Has fashion become synonymous with sex, drugs, affairs and depression? Glamour, glitz, unstoppable shutterbugs, blazing spotlight, gorgeous garments, ravishing ramps, late night parties, big bucks —the fashion industry sure has a strong gravitational pull.

Chat with five children and you will find at least two girls aspiring to be models. Says 18-year-old model Nicole Faria, “I love the fact that all eyes are on me.” But there are multitudinous models who succumb to industry pressure. The journey of former model Gitanjali Nagpal from limelight to destitution on the streets of Delhi prompted Metrolife to probe facets of fashion—an industry that dons several colours—bright and dark.

Says former model and fashion choreographer Sheetal Sharma, “Modelling on it’s own is a drug. The more you take it, the more you want it. When you are chosen as a showstopper by a designer, you are on a high. But when you see flashbulbs clicking a fellow model, it’s like being stabbed. Modelling can be fun only if you take it lightly otherwise it’s a virus.”

Competition is cut-throat. Starry-eyed youngsters are willing to do anything to make it. According to model-turned-actor Tarun Arora, “Fashion industry is the toughest to be in. In the last two years, too many models have stepped in. They are clueless about this industry. I meet so many boys from small towns who come to Mumbai, fall into wrong company and are taken advantage of.”

Agrees Sheetal, “When models move to bigger cities, they are not accepted by fellow models immediately.
“The drive to make it is high and failure is hard to face. It’s this mid-segment who become trouble-makers. This could have happened in Gitanjali’s case.”

If models meet with failure even after years of struggle, fierce competition, immense pressure to perform, many are unwilling to take it in their stride. What follows is depression and then drug abuse to overcome it.

Weak minds
Reveals a source from the industry, “Money is easy and so is accessibility to drugs. About 60 per cent of the industry openly does drugs, including designers. Sometimes, models want to act ‘cool’, but this habit becomes a killer.” Bangalore model Smitha Rao says, “A lot of them do drugs. But they must be weak-minded like Gitanjali.”
Rahul Dev is probably one of the oldest models who can still give any newcomer a run for his money. A complete teetotaller, he doesn’t even smoke cigarettes. Says he, “People in the industry do drugs. But they don’t have the right kind of emotional support.”

Sex and drugs
While on drugs, the topic of sex also crops up. A source who revealed that sexual favours are prominent in the glam business, says, “You cannot become a model without ‘compromising’. Earlier women were affected. Today, boys are the targets.”

Tarun agrees that sexual favours are common but, “these people have no future; they have sold themselves and those they have slept with, now want others. But which industry does not see this phenomenon”?
Reiterating this, Rahul says, “People who are not good enough or insecure get exploited. The bottomline is that you are not good, that’s why you don’t get work. So don’t hallucinate.”

Who’s to blame?
But is the fashion industry to blame? Rubbishing Gitanjali’s case, fashion guru Prasad Bidapa says, “Gitanjali is where she is because of her own weaknesses. She could have done the same if she were a doctor or an engineer. Ninety per cent of the models fail. Do they all become addicts?”

Model Anushka Sharma who has moved to Mumbai says, “I would be stupid if I disagreed that people don’t drink and smoke. But no one forces you. But we have to be careful while making friends.”

The fashion fraternity is united in criticism of media which sensationalises glamour. “If Gitanjali were in any other profession, do you think she would have been written about? Fashion weeks have suddenly become a phenomenon when the whole nation comes together,” chuckles Rahul.

To which Prasad says, “We are easy targets. We are seen to be partying and enjoying a great lifestyle. But it’s not true. Just look at the corporate world.”

Money matters
Psychologist Sujendra Prakash says, “Models move in high circles. Moving with the rich, they are always at pubs and parties drinking and smoking marijuana. But this is not restricted to the fashion industry. It’s money and not the profession that matters. There are too many people to please. They are modelling off the ramp as well.”
Prasad says, “Please don’t believe anyone who say you look pretty. See if you have the potential or leave the industry gracefully. It’s a short-lived profession, so if you make it, give 100 per cent to it. But education must be completed so that you have a Plan-B when you are no longer in demand.

“Look at Anna Bredmeyer, who is the director marketing sales for Mont Blanc. Noyonika Chatterjee runs a grooming school. Kiran Rao is a successful hair dresser.” Model Smitha Rao is a practising dentist and gives a model full marks if she has completed her studies. “Education is a must. Only then your future is secure.”

To face the industry with grit, Sheetal says, “Don’t be enamoured to the extent of losing yourself. Parents must not push their children. Stay away from sex, drugs and rock and roll.” Rahul Dev adds, “Learn how to respond to failure. Everyone cannot be Miss India. Keep a stable mind.”

The truth is the drive to grab the spotlight will never end. But the gravitational attraction of glamour is the temptation apple that those in the couture business bite the most.

Perhaps, film-maker Madhur Bhandarker’s next on the fashion fraternity may better illustrate the murky side to this business.