The modest office of the Fashion Design Council of India in Okhla was converted into a makeshift show area with a ramp, lights and techno music for the model auditions for the upcoming fashion week on October 4. For the judges — designers Anjana Bhargava, Namrata Joshipura and Rahul Khanna and model Laxmi Rana — the models were a breath of fresh air. “I am quite impressed with the turnout and we managed to find some fresh faces,” said Khanna, as he rattled off the names of the models he liked. The criterion for making the cut was a minimum height of 5’8”. Most of the models that turned up were from Mumbai and abroad. Twenty- four-year-old Poppy Jabbal flew in from Mumbai for the auditions. “I won the Gladrags contest this year and started modeling six months back,” smiled Jabbal, who stands tall at 5’9’’ but failed to make the cut.

Around 13 models have been selected for the Wills India Fashion Week. Letitia Kloppers, a 24-year-old South African, has been in Mumbai for three months and will be debuting as a model at the WIFW. Talia Bentson, a musician-turned-model from Los Angeles, also made it to the final list. Bentson, half Scandinavian and half Indian, moved to India last year and has in the past walked for designers Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit Bal and Atsu Sekhose at the first edition of the Delhi Fashion Week in 2008. Incidentally, the 24-year-old, 5’9” model has also bagged a cameo in the Zayed Khan starrer Sharafat Gayi Tel Lenei, currently under production. Another debutant to make the cut was Mumbai-based Surelee Joseph, 23, of former model Lubna Adams’s agency Celebutante. At least there’s something new to look forward to at WIFW.