Male models rake in the moolah

Mumbai: Everyone's talking about designs, designers, buyers but what about the models who strut all that stuff.

The fashion week has been a busy period for this tribe and here's how they are raking in the moolah during the fashion extravaganza.

Nearly 15 to 20 models walk the ramp per show.

And with the split between Fashion Design Council of India and Lakme raising the number of total shows to almost 110, the demand for that face and body to launch a thousand designs was on an all time high this year.

Thirty eight models walked the ramp for the Lakme Fashion Week while 64 models did the same for the Wills India Fashion Week.

It's also been an opportunity for several fresh faces to make their debut and male models never had it so good.

Says a model, Yatin, "Lot of designers have come up with a lot of mens wear and it's a great platform for models like me to start."

Another model, Muzzamil, agrees. "It all depends on what position you hold as a model. For some, its the same as when they started but as you grow, your rates and demands go up."

A new model earns something between Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 per day, and a middle-rung model can demand upto Rs 15,000. A seasoned face like Indrani Das Gupta can draw three times that figure.

Also if you belong to the super model league like an Ujjwala Raut - it's an international contract that speaks in dollars.

Models say that they walk the ramp for nearly 15 shows in one fashion week and so the amount they get paid is quite huge. They do, nonetheless, give a discount at the end of the day.

There are of course some models who walk the ramp for free for the sake of exposure.

It's been an especially good two weeks for male models who usually don't get enough shows and get paid much less than their female counter parts.

So if there's one tribe who's really celebrating the Fashion Week split it's the people who carry off all that designer wear.

(With Priyanka Chaudhary in New Delhi)