Beauties match faces in contest

By JACK WHEAT

July 11, 2000 Web posted at: 12:58 PM EDT (1658 GMT)

MIAMI BEACH, Florida (Miami Herald) -- At least for this week, Miami Beach is the cusp of international high-fashion modeling careers, as 26 willowy young women compete in the Elite Model Look National Finals.

They're the creme de la creme of the nation's freshest modeling talent, winnowed from 40,000 aspirants in contests around the country earlier this year, all hoping and believing the contest will do for them what it did for Cindy Crawford a generation ago, and the more current Brazilian modeling wonder Gisele.

The success of Elite models -- and supermodels' status as pop culture icons in the 1980s and early '90s -- has made the Elite Model Look National Finals famous in its own right. The event premiered in 1983, and until this year were always held in New York.

``This is kind of a dry run for us,'' said Erin Lundgren, director of the search. The organization is considering moving its international final competition from Europe to Miami Beach, she said.

	More from Miami Herald
	S. Florida knows who is on the phone

Festivities began with makeovers of the 26 contestants -- ages 14 to 24 -- at Stella salon in Miami Beach. For most, it was a little snipping, light coloring and styling, said owner Johanna Stella.

``They're young girls. The look has to be very natural. If you're 15 and beautiful, how much do you need?''

But Genevie Taylor didn't blink when a stylist and Elite agents prescribed a radical chop of the long tresses she'd been wearing all her life.

``I didn't have to,'' Taylor said. ``They know what's best for my career. If they said it needs to be short, it probably needs to be short -- you know?''

For Taylor, 18, the Elite Model Look contest is a modern Cinderella story that has swept her from Arkansas obscurity to the brink of fame and fortune.

If she wins Wednesday night's contest at the Eden Roc Resort, she'll compete for almost $1 million in the Elite international modeling competition in Geneva, Switzerland, in September.

The U.S. finals will be at the Eden Roc at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are $15 each, with proceeds benefiting the TJ Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research. Tickets are being sold through Ticketmaster.

No matter how Taylor does Wednesday, she -- like all 26 contestants -- has a two-year contract with Elite, the world's largest modeling agency. That means she can dream of lucrative gigs such as modeling for catalogues for firms like Victoria's Secret, or campaigns for the GAP and Banana Republic.

None of that seemed in the realm of possibility four months ago, Taylor said. She was a senior in her high school in Fayetteville, Ark.

``I figured I'd go to college, maybe be a teacher, get married -- something like that.''

But in April, after a few weeks of modeling classes taken at her parents' insistence, she entered an Elite Model Look 2000 contest in Dallas.

She won her Elite contract and her slot in the national finals.

Bianca Pardini, 15, was leaving a swim meet when she heard about the Fremont, Calif., Elite contest 30 minutes before it started. ``I'd never modeled before,'' she said. ``I took a five-minute shower and ran over there with totally wet hair. I was doing it just for fun.''

Her friends had been urging her to become a model, ``because I'm so tall,'' she said.

Height is essential, Lundgren said. ``Designers want their clothes to essentially be on a hanger and drape.''

The contestants are as young as 14 because the industry demands youth and it usually takes time to establish a career, Lundgren said.

Six years elapsed between Elite's discovery of Cindy Crawford in the early 1980s and her overwhelming presence in the media, Lundgren said.

``We always encourage them to finish school and go to college,'' Lundgren said. ``You never can tell about a modeling career. You can make a good living modeling, but you never can tell with a modeling career. It's not going to last forever.''

For more Local news, myCNN.com will bring you news from the areas and subjects you select.

AL, Birmingham, WBMA AL, Huntsville, WAAY FL, Orlando, WKMG FL, Tallahassee, WTXL FL, Tampa, Bay News 9 FL, Tampa, WFLA FL, Fort Myers/Naples, WINK FL, Jacksonville, WJXT FL, Miami, WPLG FL, Miami, WSVN GA, Atlanta, WGCL GA, Augusta, WJBF   GA, Augusta, WRDW GA, Columbus, WTVM GA, Macon, WGXA GA, Savannah, WSAV GA, Savannah, WTOC KY, Louisville, WHAS LA, New Orleans, WGNO LA, New Orleans, WWL MS, Columbus, WCBI NC, Charlotte, WBTV NC, Charlotte, WCCB   NC, Raleigh-Durham, WLFL SC, Charleston, WCIV SC, Charleston, WCSC SC, Columbia, WOLO SC, Greenville, WHNS SC, Myrtle Beach, WBTW TN, Chattanooga, WDEF TN, Chattanooga, WDSI TN, Knoxville, WATE TN, Nashville, WTVF VA, Norfolk, WTKR VA, Roanoke, WSLS