008: No Mean Feat: Nikhil D. and Smita Lasrado on Nurturing Talent, Harnessing Social Media Effectively and Being the New Normal

⌛ 6 MINUTES

It was in Paris in 2014 that stylist Nikhil D. and model Smita Lasrado first divulged to each other their growing dissatisfaction with the inadequacies of the Indian fashion scene. Frustrated by an industry dominated by fair-skinned models, pandering to euro-centric perceptions of beauty, Nikhil and Smita, founders of Feat.Artists, decided to take matters into their own hands — and things haven’t been the same since.

Along Similar Lines: On Finding Common Ground

Prior to doing business together, Smita and Nikhil were on their own individual journeys — ones that yielded rather similar observations.

Smita had dived head-first into the Indian modelling industry around 2007–2008 — only to notice the stagnation it was steeped in. “The same models were being booked all the time. The trend had become to pick well-known faces rather than models who actually fit the bill,” says Lasrado. She recalls how she herself was considered overly thin and a tad too dark, but her move abroad came as a culture-shock — the very traits that had worked against her back home were en vogue here. When Lasrado returned to India a certified IMG model, those that had previously been aloof suddenly had a keen eye on her. “To me, that was like — why do you need that ‘stamp’ from the west before you decide that I’m fit to be a model?”

This rigidity of thought wasn’t confined to the modelling world; Nikhil, too, had found himself battling an outdated system. “As a stylist, I noticed that Indian magazines mostly featured European models, bizarrely enough.” He’d spend his time feeling disgruntled with the barely-there Indian representation on magazine covers (barring established celebrities) and constantly pushing for more Indian models to grace the covers of big publications. “Everywhere else, they always put a new model on the cover, as if to say: here’s the new girl on the block,” Nikhil recalls. “And that literally never happened here; there was never a new girl.”

Smita and Nikhil’s parallel interests and experiences converged at a point, and in 2018, the duo banded together to form Feat.Artists — their own modelling agency.

Expanding Territory: Building a Powerhouse

Growing a nascent business can be quite the challenge. But Nikhil and Smita had a plan chalked out, a mission to change the way models were cast in the country — and a little luck on their side. With the fashion industry embracing them relatively quickly, Feat. Artists soon bagged editorials in all the best magazines, building a solid reputation and entering a more commercial space. It was at that point that the pair’s discerning eye spotted another gap in the industry — one they were happy to fill. “People would ask us for input on photographers or makeup artists all the time. So we thought, okay — this is a service we’re providing, and Indian creative talent needs representation. Why not recruit it to the agency?” Starting with people they had previously worked with and then moving on to actively scouting potential recruits, Feat.Artists officially opened its doors to various talent — from photographers to make-up artists to stylists — in March of 2019.

Signing talents from diverse specialisations has worked in the agency’s favour. Today, Feat.Artists can be called a ‘powerhouse’ in its own right, housing an entire team that can execute a campaign from start to finish. It’s also something that’s proven particularly useful during the COVID crisis, with the agency’s talent working in their own capacity from isolation, creating work digitally and passing it on from person to person to yield a finished product for Instagram or print.

Feat.Artists aims to grow into a collective for creatives who do multidisciplinary work and who work well as collaborators — not only within the agency, but outside of it as well. “At Feat, we want to explore different avenues where like-minded people can come together and create together.” Featured here: Shriya Som ss20 campaign — modelled by Smita; photography and creative direction by Farhan Hussain; beauty by Kritika Gill

Soil, Water, Sunshine: On Fostering Individuality

Nikhil and Smita’s steadfast ideology of opposing everything boring is reflected in their recruitment criteria: value is attributed not only to a model’s looks, but also to their personality and interests. “We obviously see what they look like, check their sizes and find what market they fit based on that. But we also check if their look is new or if they’re interesting in ways other than just appearance.” Models shouldn’t just be clothes-hangers, and signing on such talent with alternative careers or special skills definitely aligns with the vision of Feat’s creators. But it also works in the models’ favour; brands like if models have a backstory or some personality attached to them, and want to associate with them based on those. The agency lays great emphasis on these skills and interests when launching them or getting them work with brands. “People initially came to Feat looking for ‘real people’ to model for them, but in truth, our recruits have always been professional models — we just happened to brand them as ‘people with skill, who model’.”

