In February 2009, London Fashion Week featured an Asian model in almost every show, with top designers like Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel and Louis Vuitton choosing Asian beauties over the previously prominent white models. This year will see the launch of GQ China and the increase of Vogue India’s print run to 50,000 copies per month, signalling a deeper awareness of the fashion industry in Asia than ever before.

High-street preferences are changing alongside catwalk attitudes, with shopping chain Next using 23-year-old Anglo-Asian model Kiren Modi as the face of its line next spring. Agencies believe that the 25th London Fashion Week this month will add momentum to the trend, with 26-year-old Asian model Lakshmi Menon tipped to be the next big thing of the fashion world.

Gavin Fernandes, a leading fashion photographer, believes that the growing market for Asian models is long overdue. “There is a popular misconception that Southern and Eastern Asian models are too bound to the principles of their parents,” he observes. “But those stereotypes have been broken down. Perhaps scouts just need to get better at spotting Asian talent.”

Despite an upsurge in the number of Asian models succeeding in modelling, the industry does not attract the same status as it does in the West. Major figures in the fashion industry have speculated that a vast number of Asian girls think of modelling as nothing more than a hobby, not wishing to pursue a career in the industry from a young age like their European counterparts.

Ashanti Omkar, former editor of popular Asian fashion and lifestyle magazine Henna, believes that change will happen, but only gradually. “Many young Asian girls don’t think of modelling as a career,” she says. “An increase in the number of Asian models is expected, but it will take time.”