear makeup,” says Mor. “I have dry skin, so I don’t wash it with soap so much!”
Final Showlist - Spring & Summer 2016 Opened: 0 | Closed: 0 Total Shows: 16 New York: 8 Calvin Klein Collection Derek Lam Givenchy Jill Stuart Lacoste Narciso Rodriguez Tory Burch Victoria Beckham London; 0 - Skipped - Milan: 5 Dolce & Gabbana Gabriele Colangelo Missoni Roberto Cavalli Sportmax Paris: 3 Alexander McQueen Elie Saab Stella McCartney
Mor is getting used to certain questions. "I'm from Gujarat. It's a state, and Ahmedabad is the city," explains the 24-year-old model politely. "Should I spell it?" It's been only a matter of months since Mor left her native India and moved to New York City, but she's already had her share of, if not culture shock, let's say culture surprise. "The food in India is very different," says the vegetarian, who has had to learn how to cook. Plus, back in Gujarat, Mor practiced yoga regularly ("Here it's very commercial"), and she wasn't prepared for the lack of meditation in her adopted city. "Back in India, meditation is so normal," says Mor, who still meditates for at least a half hour every day. "Here, people don't seem to realize how important it is to clean your mind." Don't misunderstand. Mor is thoroughly enjoying every minute of her new career—which has included, among other things, photo shoots for Indian Vogue and Italian Vogue, not to mention an auspicious start to a runway career by way of Louis Vuitton (plus Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and Elie Saab). Modeling was never part of her master plan. When she was a university student in India, Mor "was organizing a pageant, and one of my friends put my name in—somehow I ended up winning it," she says, even sounding wide-eyed about the result. That's when her mother stepped in. "My mom said I had to finish school, then I could do whatever I wanted, so I finished," says Mor, possibly the only model at India fashion week with a degree in engineering. From there it was a quick hop to New York City, where she's now living in an apartment with a few other models. Despite being 10 zillion miles from her family, Mor says she doesn't get too homesick, thanks to technology. "I Skype my mom a lot," she says. "We're really close." And of course, there are the things that only her mother can provide. "She's teaching me how to cook lentils and masalas."