Searching for SA's Gisele Bündchen

17 October 2013 - 03:12 By ANDREA NAGEL
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Brazilian top model Gisele Bundchen.
Brazilian top model Gisele Bundchen.
Image: Thiago TEIXEIRA

Melrose Arch is the place to be for babe-watching this weekend when Elite Model Look, the world's biggest international modelling contest, arrives in Johannesburg.

The show at Melrose Arch will end the national search to find South Africa's next top international model.

Elite Model Look SA has already toured Cape Town and Durban to find the woman who has what it takes to grace the covers of top glossies and sashay down international catwalks.

The criteria for entry are strict. According to one of the judges, Sandra Teixeira, of Da Banda Model Management, entrants must be between 16 and 22, be at least 174cm tall, have photogenic qualities, natural beauty and the right personality .

''Personality is very important because it's the defining factor when the winner represents South Africa in China at the final at the end of next month.

''If we like a girl - she must have a good complexion, a good body and a special presence - then we ask her to change into a bikini.

"The next step is to compare a series of pictures of the girls."

Ten girls will be chosen to take part in a training week before they compete against each other in the final at Sandton Convention Centre at the end of the month.

The winner will have the opportunity to take part in the world final, which brings together 60 girls from 800 cities on five continents.

She will receive a three-year contract with the Elite agency, which has made beauties such as Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Gisele Bündchen, Sigrid Agren and Constance Jablonski world famous.

For the first time Elite Model Look, now in its 30th year, is offering local girls the opportunity to achieve their dreams and to follow in the footsteps of the most beautiful women in the world.

The Johannesburg casting is on October 18 and 19 at Melrose Arch from 10am to 6pm.

Women can register on the day. They must wear heels and figure-hugging clothes.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now