There's something alluring about the catwalk. Bathed in spotlights, reverberating to pounding music, flashing to the tune of a myriad whirring cameras, it is a glitzy world for the elite few that are allowed into the exclusive boundaries of a fa\shion show (unless, of course, if you know the sponsor or their children or their drivers, even - a caustic observation as I see more and more seats at shows reserved to the sponsors and their bric-a-brac). This gilded path rivets as one watches it live - or even on TV - as one model after the other stalks down its length, showcasing fashion's best, worst and forgettable. Fashion, the world over, epitomizes glamor and the catwalk is where it holds center-stage. It is the pull of the catwalk that probably has so many girls aspire to be models - those leggy, slinky creatures rustling past in their designer-wear, ruling the ramp with a smile, a twirl, a cocked eyebrow. It is probably why, as the fashion industry in Pakistan grows and fashion weeks get more organized, there are more and more new girls entering the modeling fray yearly.

Enter Frieha Altaf - choreographer, entrepreneur and veritably the grand dame of all things stylish - with plans for a model contest where girls were groomed, advised and judged in the tricky tricks of the trade. The Veet Miss Super Model Contest started off small three years ago only to have grown into a full blown reality show this year where ten selected candidates were thrown together into a lavish 'Veet Villa' and subjected to a number of challenges. Riding a horse in a heavy bridal outfit, walking the runway for Nomi Ansari, posing through a 'water shoot' while live aquatic animals weaved their way through their hair and dabbling with botox - only some of the ordeals that these girls have had to endure for the sake of super model-dom. Making the show all the more interesting is the fact that it features a huge number of fashion's who's who. The three official judges are stylist Nabila, photographer Tapu Javeri and Frieha herself while they are joined by different guests in each episode, ranging from models Nadia Hussain, Ayyan and Iman Ali to the inimitable Meera (jee), photographer Arif Mahmood and designers Nomi Ansari and Adnan Pardesy, among others. 
 
Entertaining, of course - but there's more to this show than mere entertainment. Over the past three years, the contest has been responsible for introducing some of fashion's most promising new models. Ironically, though, most of them don't credit the contest for their success.  For instance, the Jolie-esque Saima Azhar - Veet's 'Miss Photogenic Pakistan' from last year - may have lost out on some fashion shows due to her 5'6” height but she more than makes up for it by being a favorite in the fashion glossies. “The Veet Miss Super Model contest may have provided me with more recognition and gotten me to participate in store launches and occasional shows but my work in the print media is all due to photographer Rizwan-ul-Haq, who is truly responsible for having groomed me,” she professes. And it's the print media where Saima has done her best work, working in shoots for multiple lawn brands and for designers like Sania Maskatiya, Sara Gandapur and Iman Ahmed of Body Focus.

Similarly, Sana Sarfaraz, also a participant in the contest last year, went on to be awarded 'Best model' at Fashion Pakistan Week (FPW) this April and says that the offers have been piling on ever since. “I didn't win the contest which really demoralized me and I even left modeling for a while,” she says. “However, my hard work has paid off now and I am happy with the way my career is moving.” To date, Sana has an extensive repertoire of work including a large number of fashion weeks, major shows as well as shoots for Gul Ahmed, Bonanza, Kayseria, Laila Chatoor and Zaheer Abbas, among others. She has also delved into occasional trysts with acting, her latest work having been in the much-publicized Humsafar-esque drama, Zindagi Gulzar Hai.

Even two of this year's 'Super Model' contest's participants - Abeer and Sehrish - were part of the recent FPW. The contestants may, like their predecessors, go on to dismiss the contest later - according to Saima Azhar, she didn't need the show to groom her since she was 'groomed already' through different modeling assignments she had done prior to the contest - there is no doubt that the Veet Miss Super Model Contest is a great launching pad for aspiring models. Most of the girls featured in the show have already been involved in minor modeling work but it can't be compared to the recognition they reap by being on multiple TV channels.
“I wanted to do a show like this 12 years ago,” says Frieha. “For a long time, I presented the idea to a number of potential sponsors only to have it taken up by Veet now. More than anything else, I wanted to eliminate the concept that just anybody could become a model. I wanted to stress that modeling, like any other profession, requires hard work, consistency and overcoming challenges.”

