Subiksha Shivakumar is rewriting what it means to be a modern model

Before I met Subiksha Shivakumar for our conversation over a Zoom call, my honest (yet limited) impression was that I was interviewing another fashion model. However, what struck me as soon as we started chatting was that she couldn’t be boxed by a professional tag. Shivakumar’s list of occupations spans many realms—content creation, acting, makeup artistry, dancing, styling, creative direction, and of course, modelling. When asked how she would define herself, she finally admits to a title: “A multidisciplinary creative”. As she trails off, she hurriedly adds, “And yes, I also have a food business.

Interestingly, when asked about her personal style, the 26-year-old immediately draws parallels with a medley of flavours, citing Aacharam, the Vellore and Mumbai-based family food business run alongside her mother Aarthi Murali, and sister, Akshara, who is also a model. Think an innovative reimagination of traditional Tamilian recipes, such as the brand’s ‘Modak in the Wild’, a truffle-oil mushroom modak, mixed with a savoury sesame podi. “Just that dish alone is an example of my personal style,” says the Mumbai-based creative, who has appeared in campaigns for the likes of Indian couturiers Anamika Khanna and Amit Aggarwal, luxury lifestyle brand Good Earth India, and for Levi’s India in her early modelling days, alongside actor Deepika Padukone.

This personal style is splashed across her Instagram, but discovering it wasn’t easy. Post her bachelor’s from National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru, Shivakumar started booking gigs that were very commercial and “catalogue-esque,” like many other youngsters in the industry. At a time when dusky-skinned girls were mostly thought of as “lehenga models”, the threat of being typecast was a reality. But it was the onset of the lockdown which made her stumble upon content creation: “I always wanted to do something more. And that’s why I started doing makeup as I wanted to be seen.” The modelling agency that signed her couldn’t understand this. “Honestly, it wasn’t just my agency,” she adds—“The world didn’t see me (in the way I wanted to be seen).” 

Owning her story 

It was her break as the lead opposite singer-rapper Honey Singh in his music video 'Melody Roja' (2022) that put her in the spotlight, although the first-ever gig she booked after landing in Mumbai was with couturier Manish Malhotra in 2020. “I had just popped into Bombay. I didn’t have a portfolio, so I showed him my Instagram,” she shares. On the day of the shoot, Malhotra asked her “to recreate one of my (her) own makeup looks for the campaign, which was absolutely insane!” Ever since, Shivakumar has accumulated a long roster of designers and brands she has worked with, including Tarun Tahiliani, Bloni Atelier, Siddartha Tytler, Kalki Fashion, and Deme by Gabriella.

With modelling agencies, Shivakumar suffered from high commissioning fee cuts, opaque payment structures, and frequent body shaming. Today, she plays it out differently. When a beauty brand asked her to edit out her dark circles, she refused: “My eye bags have this little indentation that my grandmother used to have. It’s genetic, and you’re telling me that my lineage needs to be Facetuned? You’re telling me to erase my identity. That’s not okay.” Shivakumar and her two siblings were raised by a single mother, who left the US some 13 years ago and moved to India. That’s a lineage she is very proud of.

Quick bites

An expletive often used among your siblings:

L**su, a Tamil word that loosely translates to “the bolts in your brain are loose.” 

Last saved item on Pinterest/ Instagram: 

FKA Twigs’ makeup looks. She is an icon; she doesn’t care what people think at all. 

A beauty hack you swear by:

I am really into pink under-eyes these days. I love to go with the concealer on top of the corrector rather than underneath. 

Products I love: 

Huda Beauty’s #FAUXFILTER Under Eye Color Corrector (Cherry Blossom), Easy Bake Loose Baking & Setting Powder, and M.A.C Cosmetics’ Studio Fix Conceal and Correct Palette. 

What would you like to manifest in the pages of Cosmopolitan India? 

I would love to be on the same runway as Alex Consani, or even breathe the same air as her. I’d love to have Aacharam in every store, and maybe launch a makeup brand with designer bindis.

Who's the model? 

Even when she’s on set, she is constantly creating BTS content— considering the lines between a model and an influencer are often blurred with Instagram following playing a role in landing gigs. Having an online audience also brings unspoken expectations, but the boundaries need to be strengthened. “If it were an influencer, they’d be paid for a Reel, but since I am onboarded as a model, the Reel almost becomes an expectation,” Shivakumar says. Instead of a modelling agency, she is now associated with one that represents content creators. Meanwhile, her experiments with makeup have landed her a number of paid partnerships and ads, including with brands like YSL Beauty, H&M Beauty, Tira Beauty, Nykaa, Lakmé, Maybelline, and Indē Wild. In 2024, Shivakumar was also nominated for Cosmopolitan India’s Beauty Influencer of the Year (Editor’s Choice) at the Blogger Awards. 

While the online audience helps build her profile, the flip side is that she is frequently booked because brands like her ‘personal aesthetic’. She ruefully admits, “They don’t need to stick to what they see on my Instagram feed!” And, as marketing KPIs arrive, so does the tendency to hire influencers for campaigns, assuming her face will garner an audience. However, she points out that hiring a talent just because they have a following is counterintuitive: “They’ll give you the audience you want but not that (hard-core fashion) imagery you’re looking for.” 

Interestingly, Shivakumar’s first editorial cover was with Cosmopolitan India in 2021. Sporting blue eyeshadow, a glossy lip, a silver dress by Bloni Atelier, and slightly ruffled hair, she appeared soft, almost ingénue-like. And now? She doesn’t only deliver the right JPEGs, she serves like a model and more.

This article first appeared in Cosmopolitan India's November-December 2025 print edition.

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