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| Kirthiga Rajanayagam |
Her fashion show was unique in two ways. The models were men and women who actually look like real people; our mothers, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters. The first time that each model walked the runway, the audience heard a recording of the model's voice, expressing their own viewpoint about modelling or participating in Kirthiga's fashion show.
Question: Why are you concerned with disrupting the stereotype? Disrupting the norm?
Answer: I think that to move ahead in fashion or any other forum, you need to create change; especially in our city, Toronto, which is so multicultural and diverse. We don't see enough of it. Future generations will be looking at the precedence that has been set for so long. That's not the future. The future is encompassing all these different types of diversity and moving forward and showing that there's not just one standard that can be the ideal.
You don't have to look like that because no-one really does look like that. The mass consumer market doesn't even look like that. I think that it's about time that you showcase real people, encompassing these products in the media. Future generations are looking up to that and I wouldn't want to be in a generation where diversity wasn't the norm.
Question: Why do you think there is almost global buy-in to the air brushed, fantasy images that we see on magazines and TV?
Answer: It's the standard. Look at the cover of Vogue and other magazines. In their campaigns, they always try to achieve those looks. We think, "I want to look like that. I want to be that girl. I want to be that guy." There are these types of images in the media (and they are Photoshopped), but not everyone is aware of that. A lot of people think, "I can look like that. I just need to lose 50 pounds. I can look like that. I need to get a tan." They always look at these images and think, "That's what I'm supposed to look like," but that's not true.
Question: What would you say to those South Asian and Black women who are bleaching their skin?
Answer: I would tell them to stop. I believe that conforming yourself to something that you think is perfect or beautiful is, in actuality, going against how you truly are as a person. Why are you trying to conform yourself to somebody else when you look a hundred times better as you are? There's a reason why you are unique and you are your own individual. There are no two people who are alike and there's a reason for that because having more people look the same would be pretty boring. Women and men should encompass how they truly are as individuals. Whether their skin pigment is not as light or fair, I think that diversity and beauty truly can be encompassed no matter what shade your skin is.
More photos from the fashion show can be viewed online at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardruns/sets/72157642881850685
