The person who took India to the world map of fashion and who, through her writings, taught us how to look at fashion and glamour
There are some lives that do not merely pass through history but quietly, decisively reshape it. Meher Castelino’s life did exactly that—cutting a new silhouette for Indian fashion journalism and wearing it with effortless authority.
With deep sorrow, the worlds of journalism, fashion and glamour mark the passing of Meher Castelino, senior journalist and cherished fashion-watcher, who died on December 16, 2025, aged 81. To describe her as a pioneer is correct; to leave it there would be an injustice.
Crowned Femina Miss India in 1964, Meher could have chosen an easier path paved with appearances and applause. Instead, she chose substance. When her first article appeared in Eve’s Weekly in 1973, it signalled the beginning of a career that would go on to define how India read, understood and respected fashion.
Over a lifetime devoted to writing, Meher became a full-time fashion journalist and syndicated columnist, publishing in nearly 160 national and international publications… a body of work as prolific as it was influential. She did not merely report trends; she chronicled movements, decoded glamour, and placed Indian readers in conversation with the global fashion world long before “front row access” became a marketing phrase.
Her work took her across Germany, France, Italy, the US, South Africa, Turkey, the Netherlands and Singapore, attending haute couture shows, interviewing designers and bringing international perspectives home with clarity and grace. From 2006 onwards, she served as the official fashion writer for Lakmé Fashion Week, documenting its journey with rare continuity, insight and institutional memory.
Meher was also a meticulous chronicler of India’s glamour ecosystem. Through her long-running weekly column in Mid-Day, she followed the Miss India pageants closely through the 1990s, capturing a transformative era for the industry. When the world went on to discover Aishwarya Rai, it was Meher who saw it early—writing about her extensively and naming her the Sunday Mid-Day Face of 1994, long before global coronations followed.
On a personal level, even those who lost touch with Meher over the years recall the quiet sense of unfinished conversations and future collaborations. There were occasional texts, the last exchanged with this writer was as recently as July this year when we shared with the 2025 anniversary issue of Seniors Today.
Those deeply invested in fashion journalism will also remember her rare and generous decision to digitise her vast body of work, at considerable personal time and expense. It was an act of foresight and selflessness, ensuring that her writing would remain accessible to future generations. A gift to the profession she so deeply believed in.
For all her accomplishments, what colleagues remember most is her warmth, her generosity of spirit, and her profound respect for the written word. She believed fashion mattered because culture mattered—and she treated both with seriousness and care.
Meher Castelino is survived by her son Karl, daughter-in-law Nisha and her daughter Christina.
The worlds of fashion, glamour and fashion journalism have lost one of their most perceptive witnesses. India has lost not just a journalist, but an archive, a compass, and a quietly formidable voice.