From a beatific Katrina Kaif as brand ambassador to a motley crew of model wannabes preening their way through a reality show, Veet is happily continuing on with its tagline 'celebration of beauty'. But while the contest may be getting media mileage for Veet, it's also been subjected to quite a few criticisms. For one, why should Frieha and her entourage select contestants who have already been modeling when they are supposed to be training girls who are novices? “In Pakistan, if a girl wants to model, she manages to get the opportunity easily,” answers Tapu Javeri. “She may have been part of a small show or been in front of the camera but it doesn't mean that she knows the ropes properly. That's where the grooming in the contest comes in.”

Yet another criticism is whether a brand like Veet, associated with beauty and glamor, should associate itself with a show that condones botox and other cosmetic surgery procedures, more openly than ever before, on TV?

A nip here, a tuck there?

“Veet itself has nothing for or against cosmetic surgery procedures,” asserts Raafia Afsar, Veet's brand manager. “Modeling is associated with beauty and confidence and that is why Veet has chosen to be affiliated with it. All we want to do is depict a clear picture of the modeling profession - and if a model chooses to undergo cosmetic surgery, that is completely her own choice.”

However, there are other industry insiders that feel that the option of cosmetic surgery should not be propagated so openly, even as an option to potential models. Ex-model Vaneeza Ahmed, who claims to have refrained from going under the knife, elaborates, “Yes, cosmetic surgery may be an option for many models may do but it's not necessarily a healthy thing to do. Options like these are bad for the self-esteem for the hundreds of girls that will be watching the show. If there's a taboo attached to cosmetic surgery in Pakistan, why not leave it alone? I know so many models that have maintained and improved upon their looks through healthy options like diet control and exercise regimes without turning to surgery.”

Then again, there are many other models - the world over - that regularly opt for cosmetic procedures. To do the contest justice, the script does highlight the importance of diet and exercise. But in its emulation of the modeling profession, it also explores the cosmetic surgery option. Tapu Javeri puts it in a nutshell, “Models rely on their beauty to rake in work and when this beauty begins to fade, they often turn to artificial means to retain their looks. That's just the way the profession is and that's how the show has depicted it - although in a friendly, respectful way rather than with harsh words. Modeling is a cut-throat business internationally as it will also soon be in Pakistan, as the industry progresses. A show like this asserts the growth of the modeling profession and how it can be considered as a viable career by educated girls from good backgrounds rather than just a business with shady undertones.”

Those old shades

But even as the modeling industry grows and more girls enter the field - In Karachi, notably through Frieha Altaf's Cats, Veet's contests and Citrus Talent Management; in Lahore, through  Mehreen Syed's International Fashion Academy Pakistan (IFAP) and long-time stylists, Khawar Riaz and Ather Shehzad - the profession is yet to shed off its shady side. There's a shady side to every profession, moreover to glamorous ones, and in Pakistan, it's one of the taboos that's kept many girls well away from the catwalk's lure. As a nation, we're still cocking eyebrows every time we see a micro-mini at a fashion show … a hint of the libidinous side-careers that models, all over the world, often have and we're left aghast. This shindig, we say, is just not for the 'good girls' although, according to stylist Nabila, things are on their way to improving.

“This time I saw so many girls come to audition for the Veet Miss Super Model Contest along with their mothers and sisters,” she observes. “It shows that people are now considering modeling as a respectable profession. Some of Pakistani fashion's earliest models were intelligent, educated women like Bibi, Aliya Zaidi, Iraj Manzoor and Nadia Hussain. And while others may come and go after making quick money, only the truly serious girls are able to leave a mark and become top models.”

Drawing from his experience as one of Lahore's most experienced groomer to models, stylist Khawar Riaz accepts being aware of the shadier side to modeling and says that there's nothing that can be done about it. “There were once women who entered the film industry and maintained similar side-professions and I see the same happening in modeling,” he says. “That doesn't mean that all actresses were like that and neither are all models. Of course I know when a girl is involved in shady activities but as long as she continues to work professionally, it doesn't really matter what she does later. Sometimes new models truly need to earn money and when modeling doesn't pay, they reach out to other, easier, options.”

