Why Yasmeen Ghauri Could Only Exist in the 1990s
There was a time when supermodels ruled. She defined the era, and left before the party was over.
She always knew she was different. She was the only darker-skinned girl in her class, to the point where peers called her “chocolate cake face.” They relentlessly teased her for being too skinny and too tall. No one would take her to prom.
But then one day, everything shifted. Someone told her she should model. No, we’re not talking about Bhavitha Mandava. We’re talking about 1990s supermodel Yasmeen Ghauri.
“I’ve always hated the word ‘supermodel’…I don’t like to categorize myself,” Ghauri said. But despite her massive success and impact — from changing how models walked to how they got their makeup done — Ghauri would give it all up by 1997. What drove her meteoric rise and sudden exit, and what does it tell us about the glamorous, sometimes toxic world of modeling?