Anyone who keeps up with the fashion industry in Nepal must be familiar with Aastha Pokharel. With a decade-long career, she is considered a royalty in the fashion scene. While Pokharel started her career as a model, she is now one of the most sought-after runway choreographers. Most recently, she choreographed the three-day runway for TGIF Nepal Fashion Week 2022.

“Modeling was considered a capricious job in Nepal when I first started. Now, it has evolved into a reliable career,” says model and choreographer Aastha Pokharel. And indeed it has. The modelling industry has gone through quite an evolution since Pokharel came into the scene 11 years ago.

It was Pokharel’s mother who encouraged her to try out modelling. 18-year-old Pokharel had just completed her nursing training. Since is quite tall, her mother thought Pokhrel would do well in the field. She also wanted the shy, introverted Pokharel to try out different things to push her out of her comfort zone. That is what pushed Pokharel to do her first modelling gig, a Christmas runway event.

Though a little sceptical at first because of how unsustainable the career of a model seemed at the time, Pokharel continued modelling and look where it has brought her! She is one of the few models in Nepal who can proudly wear the title of ‘supermodel’. “At first, I simply tried modelling out of curiosity, but after some time I realised that this is exactly where I belong,” says Pokharel.

Throughout the years, Pokharel has accumulated a long list of achievements. She won Supermodel Nepal 2013, came in fifth on the first season of Asia’s Next Top Model, won NDTV Good Times Kingfisher Supermodels 2, finished off as the third runner-up at Miss Nepal 2014 and was nominated as one of the ‘Most Desirable Women of 2014’ by India Times.

“I think a major reason I continued in this field was because of these achievements and rewards,” says Pokharel adding that appearing in all these shows and competitions made her a household name in Nepal. People recognising her as she went about her everyday life motivated her to keep working hard and push herself to do the best job she could in all of her projects.

“Fame and success don’t last long in this industry. It’s the quality of your work and your work ethic that makes you stand out,” claims Pokharel adding that she would advise all young models to always give their 100 percent on all their projects.

Many youths nowadays want to get into the modelling industry, and Pokharel takes it positively. “If you want to model, try it out. It’s a good field to explore,” says Pokharel adding that most modelling newcomers see it as a stepping stone into the fashion industry. A lot of them go on to become choreographers, stylists, actors and fashion designers. She states that if you want a career in fashion or are inclined towards the fashion industry, modelling is a great start for it.

Talking about her latest project, Pokharel states that organising the TGIF Nepal Fashion Week was difficult for everyone involved. Especially because the event came back after a four year hiatus. “It was difficult to do TGIF fashion Week 2022, and we faced a lot of challenges, but since we were driven to see it through, we worked very hard to manage everything,” explains Pokharel.

A big reason Pokharel was very excited to work on TGIF Nepal Fashion Week was to showcase Nepali clothing brands. She states that she wants people to appreciate made-in-Nepal clothes more as there are a lot of Nepali brands that make good quality and stylish clothing. This is also a reason why she wants to work with more brands to organise big fashion runways and events in the future.

Pokharel has a lot of projects lined-up for 2023. One of these is a modelling workshop she is organising herself.

When asked what she enjoys more: modelling or choreographing, Pokharel states, “I enjoy doing both, but if I had to pick one I’d go for choreographing because I feel like I haven’t explored it as much as modelling. Also, as age really matters in the modelling world, I am thinking about transitioning into things other than modelling.”