It's all about the money

If not shady side-careers, Pakistani models have had a history for turning to other avenues: TV acting, talk show hosting and launching skin-care clinics and lawns in their name - cleverly cashing in on the fame they have earned through modeling and turning to these tried and tested viable options for the simple fact that modeling doesn't always pay. Notoriously, over the past few years, one has heard the new girls lamenting that organizers have not paid them their fees for taking part in shows or for a photo shoot. It's a tricky business and veteran model Nadia Hussain advises that upcoming models have to learn to be business-savvy.

“In their eagerness to get work and outdo each other, I have seen new models agree to work in a show for which they will supposedly get paid later,” she says. “Instead, they need to ask for a 50% advance and perhaps the remainder of the money on the day of the show. Also, with so many other contenders in the market, I've seen girls agree to work for little or no money. Then, if later, they go on claiming to have been violated, it's really their own fault.”

According to Nabila, models need to know when to insist upon remuneration and when to work for free. “26 years down the line in my career, I still sometimes work for free just for the sake of the publicity,” she explains. “Similarly, a model should know when to charge a hefty fee and when to go on ahead and work for free, in order to get more recognition.”

With the taboo of shady side-careers, rampant non-payment and a general lack of professionalism, one wonders if - high-budget reality shows notwithstanding - modeling really is going anywhere in Pakistan even as more and more girls pour into the realm? “I actually feel that there has been a regression in modeling,” observes Vaneeza Ahmed. “Yes, there may be more, less costly girls available now for small shows and store launches. But they aren't well-groomed or even half as serious about their work the way we, the earlier models, were. So, except for a few, you now have a plethora of girls, underpaid or unpaid, often too short or overweight to be fit for the ramp or fashion shoots, presenting substandard forgettable work. If only they could be more organized, the industry could progress.”

The next step

And one way to get organized, apparently, is through agents. “All the girls from the Veet contest will go on to become part of Frieha's Cats agency. And she makes sure that her models get paid for the work that they do,” laughs Tapu Javeri.

Nabila, whose Zinc Modeling agency is currently in the process of being revamped, insists that models now need to associate themselves with an objective agent who understands the industry and arranges work for them. “That's how it's done the world over. An agent selects the right clients and makes sure that the fee is settled. It's the professional way of doing things and that's how modeling needs to function in Pakistan, if it has to progress.”

Until then, while models talk to client themselves and discuss fees over dinner, while girls that are in no way groomed for the profession tend to find themselves on the ramp simply by associating with the right people, while clients subsequently go off without paying models and while rumors of the modeling casting couch go rampant, the profession may grow but not necessarily the right way.

One improvement was seen in October's FPW which featured a large number of Lahore's best models along with Karachi's entourage. “Usually - and especially in Lahore - fashion councils opt to take on models from their own city to work at their events. In this way, they save up on the travel, room and board expenses of visiting models. But a fashion week should represent the whole fashion fraternity and I am glad that the Fashion Pakistan (FP) council brought in some of Lahore's best and also kept an eye on height specifications,” says Frieha.

An effort by fashion councils to be more discerning about the models they choose - rather than be city-centric - eliminates out substandard and unprofessional work. An effort by Veet to groom fashion's upcoming hot steppers is yet another step in the right direction. A handful of business-minded models taking the aid of agents is a wise, rare move. But these are all small steps, minor improvements and as CEO of the FP council, Shamaeel Ansari, sighs and says, “There's still a long way to go.”

“Modeling is a cut-throat business internationally as it will soon be in Pakistan. A show like this asserts how it can be considered a viable career by educated girls from good backgrounds rather than just a business with shady undertones.”

–        Tapu Javeri

“26 years down the line in my career, I still sometimes work for free just for the sake of the publicity. Similarly, a model should know when to charge a hefty fee and when to go on ahead and work for free, in order to get more recognition.”

–        Nabila

“I want to eliminate the concept that just anybody could become a model. I want to stress that modeling, like any other profession, requires hard work, consistency and overcoming challenges.”

– Frieha Altaf.