'Girls here look so effortless'

Golden beauty

Kate Elizabeth Hallam is a poster-girl for everything unusual. Since the age of 15, she’s stuck to no borders, observed no traditions and determinedly broken away from the norm.

Instead, she’s carried on a long-term flirtation with the beauty industry, taken the modelling world by storm, and more recently, married singer Lucky Ali as his third wife.

But that doesn’t mean that she’s traded in her gowns for a burqa — the svelte model recently took over the ramp as showstopper for a fashion show. Metrolife caught up with her to find out more.

Modelling happened to Hallam by mistake, and she was a part of the industry almost before she knew it. “I was spotted in a shopping mall when I was 15, and then asked to audition for a show.

Out of 700 girls, to my amazement, I was chosen,” she recollects, adding that a few television commercials that followed this gave her a taste for fame and taught her that this was what she really wanted. Subsequently, she entered a beauty pageant and emerged as Miss England about a decade ago.

“It was absolutely fantastic. I took away a lot of beautiful friendships from the pageant. And for a girl who had grown up watching princesses in fairytales, the world of fashion, glitz and glamour was real good fun,” she laughs.

Post-marriage, she’s made Bangalore her home and maintains that the fashion scenario in the City has never failed to impress her. “The modelling industry here is very professional, and I think Indian models are quite beautiful and good with maintenance.

Girls here are blessed with beautiful hair — and they’re also multi-talented,” she says.
She’s also quick to voice her approval of most Indian designers as well. “I went to Goa recently with my husband, and in the plane we met Wendell Rodericks. I’m not familiar with Indian celebrities, but I asked my husband about him. Later, I realised that his designs are just fantastic!” she beams. At the same time, she adds, Indian designs are a world apart from the more conservative English ones. “Designs here epitomise glamour. They’re very loud and vibrant, and very princess-like,” she describes.

She’s been in Bangalore for about two years, and she believes herself to be settled comfortably in the City now. She’s picking up bits and pieces of Hindi, listening to Indian music — thanks to her husband — and sampling local dishes. “I love spicy food! In England, birthdays always meant going to a curry house. My husband is a fantastic cook, and he uses lots of chilli and garlic. I love biryani too — but it’s not good for my hips!” she laughs.

Bangalore’s cuisine isn’t the only that has impressed her; she admires the City’s fashion quotient as well. “Girls here look so effortless. They carry off a style without trying too hard. In their plimsolls and flats, they’re really chic,” she observes.