Gurmit Kaur (who is of Indian decent from Singapore and was a regular on the YSL, Lacroix and Chanel catwalks in the 90s)
source
Born in a small
Malay village outside of Singapore
where she studied sculpture ...
Gurmit left home at the age of
nineteen to escape an arranged
marriage. She then found herself in
Brussels where she studied jewelry
and met Belgium's leading sculptor
Olivier Strebelle.
On a trip to Paris
Gurmit was discovered by Yves
St. Laurent, who then launched her
career as a model.
Gurmit then moved to Paris and walked the runways for the most distinguished couturiers, ranging from
Karl Lagerfeld to Versace and Christian Lacroix. After modeling for 5 years, in the mid 1990's Gurmit put
her Runway career on pause to complete her jewelry studies in Brussels. She has since exhibited her jewelry
and sculpture around the globe from Italy to Paris, Belgium, Holland, and Tokyo. Gurmit's influences for her
designs are nature (the jungle, the beach and the forest), fashion, fine art and even mathematics. Gurmit's
results are a collection where each design is as individual as the flowers found in The Hanging Gardens of
Babylon. source
"Don't you have any jewellery in the collection ?" Those were Gurmit's first words to me when she came to model for me. I told her I didn't need any, because they (the models) were my favourite jewellery.
Then I recall Gurmit launching out onto the catwalk. She was radiant and full of fire. On her third run, she took a hairbrush with her as an accessory, hooking it under her belt.
Now I see that she already undulated like the jewellery she would create. Her work is in her image: supple, sensuous, voluptuous. Precious materials coiling around the body. Rings becoming arabesques. Necklaces entwining with pleasure. Every woman will find a piece she fancies.- Azzedine AlaĂ¯a
November 1996Photo(w/nudity)