Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
Elite Model Management launches school in India
The agency has invested close to Rs 2 crore in infrastructure
Despite producing models with the capability to hit the international modelling scene, the India modelling industry has not done much to go beyond the Indian ramp and local brand endorsements to institutionalise the discipline. All that should change, or at least that is what Sushma Puri, director and CEO, Elite Model Management, India, has set out to do.
Launched by leading international model management agency The Elite Model Management, its Indian counterpart Elite School of Modelling is located in a plush 6,400-square feet area in Greater Kailash Part I in south Delhi. Talking about the launch Puri, says, "We do not have a professional model management agency in India. This is what we intend to change. Besides getting assignments for the models we will also manage their careers. We believe modelling is just not about ramp, but also getting assignments in print and TV."
Launched with an investment of Rs 2 crore, the school offers a ‘modern learning environment' and ‘a combination of practical exposures and theoretical sessions'. It offers programmes in grooming and deportment, involving 100 hours of training in the essential aspects of building a career on the ramp and in fashion modelling. While the first batch consists of 18 students, the classes will have a maximum capacity of 25 students. Before one obtains admission, the person has to go through a screening test and dish out an admission fee of Rs 60,000.
The course includes modules ranging from beauty, wardrobe and styling, health and fitness to personality development and communication art, photo posing techniques and fashion shows.
The faculty at Elite School comprises eminent personalities from the fashion industry including Blossom Kochhar and Samantha Kochhar (instructors - hair and make-up), Vidya Tikari (instructor - hair and make-up), Aparna Bahl and Tanya Lefebvre (instructors ramp and runway techniques), Manish Arora and Sapna Kumar (instructors - wardrobe styling and colour analysis), Rashid Ansari and Radhika Singh (instructors -personality development and communication art), among others.
Says Manoj Bal, director, Elite School of Modelling, India, "The primary objective of the school is to provide aspiring models with an opportunity to develop a career out of modelling." And that, of course, comes at a price. The agency will charge a flat fee of 30 per cent of what the models gets from an assignment procured by Elite.
After Delhi, the next stop for Elite School of Modelling would be Mumbai, where it plans to open office in the next six to nine months. © 2003 agencyfaqs!