Just before Christmas, while most of you were buying bath sets for your Gran, I was in Shanghai. I’ve never been to China before and given the brevity of my trip - 72 hours, give or take - will probably need a refresher at some stage, but no matter. The real reason I was in China was to observe the Elite Model Look Competition 2012.
The EML is an annual model competition to find the face of 2012. It's a bit like America's Next Top Model except IRL, and with an added emphasis on finding international faces. Elite have a real knack for this and tend to predict model trends for the forthcoming seasons which probably explains why, in 1994, they scouted a fourteen year old Brazilian called Gisele in McDonalds although I’ve idea what happened to her though after that.
Lined up backstage before a practice catwalk. Romania is at the centre.
Having picked 62 winners from around the world, the judges whittle these finalists down to 15 and then 3,2 and 1. At this stage, I should probably point out that I was a judge. I’m glad I didn’t know I was going to be judging until a few hours before because truth be told, the whole process got a bit Sophie’s Choice. Judging by my choices, it turns out I had real foresight though.
My judging pass.
Until last December, no one knew much about this 'whittling down' process except that they refer to it as a 'two-week bootcamp' in which they teach the girls, from 14-22, how to walk, talk, stand, smile and eat. This is quite a feat when you think it's taken me 29 years to do all of the above and I still can't wear heels. There is also a lot of chatter about liquorice tea and fish oil from well-meaning experts, although the reality of the canteen involved a lot of Nutella and pasta. Still, looking at them, if it ain't broke... (Seriously, though, look at them).
Cheese pasta and a ham panini - lunch backstage before the dress rehearsal
Learning to walk posed the biggest challenge to the girls. Many of the girls had never even worn heels before. I saw a lot of plasters exchange hands. You could have fooled me.
Learning to walk. L-R: Canada, India, UK, Zimbabwe and Switzerland
The real highlight, of course, was meeting the models themselves. Judging from my experience as a teenager, I was expecting a lot of catfights and bitching. There was none, although I did witness a pretty savage food fight backstage involving some macaroni cheese and some empty water bottles moments after this picture was taken.
Pre food-fight, backstage. L-R: Italy, Moldova, Canada, Indonesia and Denmark
Like a bad parent, I did have favourites though. Fadzai from Zimbabwe lived for the banter and Lauren from Australia laughed at my jokes. But Carson from the U.S. was pretty much my number one because a. she took the longest to walk in heels and yet managed to not fall over, and b. like me, she is a Belieber..
USA and Canada at the hotel before bedtime
Seriously, zero bitching.
Belgium and Holland after their second walk
Sadly none of them made the top 3 which was a shame, until you saw the top 3 at which point it all made sense. Marilhea, second left, from France won. N.B. it was actually a top 4 because the standard was that high.
The winners. L-R Romania, France, Switzerland and Chile.
The other news is that I did squeeze in a bit of sightseeing. While waiting for the organisers to de-polish the catwalk (oh the drama, seriously. Read more about this in the current issue of Grazia), I went for a walk. My excursion didn’t go very well. In two hours I covered four blocks and got lost (there’s no English signage). I also lost my umbrella and left my address in a taxi (you have to write them down because few locals speak English, let alone my incoherent version of). I also ended up buying four sweet tofu Char Siu Baos from a 7/11 because I was that hungry. It wasn’t until I’d eaten three that I realised they were pork. On that day, my overriding impression of Shanghai was that it's massive, damp and due to the pollution, the sky flits between creamy and concrete-y. But at night it’s just about the prettiest city I’ve ever seen, especially when you’re looking at it from a Ferrari.
Plus, they love Grazia. Props, China.
twitter.com/morwennastar
Via: Pasta, Blisters And Justin Bieber? Behind The Scenes At The Elite Model Bootcamp!
