Embracing Sensuality: Gabriella Demetriades For Feministaa

Standing in 2019, how much India appreciates women who are confident, bold and happy in their own skin?

We asked Gabriella Demetriades, the brand owner of Deme about how India perceives bold beauties. Gabriella, the stunning South African beauty who acclaimed her Bollywood fame in 2014 with Sonali Cable, has been successfully running her brand Deme since 2012.

In an up-close Podcast interview with Feministaa, Gabriella shares her affirmation of being confident in your own skin, embracing sensuality, flaunting your body and how she identifies “being bold”.

“I think we have this misconception that showing skin is a negative thing. But I think if you are comfortable, you are happy with your body, you love your body and you are doing it in a tasteful way, it is sensual. The point is not to show your skin, the point is to have a beautiful cut of a garment and within that to show your skin.”

Gabriella, while successfully running Deme, hosts her original show “Twinning” in AXN.

According to the 32-year model, her motivation essentially comes from her focus. She says while her day is divided into many parts as she hustles between multitudes of roles of being a model, an actress, a businesswoman and many more, she believes in focussing into one thing at a time.

The 2009  “Miss IPL Bollywood” also keeps her fitness as a priority. For her, exercising is a daily ritual and she does not spend a day without it.

“Fitness for me is extremely important. It’s not just because of what the end goal is, it is more about my mental state, mental health.”

Beauty With Brains

Gabriella also voiced how she perceives the stereotype of being a successful businesswoman while being a gorgeous model.

It is one of the worst stereotypes if you connect how your face is biologically put together should have anything to do with how your brain works.

It’s very sad that it should be a misconception at all. To be very honest, I don’t get that very often, be it with the people I work with or the clients. I do often get how did you become a businesswoman from a model, how did it work. And the answer is very simple. You go through various stages of life and this one seemed the next progression for me.

Gabriella shared her secret behind making a mark in the fashion industry within a span of a couple of years. For her, a brand is so much more than just the clothes. For her, a brand reinforces an identity of who they are and defining what they are as a brand.

“It (fashion) is one of the toughest industries but at the age of tech, it is not that tough to start an industry. You have to be strong in what you feel about your brand. You can’t start a brand not knowing who they are, what they are. It’s not about creating garments, it’s also about establishing a brand.”

To all the millennials who aspire to work towards their dreams, Gabriella said,

We are in an age of options and there are so many things that we can do! You can be a model, actor, you can run a business and I think it is about finding your voice and what you are passionate about, something you can make it work. There are so many directions you can go to but if you can have self-control and focus on what you really want to do, you can do it.