Bhumika Arora: From Dusk To Dawn

The small-town antithesis. Wary social media buff. Follower of new beauty ideals and five feet 11 inches of incredible charm. Meet Bhumika Arora, the girl from Karnal, who is rewriting the rules of diversity on international runways, walking for design powerhouses like McCartney and Balmain.

A new wave

When I think of the leggy, bushy-browed girl from Karnal, Haryana, who has braved uncharted waters with her heart on her sleeve, an excerpt from Christina Rossetti’s poem Up-hill (Does the road wind up-hill all the way?) comes to mind, where the poet illustrates the woes of a tough journey. Bhumika Arora has withstood the test of time, and at 27, emerged on international fashion runways, like she’s always belonged there. Ms. Arora does not subscribe to the reductionist theory that comes with the label of her small town upbringing in the city of Karnal. She represents a kind of pièce de résistance that does not disturb, but augments the idea of ordinary. Her meteoric climb to being a face to reckon with on the international runways allows her to savour the headiness of her current position without succumbing to the stress that comes with the job. ''Right now, I am just living the dream. So much so, that I know, I’m aspiring for something, even more, but I’m not completely sure what it is, either," she speaks, predicting an uncertainty, that also comes with her staggering fame.

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She started her career, modelling for few years in Delhi, while simultaneously sending out her portfolio to European modelling agencies, and soon after, was discovered and signed on by The Society Management and Elite Paris. They are both subsidiaries of Elite World, the global modelling agency responsible for the careers of stars like Kendall Jenner, Gisele Bündchen and Alessandra Ambrosio. Bhumika has walked for several shows in New York, Milan, Paris and London Fashion Weeks, including some of the biggest industry names like Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs in New York, Gareth Pugh in London, and Balmain, Bottega Veneta, Fendi and Salvatore Ferragamo in Milan.

The colour of resistance

Her ambitions are larger-than-life in an unsettlingly refreshing way. She is a pioneer of sorts for the millennials in India, trying to carve a niche for themselves. She inspires them when she says, "When I decided to follow my dream, and worked towards it, rather than following the majority, I realised that if you aim for something you really love, you simply give more than 100 per cent."

Bhumika seems to have taken the cultural shift from India to the States in a rather sizeable stride. She is appreciative of the freedom that comes with living alone in New York City, citing it as ‘the greatest thing’ to have ever happened to her. Yet at the same time, she’s quick to state that she misses her family and friends back home, sorely. Her upbringing was sprinkled with love. However, her parents took her decision to take up modelling, in her opinion, 'with a quiet reticence inherent to Indian families settled in small towns'.

"With my current profession, my parents' main worry though is that I travel alone, everywhere," she points out. "Other than that, they are delighted that I’m doing something that makes me happy," she adds, with a hint of reassurance. Besides being seen on the ramp, her personal efforts in championing the cause of people of colour in fashion or in other walks of life have been rather matter-of-fact. She has no biases in her personal preferences, and practices what she preaches. "Honestly, I believe that people of all colours are beautiful and special, and I try to spread this point of view as much as I can." She glides through the international fashion weeks at Paris, London, New York and Milan with the same precision and organisation, as those behind the smooth functioning of these events and says, "The people involved here are not new to the game. India’s fashion industry, on the other hand is quite young. It's growing and has so much talent, including some big names who are also well-known internationally. But yes, there is a lot more potential in the future." Each swish of black velvet of her fall-winter ’15 Alexander Wang dress was a testament to victory, wherein the industry bore witness to a model of Indian descent representing more character with each step than can be said of the myriad models who walk numerous runways each season. This is probably why Bhumika has become an industry darling, with her modelling agency which handles the best models, planning her moves strategically for even greater heights.

