Auditions for the upcoming Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week took place in New Delhi on Tuesday as aspiring models from across the country tuned up for their shot at instant success in the industry.

Regarded as one of Asia’s largest fashion trade events, the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week will be hosted jointly by the Fashion Design Council of India in 2010.

Wannabe models who walked the catwalk displaying what they had to offer were judged accordingly by a tough, and often cruel, judging panel, who weighed up the models’ overall personality, gait, presentation traits and ramp mannerisms, before giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

Aspiring model Meghna Kaushik said the addition of overseas models made it tough for the locals to get through, but was also happy to have a high level of competition.

“We do get a platform to sort of come up and present fresh faces but definitely the competition is really tough since we got now foreign faces also here. But we always hope for the best and give our best shots,” she said..

President of FDCI, Sunil Sethi, said that the event offers an opportunity for new faces to create a niche for themselves in the industry.

“We need a lot of new talents. Our industry is there to help people in every field. So here also we want to have a lot of new faces, which have not got the opportunity and FDCI has so many fashions, you know gala (events)… where almost 50 models take part each time and sometimes even more depending on the pool. So this gives an opportunity to the young girls as well who have not had this opportunity,” he said.

The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week will be held at the National Small Industries Corporation in New Delhi between March 24 and 28.