London: Second generation British Indian model Neelam Gill has floored the glamour world with her chiselled features and dusky Indian looks. As the first Indian-origin model to feature in a Burberry advertisement, she made the Asian Diaspora proud; and at the same time surprised everyone for courageously braving the racist Twitter troll, recently.
The 20-year-old Neelam, a Coventry (a city in England) bred girl strayed into the modelling world casually only to find herself walking the ramp for prestigious London Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. Those who have known Neelam as a child, still find it hard to believe that a girl with braces and large reading glasses made her way to the fashion world and got her name in the A-list models. Neelam was born in a middle class family that had roots in Punjab. She was a confirmed awkward girl, who had no courage to walk the ramp.
For the Burberry shoot, Neelam was photographed by famous photographer Mario Testino. They made her skin a shade darker, so that she gelled with the international perception about the Indians. It was Christopher Bailey, CEO of Burberry, who intended to have myriad colours from various ethnicity and was hell bent on having an Asian face in the ad, to elevate the brand value.
Neelam was abused and trolled for her looks and her ethnic origin, as the news of her being linked with former One Direction singer Zayn Malik came out. The singing sensation has recently broken up from singer Perrie Edward and is reportedly smitten by Neelam. Though the two haven’t yet confirmed their relationship, but Neelam was introduced to Zayn at an Asian award functions.
Just as Neelam started to absorb and enjoy the glittering arc lights of glamour, she soon got to see the harsh side of it. Since there is a glaring lack of diversity in the field of modelling, fashionistas were quick to declare Neelam an oddball. A number of trolls and racist remarks made it vicious.
But, Neelam is not the type to take anything lying down she gave it back through one of the tweets. “I am not going anywhere. I’ll continue winning and breaking boundaries. And you won’t be able to do anything about it,” tweeted Neelam, when she realised that certain remarks crossed the line.
She has been in the public eye, ever since she boldly handled the racists rant on Twitter. In an interview to Evening Standard, she revealed how she was attacked while she was growing up. “I was referred to as ‘p**ki’, and food was thrown on me,” Neelam said in interview. The discrimination over colour, ethnicity and lack of money was way too strong when Neelam was growing up.
International fashion industry has limited scope for Indian origin, non-white girls. Neelam feels that African, Jamaican, Chinese or an Asian character is included in an advertisement only as a token and they never acquire dominant positions.
Her crusade against racism, Neelam stands for anyone who has been bullied in the society. Recently, Neelam posted a video with a British Sikh girl Harnaam Singh, the girl who courageously moved around with her beards. Through the video, Neelam extended support to Harnaam as she revealed how she was bullied in school and on Twitter because of her facial hair.
(Image Courtesy: Instagram)
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