When it comes to signing talent, the duo has a keen ear out for individualistic voices — people who grew up here and have something to say to the world.

“We try to look for people that are very different from each other but not just because they’re different. Each of them has different experiences that set them apart — and we like that.”

Their talent has been casted for several international campaigns. The agency definitely likes to discover new faces and young talent. But there is no hard and fast rule — if the person speaks their language and if they fit within their collective goals, it doesn’t matter if they’re established or new to the game.

For Feat.Artists, social media plays a pivotal part. Having discovered models over hashtags and scoured TikTok and Instagram for new faces in the agency’s formative period, Feat. now busies itself with communicating the lives of the models and promoting their personal, non-commissioned work online.

Checking beyond the Cheque: Choosing Morals over Money

The growth of Feat.Artists can be attributed to the shared belief system of its creators. There are a few things that are non-negotiable to both Nikhil and Smita — the way their talent is treated by a client regardless of how big they are; getting overtime for jobs; not allowing tokenism; not promoting fairness products, amongst others. “We believe that in life you have to stand for something. We make it clear to our models that we don’t endorse fairness, and they’re all extremely proud of that stance. Some of our talent might not want to promote certain other products, like alcohol, and we respect that too.” Accepting anything just to grow the business isn’t Feat.Artists’ style. “We’re fighting back against what we see as exploitation or ‘poverty porn’ — essentially anything that negatively affects the portraiture of our society. We’re trying to change people’s perception of what kind of imagery should come out of India,” says Smita. It’s safe to assume that her and Nikhil’s own personal experiences have played a part in building this moral code — “When you know better, you do better.”

Attaching labels like ‘diverse’ and ‘inclusive’ to Feat.Artists is relatively easy given their roster — the agency promotes non- binary models and trans models, as well as models of different age groups, regions and body types — but they themselves steer clear of such ‘trending’ terminology. To Nikhil and Smita, what’s important is that Indian talent is represented the right way. “It’s not like we want to be touted as ‘different’ or ‘inclusive’; our thing was never to try and fit quotas.” The aim has always been to have more than one Indian face or talent be represented within the country as well as outside of it.

“We’re not coming from a place of wanting to be different — we want to be the new normal.”

As heads of this self-proclaimed family, Smita and Nikhil are fiercely protective and supportive of their artists. They make sure their models are well-grounded and not bogged down by rejection, and if an artist feels exhausted or unhappy with what they’ve created, they advise them to take a break and pursue their own personal work. “Our artists know that they can call us in the middle of the night on the job, and we’ll take care of them.”

Feat. The Founders

Having worked together this long, there’s bound to be things about the other person that rub off on you. “Nikhil’s attention to detail on our communication has definitely rubbed off on me,” Smita says. “He’s also way more patient than I am — but that’s something I still haven’t fully mastered.”

As for Smita, Nikhil says, “She’s definitely very protective of the models. I guess having been over it herself, she knows what you could protect a model from as an agency, and I’ve picked up on some of that.” He also confesses that she’s a better keeper of time and definitely more focussed of the two. Aside from experience, the two have been each other’s biggest teachers.

And what has their experience taught Nikhil D. and Smita Lasrado?

“The single most important thing is to have a strong voice. Don’t do what’s trending because that will make you instantly replaceable,” is Smita’s takeaway. “Research, study and always be curious.” Nikhil suggests spending time away from scrolling on Instagram. “Eventually, everything there starts to look the same. Look for inspiration beyond what’s available on the internet.”

Gunning for better representation in the industry and a broader definition of beauty, the duo remains optimistic that change is ‘round the corner.

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!