Vanizha Vasanthanathan and Sonya Danita Charles on Redefining Beauty Standards in Modelling

“Growing up, I didn’t see people like me in advertisements and billboards; that was one of the driving forces behind me starting my modelling career,” says Vasanthanathan of her decision to pursue modelling full-time. “It’s more than the glamour, or becoming famous, and having more followers or likes: I truly want to represent people like me in this industry.”

She channelled her energy not only to get into the industry, but into inspiring others to accept and love themselves, have faith in whatever they do, and not let their appearance restrict them from reaching their goals. “There’s a lot of stereotypes out there that hinder more than help individuals who are discovering themselves and coming out into the world. Take, for example, in the modelling industry. Most would say you need to look a certain way, you need to be tall, you need to be fair, but in fact, that’s not entirely true. Things are changing, and will continue to change, hopefully towards the better for the most part,” says Vasanthanathan.

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Charles echoes the opinion that the modelling industry’s demand that you look a certain way is a common misconception. “Obviously people expect models to be slim, have even skin tones, and so on, but when I started modelling, my goal was to change that notion and the public perception, and introduce them to the whole idea of diversity and being more inclusive. I wanted everyone to know that, regardless of what colour your skin is or what shape you’re in, you can still very well be a model, because you don’t necessarily have to fit into the textbook standards of what’s most often portrayed.”

Both women admit that other people saw their potential for success in the industry before they saw it in themselves. For Vasanthanathan, one of her college seniors asked her to walk for a show she was doing as part of her final-year project; this led to her walking for Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week (KLFW) and doing more shows and campaigns—including one for Sephora, which saw her face front and centre of the main billboard in the Bukit Bintang area—to most recently walking for Milan Fashion Week.

As for Charles, she had just returned from her studies overseas and was working in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur when Azim Mahayudin, a photographer and founder of AM Studio, approached her to do a photo shoot for a personal project. He then posted her images on social media, which led to her becoming more confident and sharing them on her own site. “And things sort of picked up from there, and I walked for KLFW in 2018, and after that I started doing a few editorial shoots, features, campaigns and advertisements,” she explains.

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One of Vasanthanathan’s most impressive career achievements is walking in Milan at the height of the pandemic. While the job fulfilled part of her dream of modelling in Europe—walking in a London show is her ultimate modelling goal—it was far from smooth sailing.

“My main agency has always been trying to find shows for me to participate in outside of Malaysia, and in 2021, despite the lockdowns, they found an agency in Berlin that wanted to sign me; Milan was quite a last-minute thing,” she says.

“When Milan came, I had to grab that opportunity; it was my first step towards my Euro dream. Things weren’t easy though: as usual, there were castings to be done, and the competition is high; there’s a lot of new faces among top models as well, and most designers already have their favourites. Then you wait in line for an hour or two, and all you have is about 10 to 15 seconds to grab their attention when it’s your turn,” she says of the casting experience.

“The whole process was quite emotionally draining. You’re in another country and don’t know what to expect—I was there for three months, but I was not really progressing or doing much; there was a lot of waiting for things to happen,” she says. “My agency did warn me to expect this; there are times when models don’t get a job for a long period of time, even up to a year, and they’ll just do one show. “I tried my best to not compare myself with other models, but it’s difficult: you can’t help but think someone else is prettier, taller or skinnier than you, but you’ve just got to remind yourself that you’re unique in your own way, as tough as it is. You have to be your biggest supporter.”

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