The monopoly of white models on the catwalks and in the glossies over the past decade has been immovable, but many fashionistas now believe the future is Asian. As Condé Nast prepares to launch GQ China, its fourth Chinese title, and Vogue India increases its print run to 50,000 copies a month, British model scouts say a new demand for Asian talent is being created that will transform the face of fashion.
Carole White, founder of Premier Model Management, the agency that represents Naomi Campbell and Salman Rushdie's former wife, Padma Lakshmi, thinks the dominance of eastern European girls is changing.
"We are now seeing more Chinese and Japanese girls. Eastern European girls flooded the market. There are so many Russians and Ukrainians. But they are all very white and bland." Height remains a problem but, White says, "there are tall Asian girls".
Paula Karaiskos, of leading British model agency Storm Model Management, thinks that the distinct look provided by Asian models will ensure longevity and success. "The whole discussion about using more ethnic women in fashion has broadened the debate on models in fashion in general and designers are now looking for more discerning faces to front their campaigns."
Agencies expect next month's 25th London fashion week to hasten change. There was an Asian model in almost every show last February and agencies expect a marked increase in the months ahead. Most prominent were Japanese model Tao Okamoto, for Moschino, Marc Jacobs and D&G, and Chinese model Liu Wen, for Chanel, Dries Van Noten and Louis Vuitton. The UK high street has already shown signs of a changing preference, with Next deciding to use 23-year-old Anglo-Asian model, Kiren Modi, as the face of its spring line.
Leading fashion photographer Gavin Fernandes thinks it's high time Asian models took the lead. "There is a popular misconception that south and east Asian models are too bound to the principles of their parents. But those stereotypes have been broken down," he says. "Perhaps scouts just need to get better at spotting Asian talent."
The potential for stardom became evident after the "black issue" of Italian Vogue launched Jourdan Dunn into "super-modeldom": fashion bloggers now regularly refer to the "Dunn-effect". The Asian model tipped for Dunn-like hysteria is 26-year-old Lakshmi Menon, currently on show in the windows of Gap. Menon recently featured in her first US Vogue editorial and has appeared on the cover of V magazine. She modelled exclusively for Riccardo Tisci's last show. Karaiskos, whose agency represents Menon, maintains that skin colour is irrelevant: "The fact that she's Indian only makes her more interesting."
London Fashion Week's key backstage photographer, Jason Lloyd-Evans, said: "When I first did the shows about 10 years ago, Devon [Aoki] was the only Asian girl I noticed. There's now a huge presence from Korea, China and Japan.".
He predicts Okamoto will be the next big thing. "Her tomboy attitude means she is not fitting any particular typecast." She is described by White as "flavour of the month". This autumn, Okamoto is the face of Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors and has appeared recently in French and Russian Vogue.
It was the summer launch of Supermodelme.tv that gave Asian models a boost. The show, which appeared online in June, follows 10 aspiring models from Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and India as they compete for a prize of $10,000 and the chance of fame. Karen Seah, of Singapore-based media group Refinery Media, came up with the idea after witnessing "a growing market for Japanese and Chinese models".
Even so, modelling has yet to attract the same kudos in the south and east Asian communities as in the west. White says that many Asian girls view modelling as a "hobby" to pursue much later in life than their European counterparts. Ashanti Omkar, former editor of Asian lifestyle magazine Henna, says change will not happen overnight. "An increase in the number of Asian models is to be expected, but it will take time. Many young Asian girls don't think of modelling as a career."
Omkar blames their low-key private life: "Maybe they're not creating the same buzz as the Kate Mosses because they don't have the scandalous lifestyle to go with it."
Twenty years ago, supermodels such as Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer were as big as the brands they represented, whereas the lookalike "blank canvas" models of earlier decades threw attention back on to a generation of designers such as Gaultier, Galliano and McQueen. Now with an increasingly individual look favoured by designers, Karaiskos thinks that the distinct look offered by Asian girls is their unique selling point.
"At the moment there is a trend to book either a well known face or an übermodel – a fantastically beautiful goddess whose face is worth a thousand words and whose looks do all the communicating. For a lot of the high-end designers, the latter is more popular."
Some cynics, however, have dismissed south and east Asian models as simply a return to the "exotic". Navaz Batliwalla, a columnist for Indian Grazia, believes this concept is dated. "As the profile of Indian fashion and celebrity rises, we will embrace that culture over here. Exotic stereotyping is boring and a cliché"
In the past, Condé Nast magazines in Asia rarely used Asian girls. When Batliwalla launched Indian Grazia almost two years ago, she recalled the first shoot: "They sent three models for a casting – one Indian and two Europeans."
As White said: "Everything in fashion changes so, yes, it will change."
