There she is, in harmony with nature—international model Ujjwala Raut swiftly metamorphosing from jet-setting New Yorker into nymph in a matter of seconds. Surrounded by the sands of The Sanchaya on Bintan island, a lush tropical paradise in the Riau archipelago of Indonesia, she can’t resist the happiness brewing inside. “What an invitation to pause,” she says.
Yes, I agree, it is indeed a fertile place for daydreaming and introspection. Hers is a life of —an everyday reality for someone cherry-picked by prolific designers like Tom Ford, Roberto Cavalli, Elie Saab, Diane von Furstenberg and others. As the waves kiss her feet, I am reminded of what Leo Tolstoy once said: “One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and shall not be broken.
” “For me, after years of and modelling,” says Ujjwala Raut, “true luxury lies in how quickly I can decouple my body and spirit and slow down my mind. Somehow, real beauty today is simply a feeling of bliss.” There was a time when beauty was seemingly exclusive, a privileged combination of nature and nurture, with a limited perception that hadn’t yet been touched by the ethos of diversity we see today.
Now the industry offers jaw-dropping variety, availability and affordability—replete with extraordinary and cosmetic tools that empower us to correct outer ‘imperfections’ and present what we see as better versions of ourselves. But, I ponder, in this fast-paced world of endless correctio.
