By: Devan Leos
Vaishali Dev stood waiting, her 57-year-old frame wrapped in designer silk, breathing in the mingled scents of hairspray and floral perfumes.
Backstage at New York’s Runway Seven, models hurried through narrow passages, their heels clicking against the floor—*pock pock pock*—as makeup artists and hair stylists worked their magic in the cramped space.
The air was thick with anticipation; the subtle scents of high-end foundations and hair-styling products transformed ordinary aesthetics into runway-ready perfection.
The moment was more than just another model’s runway debut—it marked a crossing of cultural currents that rarely converge in high fashion’s rarified air: East and West, tradition and innovation, conventional beauty standards, and their long-overdue evolution.
Running two hours behind schedule, with tired models who had carefully rationed their water intake to avoid bathroom breaks in elaborate gowns, the scene embodied glamour and the gritty reality of high fashion.
“Beauty comes in various forms,” Vaishali reflects, her voice carrying the quiet conviction of someone who has spent decades navigating multiple identities: successful CEO, an Indian woman in America, a mother, and now—unexpectedly—a fashion model.
“You shouldn’t feel beautiful only because you’re 20 years old, or only if you’re a skinny little model, or just because you have fair skin.”
The fashion industry’s relationship with diversity has long been complicated, marked by tentative steps forward and frustrating retreats. Like Victoria’s Secret’s rebrand aimed to move past narrow beauty ideals, fashion weeks worldwide have made periodic attempts to present themselves as more authentically inclusive. Yet the reality—like many cultural shifts—proves messier and more nuanced than the marketing suggests.
Designer Anjali, who selected Vaishali for her show, personifies a new wave of fashion creators working to confront cultural divides authentically rather than simply appropriate them. Anjali’s vision aims to transform models of various ages and body types through carefully curated designs, makeup, and styling choices that celebrate each individual’s unique features.
“Anjali came up with designs and mood boards that seemed to fit every model as if they were made specifically for them,” Vaishali says, describing how traditional Indian attention to individual body types merged with contemporary Western silhouettes in the collection.
The physical challenges Vaishali faced—multiple broken discs, sciatic nerve issues, decades of wearing only flat shoes—mirror the broader obstacles to diversity in high fashion.
Dev’s preparation involved months of dedicated work: “I had to prepare myself to walk in heels. It took time due to my health issues, but I was determined to do it.”
Through pain management, careful training, and lifestyle changes, she gradually built the strength to stroll the runway with valiance.
Just as Dev had gradually built up her strength to walk in six-inch heels, the industry itself must undergo a deliberate transformative process to truly embrace diverse definitions of beauty.
Despite technical hiccups with music and timing, her runway moment displayed both the progress made and the challenges still facing the industry.
“I walked kind of breaking a lot of stereotypes out there,” she notes, listing them with practiced precision: “Age 57, physical challenges, not your 24-inch waist, not the typical model size, not the ideal height, not the ideal Indian model who has big eyes, nor the white woman with blue eyes.”
The significance of her runway appearance gains additional weight when considered alongside her daughter Juhi’s role as show opener—a mother-daughter duo representing different generations of Indian-American women claiming space in Western fashion. Her younger daughter Moni’s presence in the audience, cheering them on, completed a family portrait of intergenerational support and cultural evolution.
This generational bridge extends beyond their relationship to suggest how cultural integration in fashion might evolve: not through sudden revolution but through steady, intentional progress across decades.
The backstage scene—where seasoned models practiced their walks in narrow hallways while newcomers like Vaishali observed and learned—embodied this gradual transformation.
Yet Vaishali, with an entrepreneur’s pragmatism, emphasizes that diversity without preparation serves neither the models nor the industry.
“As glamorous as this can seem on a 70-inch TV, being on that screen is far more challenging than we would like to think,” she cautions. “You’re walking for the designer, you’re walking for the woman, you’re walking for yourself.”
Her experience reveals an often-overlooked truth about cultural representation in fashion: authentic diversity requires more than just casting different faces. It demands a fundamental rethinking of how the industry operates, from runway training to backstage support to the very definitions of beauty and grace that have long governed high fashion.
As fashion weeks continue their slow evolution toward true inclusivity, Vaishali’s story suggests that the most meaningful changes come not from institutional initiatives but from individuals willing to challenge conventions while respecting the craft.
“Beauty comes from inside out, not outside in,” she insists, even as she acknowledges the transformative power of well-designed clothes and skillful makeup.
In the end, her runway walk—performed without music due to technical difficulties, urged on by teammates calling from backstage—symbolized something larger than herself: a moment where multiple cultural narratives converged into something new and potentially transformative.
“I remember my daughter Juhi saying everything went quiet when she stepped on the walkway and could clearly hear the audience clapping and cheering for her.”
The question remains whether the fashion industry will recognize such moments as mere anomalies or glimpses of a more inclusive future.
Vaishali Dev is the CEO of Microteq Inc., an industrial manufacturing firm. In 2024, Dev launched the BLUME Foundation, a non-profit org on a mission to empower women of all ages.
Published by Jeremy S.
