Each year model Ashley Radjarame returns to her hometown of Puducherry to spend a holiday with her family. Until this Vogue India 15th anniversary cover story, the Parisian, born in Îlede-France in 1999, has never knowingly stepped into clothes made by Indian designers.

Which fashion looks styled by Megha Kapoor for ‘No Place Like Home’ are Radjarame’s favorites from a rack of Rahul Mishra, Falguni Shane Peacock, Bloni and Huemn? Vogue’s Alanksha Kamath narrates a beautiful and information-rich journey into Radjarame’s family history.

The answer to the model’s favorite designer look appears above and on the cover of Vogue India’s 15th birthday celebration, and it’s a tiered Amit Aggarwal A-line gown with flowers affixed to its front, to match the grapevine-plaited hair of three women passing by at a local bus station.

“This dress was so pretty; big and colourful, it really represents India to the T,” the Indian beauty says of the couture confection. “I don’t know enough about Indian fashion, but I am here to learn,” she reveals candidly.

Ashley Radjarame is photographed by Nick Sethi [IG]./ Hair and makeup by Kritika Gill

Radjarame speaks of the global mix of culture in Paris, including the intersection of Indian and African communities. In so many ways, she highlights not only the obvious contrast between Paris as a former colonial-power city now inhabited by diverse peoples.

Ashley’s background is so interesting because — to state the obvious — Britain, not France, colonized India. Wait, not so fast, Anne. Inquiring minds want to know.

Puducherry, original name Putucceri, formerly (until 2006) Pondicherry, also spelled Pondichéry, union territory of India was formed in 1962 out of the four former colonies of French India. The French East India Company, established in 1666 established a settlement in 1668 at Surat and another in 1674 at Pondicherry. As informed as I try to be, this may be the first moment I know about a significant French presence in what we know as India — compared to forgetting the fact. Amazing! Read on at Brittanica.

The model’s grandfather — father to Radjarame’s mother, Raji — was enrolled in the French military service and she inherited his citizenship, when the entire family migrated to the outskirts of Paris. Now I understand the French connection.

Inhabiting two cultures at once means a life of two unique identities—neither a glove-like fit—but both with the promise of home. “Even now, 80 per cent of the food cooked at home is Indian: biryani for lunch and chai on Sundays, while French food is served when there isn’t enough time to put something together,” she says. Memory, as it tends to, serves a subjective view of Radjarame’s past as a teenager. She remembers being bullied in the way that a foreign land often rejects an unwanted transplant. “There is a huge African community in France that loves our culture, but their reference is always Bollywood and Shah Rukh Khan. And while I’m really appreciative that they love our country and know about it, what happens if my reference does not match theirs? What if I don’t watch Bollywood movies and Hindi is not the language I speak?”

Clearly, the entirety of the Vogue India 15th anniversary, October 2022 cover story became an emotional story for model Ashley Radjarame and her family. We think of fashion as frivolity — although it’s much too steeped in identity to treat it so casually.

Ashley and her mother both burst into tears at the end of Nick Sethi’s fashion shoot. “In most shoots, you only care about what you look like and what the outfit looks like, but during this shoot it was also about being photographed in Puducherry —where I’m from, where my grandfather is from and where my family was born. It made me so proud,” she says of her emotional state post-shoot.