Model Pooja Mor talks to Billie Bhatia about
defying parental expectations
Getting deep with Pooja Mor is very easy. Despite growing up on different sides of the world – Ahmedabad, Gujarat for her, me in Oadby, Leicester – our shared South Asian heritage provides a silent understanding. Turns out, that’s not the only thing we have in common. Mor, 34, who first burst on to the fashion scene in 2016 walking for Louis Vuitton, pursued academia by way of civil engineering before detouring to fashion; I studied law and eventually went in search of something more creative. ‘So obviously, our parents were the same: you can be an engineer or a lawyer or an accountant or a doctor. These were our basics – the bare minimum,’ says Mor, and I nod along.
So, how did she pivot from engineering to modelling, gracing the covers of countless titles and walked for every major designer at Paris Fashion Week? While at university in 2012, she was part of a team organising a beauty competition sponsored by Clean & Clear, called ‘Fresh Face’. Mor had no desire to enter herself, she explains, but, being tall, people threw her name in the ring. She ended up taking home the runner-up title, and was scouted by a model agency during the process.
PHOTOGRAPHS buzz white
STYLING MOLLY HAYLOR
Published on 28th April 2026
Left: Jacket, price on request, skirt, £4,875, and earrings, £805, all Chanel
Right: Swimsuit, £1,045, and hat, £775, both Chanel
Model: Pooja Mor at Viva Models. Hair: David Wadlow using Color Wow.
Make-up: Polly Mercer using Merit. CastiNg: Christie Phedon. Shoot producer: Gabriela Velasco.
Photographer’s assistant: Morgan Hill-Murphy. Fashion assistant: Amber Backhouse.
Editor-in-chief: HATTIE BRETT. creative director: carolyn roberts. ASSOCIATE editor: Rebecca lowthorpe
mor is more
‘Most Indian women have their rebelling phase, which is so important because it gives you confidence and time to find yourself,’ Mor explains. ‘And this was mine. I took a year between finishing my engineering degree and doing my MBA, and I thought, why don’t I give modelling a chance? When everyone else was believing in me so much, I thought, surely they are seeing something I can’t.’ She gave it a year, taking part in every fashion week the country had to offer and featured in countless editorials across all the major magazines in India. The cherry on the cake? A signing with Elite Model Management, New York.
Having never been on a long-haul flight, Mor booked a plane ticket to the US. ‘New York, to me, was a place where people were more experimental, so if I was a new face, or a different looking person than what is “classic” in the modelling industry, this was where they would be more open-minded.’ Here, I can’t help myself and burst out with the question, ‘But how did you tell your parents?!’
‘I only told my mother,’ confesses Mor. ‘I come from a traditional Indian family and I’m sure my dad still doesn’t like to see me in short skirts. In the same way I think it would be hard for parents of actors to watch
intimate scenes, I can understand that.’
Left: Towel, £2,175, Chanel
Right: Shirt, £4,005, and skirt, £8,615, both Chanel
Left: Bag, £6,180, swimsuit, £1,135, shoes, £1,395, earrings, £655, and sunglasses, £480, all Chanel
Right: Shirt, £4,180, swimsuit, £1,135, skirt, £2,960, shoes, £1,395, and earrings, £1,090, all Chanel
So who is Mor now? With 12 years of modelling, a successful rebellion under her belt and an upcoming documentary about her journey – Pooja Mor: Transcendent Beauty – Mor has made New York City her base, with husband Cameron Lamb, the Sydney-born, award-winning film producer. She continues to pave a way for women of South Asian descent to claim their space in the fashion industry. Women like Bhavitha Mandava, who made headlines when she became the first Indian model to open Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show last year.
‘Growing up, I didn’t know there was any other way to look. I just knew what I saw, which was beautiful Bollywood actresses and beautiful Indian models. There is so much expression to these women – you can sense a sort of conversation in their eyes. India has 5,000 years of culture – I just feel like there’s a full fountain of knowledge and wisdom in those women, and I think that’s what my confidence is rooted in.’
Asking her the key to her success seems like a redundant question, it’s obvious: Mor is beautiful, yes, but also tenacious, hard-working, humble, intelligent and interested. The true hallmarks of a trailblazer.
Shirt, £3,395, swimsuit, £1,135, and shoes, £1,135, all Chanel
Dress, £4,005, bikini top, £570, bag, £7,485, and necklace, £2,605, all Chanel
