Vogue's India fashion shoot sparks disgust

They could be roadside beggars; a gaunt toothless old woman thrusting her hungry toddler towards the camera, while her ragged, sad older daughter looks on with matted hair and dark circles around her eyes.

It's the kind of picture Oxfam uses to prick our consciences to dig deep for the hungry, but the giveaway is the toddler's Fendi designer bib: It costs £50 - more than two month's income for an impoverished rural Indian family.



The photographs are from the August issue of India's Vogue magazine, and the latest example of 'Third World' chic. Earlier this summer clothes designed by India's poorest and most downtrodden women - 'night-soil carriers' from the country's untouchable caste - were modeled on a New York catwalk.

The magazine featured 16 pages of photographs of India's poorest peasants - many of whom live on 65 pence a day according to figures released last week by the World Bank - draped with impossibly luxurious accessories they could never dream of being able to afford.



Indian Vogue editor Priya Tanna said the magazine had been taken aback by reaction to the photographs but defended the decision to publish them, and said the poor 'models' had been paid 'a significant amount.'

Their critics should 'lighten up.' Fashion thrives on "fantasy, aspirations and above all, fun," she said.