In her private space

"In India, especially in small towns, I doubt if people think highly of modelling or fashion," she says. "Most don’t even consider it a decent profession." Despite this, her earliest response to fashion was one of wide-eyed adulation, which led her to leave Karnal, to pursue a degree in business studies, in Chandigarh. And, after a stint with a local publication, she moved to New Delhi to try her hand at changing the rules of acceptance. Her Instagram account gives you a rare glimpse of Bhumika at home-in her cascading black locks, arresting mugshot-esque selfies, burning brown pools for eyes and jeans-clad legs. Her cache has been this quality that is dreamy and authoritative all at once. Her views on the shift of gender binaries to a more unisex approach in fashion are congruent with her personal style in ways that are gender-neutral in essence. "I think, it's completely okay to have such freedom," she claims, adding, "Beauty and style are diverse ideas." She defines herself as ‘effortlessly stylish and classy’ but prefers comfort over all else. She talks about the increasing attention on the subject of cultural appropriation over new-age media carefully. "Everybody should respect each other's cultural values, and how they want it to be presented," she asserts with humbling simplicity. "After all, it's someone's identity and cultural heritage, and things should be handled respectfully," she concludes. Encountering racism in a line of work with a meagre percentage of people of colour is a story that we’re familiar with. Bhumika though has fortunately not experienced racism of any kind, and views it as a matter of personal preference, and that competition by virtue of its nature can and will not make you likeable to all. And her overall experiences internationally have been nothing short of pleasant.

Upward spiral

Bhumika is a hopeless optimist. She feels elated at the heights she has reached, despite her age, which may be seen as limiting in a world full of models in their teens. In fact, she counts her age as mere experience in her upward career graph. Elite World has treated her with utmost care, and she attributes her success fully to them. "I feel blessed that they (The Society Management and Elite Paris) gave me a chance to live my dream and pushed me in the right direction." She has been introduced to some of the industry’s most illustrious casting directors such as Anita Bitton, who selected her for Wang’s all-black, foreboding fall-winter ’15 show, and stylists like Charlotte Stockdale who styled Bhumika in Fendi’s black leather ensemble at its fall-winter ’15 show. Her move back to India will happen eventually, but she hasn’t given much thought to the idea as she believes in ‘living in the moment’. She is focused on doing the best work of her life that she possibly can, but she does add, "India, being home, it kind of goes without saying that I will return at some point." And we believe, for good. The ratio of Indian models on international runways versus foreigners walking on the Indian catwalk is a statement made at India’s fashion scenario, but we are an economy that is consuming fashion exponentially and an inclusion like Bhumika would be a welcome one. The need of the hour seems to be recruiting models with personalities which outshine their façades. Bhumika would like to consider digressing and pursuing a career besides modelling eventually, and put her degree in business to use, but certainly not before she has had the last say in her time as a model. She has a brother back in Chandigarh, who has recently got married, and parents who still live in Karnal.

On being asked, if she would ever recommend others take the same career path as hers, she exclaims, "Actually, I would not recommend any profession to anyone, because I believe, one should always follow one's dreams and go for the profession they love and enjoy the most." These are her words to live by.

a burgeoning platform for activism and discussions, Bhumika merely sees it as a great space for people to ''connect, share their views and discuss all kinds of issues''. Her stance on social media also bears hints of speculation. "Social media is actually not as simple as it looks, so I have mixed opinions. I consider it important because it keeps me updated on what's happening in my field of interest," she admits. She cautions later, though, against the controversial aspect of social media that can get ugly at times, and having witnessed many such instances, has made her increasingly wary.

On being asked if she believes that creativity suffers at the hands of the consumerist aspect of fashion, she states, "They go hand-in-hand, because fashion is creativity that can be consumed, and I believe the people who are in the business, love and enjoy what they do, even if some compromises have to be made." On the subject of digitally retouched images dictating a language of visual persuasion for the masses that is reflective of synthetic beauties as opposed to an organic one, she says, "I think it is a choice of the people and also a current 'demand' from society. Bollywood is actually the biggest example of everything larger-than-life and far from reality. Maybe perceptions idealising the fantasy will change, but it will take time."

Bhumika has acquired the status of being a trendsetter of sorts for diversifying the stereotypical notion of beauty. The fashion industry is a sacred territory for her. "It's pretty awesome as it is," she says. She does not want to see any changes in a workplace that has given her the cult status of being a beacon of diversity. It’s a fairly understandable stance. Not every day does a rather unforgiving industry hand you a glass slipper, or in this case a coveted Balmain stiletto, for keeps, does it?

Photographs: Onin Lorente. Styling: Guillaume Boulez of Michele Filomeno Agency.

From the October 2015 issue of L’Officiel India.