Sexy Ujjwala Raut, a quintissential model, dusky and tall with a face you would die for and a body you would kill to have, is one of those first few to represent not only Indian but the Asian modelling industry in the international market. She had a humble beginning in Mumbai, coming into the limelight in 1996 in the Femina Miss India Paegant at a young age of 17. She went on to captivate the global fashion scenario with her mysteriousness and enigmatic personality. She has been tagged as “the perfect model” by Anaita Shroff Adjania, the Fashion Director of Vogue India and Atul Kasbekar said about her-”one of the finest models we have produced in this country”. At 32, Ujjwala is at the peak of her career and plans on seizing the runway for a couple more years.
Not satisfied with a dynamic and hugely successful career in India, Ujjwala decided to move to Paris and then later New York to try her luck there. After a few years of struggle her breakthrough finally came along and soon she was walking for world renowned designers such as Roberto Cavalli, Diane von Furstenburg, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Victoria’s Secret, Cynthia Rowley, Tom Ford, Manuel Angaro, Angelo Tarazzi, Paco Rabanne, Claude Montana and Chanel among many others. She was also seen in the campaign for the cosmetic brand, Yves Saint-Laurent and stated that “it was huge deal for an Asian face to represent a cosmetic brand abroad” and that “it never happened in the past” especially since racism has always had a huge part to play almost everywhere. She has appeared in the covers of several magazines such as Vogue, Marie Claire, Harpar’s Bazaar etc. Today, Ujjwala has a highly coveted portfolio and is a dream model of almost every designer.
On top of a successful runway profession, she has done prints, editorials and campaigns as well. Ujjwala says that she knew she was bad, the knowledge of which was extremely important for her improvement. What makes her unique according to Anaita Shroff Adjania is that she uses her length extremely well and to her best advantage, coupled with a strong work ethic which makes her the best. Her well-wishers in the industry have only praises for her claiming that she can pull off almost anything with her universal and highly adaptable nature.
In her personal life, Ujjwala married Craig Maxwell Sterry, a fashion model-turned-entrepreneur in the summer of 2004 in a quick ceremony in New York which was graced by stars like Iman and her singer husband, David Bowie and close model friends. She had a daughter soon after in 2005, Ksha. However, distance killed the match made in heaven when Sterry and Raut’s profession’s took them to different locations and in 2009 both the parties filed for a divorce following an ugly and a very public fight in Goa. Ujjwala has moved back to Mumbai with her daughter and is working from here now.
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