Shyamoli Varma

Shyamoli Varma (born (1957-12-11)11 December 1957), is a former Indian actress and model. She is known as India's first supermodel and the first Lakmé girl.[1] Varma is also known for her role in the Indian thriller Rog and for her work with Lakmé Cosmetics. Following her work with Lakmé Cosmetics, Varma went on to live in Paris and model with fashion companies such as Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, and Chanel.[2]

Shyamoli Varma
Shyamoli Varma as featured in 2003 publication of Vogue India.
Born
Shyamoli Varma

(1957-12-11) 11 December 1957
Pune, Maharashtra, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materSophia College for Women
Occupation
Years active1982–2005
Spouse(s)Abhijit Chaterjee
Children1

Early Life

Varma was born into an Indian family on 27 September 1973 in Pune, India. Her father was a lieutenant colonel in the Indian army and her mother was a housewife. She is of Bengali, Punjabi, and English descent. Varma has one brother who worked as a financial advisor in Melbourne. She studied educational psychology in college.[3]

Personal Life

Varma married makeup artist Abhijit Chaterjee in 1995. She has a daughter, Akiksha, who currently studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. Varma is fluent in English, Hindi, and French.[3]

Career
Image taken from 1998 publication of Vanguard. Photographed by Rohit Khosla

After graduating Sophia College for Women, she worked as a telephone operator in Pune before she was spotted by an assistant to fashion choreographer Jeannie Naoroji. She then signed on to a three-year modelling contract with Lakmé Cosmetics. Varma is known in India for this partnership and has been coined as the "Lakmé girl".[4] She was used to advertise make-up products to an India that was relatively new to the world of cosmetics. Lakmé had to overcome a negative social taboo about cosmetics in India and market their products to a country of diverse complexions and skin tones. After a year in the modeling industry, Varma appeared in ads for Nescafé and on Doordarshan, a broadcasting network owned by the Indian government.[4]

Following her work with Lakmé Cosmetics, she acquired a contract with Pierre Cardin and moved to Paris, France in 1980 to further her work in the fashion industry. Varma worked with Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Vogue, Maxim, Karl Lagerfeld, Max Mara, Comme des Garçons, and other top fashion companies[4]. During her time in Paris, she was close with fellow Indian model Anjali Mendes and photographers Rohit Khosla and Azzedine Alaïa. She then moved back to Pune in 1989, where she began a career as a fashion choreographer. Since then, she has traveled around India, France, and Germany and has held 6 exhibitions. In the next two years, she choreographed shows for fashion institutes, designers and trade fairs. She continued on for 5 years until the birth of her daughter.[2]

Movies
Year Title Role Language
1996 Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love Rasa Devi's Courtesan English
2001 Everybody Says I'm Fine! Mrs. Mittal English
2005 Rog Shyamoli Hindi
gollark: Dismissing problems because other things have problems is the problem.
gollark: The problem there is not the comparing though!
gollark: I did retroactively.
gollark: You can compare things without it also implying "we should immediately do whatever the 'better' thing does".
gollark: That isn't actually the implication.

References
  1. "Shyamoli Varma: The Lakmé girl and India's first supermodel". 17 October 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  2. Sheena Sidher (8 April 2011). "Back from Hiatus". Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  3. "Communalism Combat". 14 August 1998. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  4. "A Model Life". 23 November 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
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