Lubna SethiFarewell Pierre Cardin's Muse Anjali Mendes
The modeling world in India woke up to depressing news in mid June 2010 even as the skies turned dark grey and weepy….!!!
Anjali Phyllis Mendes, the first dark-skinned model to grace the Parisian ramp and become Pierre Cardin’s muse, had passed away after battling with an unidentified stomach infection in a hospital in Aix-en-Provence in France. She always yearned for love and had many suitors too! But this diva did not have anyone whom she could turn to for love and care. What an irony! She was the cynosure of everyone's eye, always surrounded by fans and critics. But when she died, she died a lonely death .She was 64, and India’s first supermodel on the international stage. The six foot plus stunner wowed the Parisian catwalk in her heydays, with her dusky, statuesque looks and her grace on the ramp.
Born as Phyllis Mendes she grew up as a tomboy who climbed trees, played cricket and did all she could to show off in front of boys. The fourth of seven children born to Cajetan and Flo Mendes, she was named Phyllis after her birth on January 29, 1946. Her father was a representative for Swiss watch brands in India and mother called "Flo", didn't work. She was too busy having babies! With seven children, her parents barely had enough money to educate, feed and clothe them. So Mendes did not know money, but didn't miss it either.
Anjali started her career as a secretary to the celebrated Indian advertising guru Bobby Sista, who realized her potential and encouraged her to participate in fashion events. Having shared the catwalk with the then Indian supermodels Zeenat Aman and Shobha De, the Indian fashion industry largely rejected her for being “too tall, dark, gawky and skinny”—all unattractive traits to the industry back then. The press even called her an “Ethiopian princess”. In a 2004 interview with The Times of India, she had said: “I am an ugly duckling who transformed into a swan on her own.” Since Anjali could not realize her full potential in Mumbai in the ’70s and encouraged by her friends and well wishers, she set off to Paris and the rest as they say is history.
In 1971, before Parisian ramps had seen women of color, before Grace Jones and Naomi Campbell, this dark, sari-clad model waited in French designer Pierre Cardin’s salon for eight hours. Cardin’s assistant called a manager, telling him that an Indian princess had come to buy clothes. When Cardin finally met her, she was hired on the spot. He called her ‘a jolie’ (Anjali), and Phyllis Mendes became Cardin’s muse for a little over 12 years. Other designers she modelled for included Emanuel Ungaro, Elsa Schiaparelli and Givenchy. Mendes rose rapidly to become something of a cultural icon, feted and adored by the press in Europe, courted by visiting royalty, movie stars and the international jet set that famously included the late Princess Margaret.
Mendes never married, but while in Paris, she met an English aristocrat who groomed her for Parisian high society. He succumbed to cancer shortly before they were to be wed. With his death her life lost all meaning. She did not live like a nun but did not marry either.
Friends remember Mendes for her humility and gregariousness. She may have been the toast of tout Paris and presiding deity at the House of Pierre Cardin for decades, but her heart remained in India. Though she spoke fluent French, she never attempted to hide her strong Indian accent. After Mendes quit modelling, Cardin asked her to look after the India side of his operations, which she did for 18 years. When the design house completed 50 years in 2000, it shut down the overseas offices. Mendes then moved on to her other great love—gastronomy. In 2004, she also published a Indian cookbook called Cuisine Indienne De Mere En Fille.
Indian models found substantial work overseas after the 1970s, but the successes of Mendes and later, Shyamoli Varma, were exceptions. The fashion world only really noticed when models such as Ujjwala Raut and Laxmi Menon followed in the 1990s, earning substantial global experience.
