Like most modelling geneses, Diya Prabhakar’s introduction into the fashion industry happened by chance when she was scouted while attending a fashion show. The year was 2013, and she was your average 14-year-old teen – but little did she know that she had the makings of a top model. The next year, she snagged the crown at The New Paper New Face competition.

Her win occurred during the time when names such as Vanessa Axente, Fei Fei Sun, and co. ruled the model sphere with their brand of classic feminine beauty. Prabhakar stood out (she was 1.82m by the age of 15) from that mould with her effortless natural beauty (cue the shock of wavy jet black locks and the luminous eyes reminiscent of the Ukrainian model Masha Tyelna who was a hot name in the early aughts).
Flash forward to 2020 and Prabhakar, 21, has become a familiar face if you’re into Fashion Week model-spotting. To date, she has clocked over 20 shows for brands such as Alexander Wang, Prabal Gurung (he picked her to appear in the brand’s Fall 2018 ad campaign), Dolce & Gabbana, Area, and Marine Serre. That’s not counting her work for beauty companies like Sephora and M.A.C Cosmetics.
The fact that her body of work span cutting-edge labels to more commercial brands is a testament to her broad appeal and chameleonic quality as a model. In fact, Marine Serre‘s casting director William Lhoest, who is known for championing diversity and unconventional models, had booked Prabhakar for three of Serre’s Paris Fashion Week shows.
More importantly, Prabakhar’s success also points to the rise of Indian models on the global fashion map in recent years. Incidentally, her mother agent is the Mumbai-based Anima Creative Management which has nurtured the top Indian models of-the-moment like Pooja Mor and Demna Gvasalia’s favourite Dipti Sharma.
Says Prabakhar’s of the recognition of Asian faces: “I think it takes time for society to evolve. Caucasian girls were universally considered and perceived to be the norm for beauty; I am so glad this is changing as I see more representation.”
Here, we get to know her more.
Catwalk Photos Showbit.com Portrait Courtesy of Looque Models