Anjali Mendes bids adieu

Anjali Phyllis Mendes, India’s first true international model, who graced the catwalks of Paris

in the 1970s, passed away at the age of 64, after battling with an unidentified stomach infection in a hospital in Aix-en-Provence in France.

 The six foot plus stunner wowed the Parisian catwalk in her heydays, with her dusky, statuesque looks and her grace on the ramp. She worked with the celebrated house of haute couture, Pierre Cardin for 12 years and was considered within the inner circle as his muse. In fact, he dubbed her name as An-jolie (beautiful).

A Mumbai suburban girl, 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, Anjali could not realize her full potential in Mumbai in the ’70s, when tall and dusky were not on the most wanted list of physical attributes for models and actresses. Encouraged by her friends and well wishers, Anjali set off to Paris and the rest is history.

 Her former colleague and close friend, the celebrated author, Shobha De paid a glowing tribute to her friend. She said, Anjali was one of my oldest and dearest friends, who will be greatly missed not just by me but by my entire family. A celebrity in the Paris fashion world, she was a simple girl and a good soul. Despite her many years in France, she remained proudly Indian, serving superb Goan cuisine at her soirees at which she entertained the likes of the Rothschilds,  British Lords, European aristocrats, visiting Indian celebrities and the beau monde of Paris.