Aishwarya Rai was born into an ethnic Bunt family in Mangalore, Karnataka. One of her earliest modeling assignments was when she was in the ninth grade, for Camlin Pencils. One of her professors at Jai Hind College took pictures of her which were published in a fashion magazine. In 1991 Rai took part in the Ford Supermodel Contest and also appeared in Vogue Magazine. She has been on the cover of Vogue three times. Katrina Kaif began her modeling career at age fourteen; her first assignment was for a jewelry campaign. She continued modeling in London under a contract with the Models 1 Agency and did campaigns for houses such as La Senza and Arcadius, and even walked on the London Fashion Week runway. Kareena Kapoor has relatively no modeling history, but In August 2007, she replaced actress Soha Ali Khan, when she was hired as the brand ambassador for the clothing chain Globus on a two-year contract.
Aishwarya Rai and her family moved to Mumbai, where she attended the Arya Vidya Mandir High School. She did her intermediate schooling at Jai Hind College for a year, and then joined DG Ruparel College in Matunga, securing 90 percent in the HSC exams. She became popular after appearing in a Pepsi commercial with actor Aamir Khan. She modelled for Longines watches, Lakme Cosmetics, Casio pager, Philips, Palmolive, Lux, and Fuji films. She continued to model while pursuing her studies in architecture. She was named the official brand ambassador for De Beers diamonds in India. As for Katrina Kaif, her modeling work led to her discovery by London-based filmmaker Kaizad Gustad, who gave her a part in his film Boom. The film, which starred Amitabh Bachchan and Gulshan Grover, failed to make an impact. She then moved to Mumbai and was offered a number of modeling assignments. Several months after signing with Globus, Kareena Kapoor announced that she would be launching her own line of clothing, thus becoming the first Indian actress to do so, but she never modeled.
In the 1994 Miss India contest, Aishwarya Rai won second place, behind Sushmita Sen, and was crowned Miss India World. She went on to win the Miss World title the same year, where she also won the Miss Photogenic award. After winning the pageant, she gave up her studies and spent one year reigning as Miss World in London. She continued to pursue a career as a model until she became an actress. Katrina Kaif gave up modeling and became a full time actress, even though film makers were hesitant to cast her due to her poor command of Hindi. Following the end of her contract with Globus, Kareena Kapoor expressed her desire of working with an international design house to release her clothing line internationally; she later explained that her plans had to be put on hold due to prior commitments.
Obviously, Aishwarya Rai seems to outshine the other actresses in the modeling aspect. But look at the peculiarity of Katrina Kaif and her journey along that path. Kareena Kapoor proved herself to be more than the runway and flash lights associated with modeling, she chose to run her own clothing line and become a style entrepreneur.