Yolande Gyles, Staff Reporter
THIS MONTH alone, Nadine Willis will be featured in pictorials of some 15 international magazines.
Meanwhile, the United States (U.S.)-based Glamour magazine, long known as 'The Beauty Bible', will publish a story on her meteoric rise in the fashion industry. She has already received similar attention in this month's issue of Touch, Europe's leading urban magazine. At the same time she will be the lead model for an international campaign for Gucci the first for any black model.
All this in under six months of entering the cut-throat world of the international fashion industry. However, the accolades and the 'hype' surrounding Willis' success do not stop there. She is currently ranked at number 26 in the modelling world, according to Models.com.
To top it off, the New York Post has heralded her as the new Naomi Campbell.
All this for a young woman who started out in 2003 as an exotic dancer with the Club Gemini on Half-Way Tree Road, St. Andrew.
It is the possibility of Cinderella stories like Nadine's that keep the model wannabe's hopes alive. For most, the first stop is the model search.
Currently there are two popular sets of model searches in Jamaica. Both are put on by the country's two top agencies Pulse and Saint International (S.I). Last weekend S.I. had the finals of their 'CVM Saint International Faces of Summer Model Search'. Meanwhile, Pulse will end their model search next Sunday. Both received over 2,000 entries from both male and female model hopefuls.
However, do they really work?
According to SI. C.E.O Dewight Peters "Definitely, and we have the stories to prove it". Among those stories he refers to is the success of Randy Lynch, the first female 'Face of Summer' winner. Since copping the title three years ago, Lynch has gone on to become one of the very popular Jamaican faces in South Africa.
Then there is the 2001 winner, Canise Jackson. Earlier this year she became the 'black face of MAC cosmetics'.
On the Pulse side of things, successes are also being recorded. Last year's winner of the inaugural 'Caribbean Fashion Model' competition, 17-year-old Jhaunelle McKenzie, became the first black model to be signed with Women, one of the top modelling agencies in London, England. To top it off, she has also landed campaigns with the Gap and Nike, as well as the prestigious Perrelli Calendar.
What makes her story even more amazing is that she says she entered the model search competition because she wanted to kill time during the summer. "I was out of high school, wanted a summer job, but I didn't get one. A friend of mine saw the ad and told me to enter and I got the support of my friends and family," she said.
Romae Gordon, a winner of the Pulse Fashion model title several years ago, says that she entered because she saw it as a way to fulfil her dreams of world travelling. "Back when I entered the prize trip was to Paris. I always wanted to go there and I just kept focused and my eyes on that trip to France," she said.
The trip to France paid off, because not only did she pique the interests of bookers, fashion designers and photographers overseas, she also signed by the Elite Premier modelling agency in London.
Before Gordon there was also a string of other successes, most notably Kimberly Mais. Mais, a winner of the Jamaica Fashion Model title in 1988, became the first Caribbean model to be a bona fide hit in Tokyo, Japan; Paris, France; New York, Los Angeles in the U.S.; Barcelona, Spain and Milan, Italy.
Meanwhile, there have been success stories on the male side of the fence as well. Hans Dreyer, a product of the Faces of Summer competition, has landed a campaign with popular clothing brand Enyce, while last year's winner, Marlando Vassell, has already done an international campaign for telephone giant Motorola.
His counterpart in the Pulse competition, the 'Male Face of Jamaica', Serchen Morris, shot editorials for Touch and V. In Touch, he and fellow Pulse models Willis and McKenzie were identified as the new black fashion icons. He was shot by the celebrated photographer Mario Testino within a week of starting his international career this June in London.
Morris says he was cajoled into entering the competition. "A friend of mine said to me 'I think you should enter this ting'. At first I was kind of like no, but after it was said to me a few times I said OK. I had a summer to kill, so I did it," he said.
However, not everyone who has entered a model search has walked away smiling. One young lady, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says: "I don't think searches work. Is just a way to have a cattle call, and the agency choose who dem like. But it don't work. It never work for me, and plenty others."
She continued by stating that she is also turned off from modelling since according to her 'It is too corrupt'. Her explanation of the 'corruption' is that the agencies only promote who they like and not necessarily who are best.
However, model searches are only successful if they manage to attract the right talent. Peters explains what physical qualities those are. "I mean, people tell girls all the time that you're tall and you're thin, you should be a model. But it's a lot more than that." He describes the ideal female model figure as being a bust of 34 inches, a waist of 24 inches and a hip of 24, with a height of 5ft. 9 inches or 5 ft. 10 inches. For men, it is a 40-inch regular jacket size and between 6ft to 6 ft. 2in. tall.
Peters is quick to point out that while these are the ideal measurements, they still are just guides. "You do have the different and the unusual who make it big," he said. However, most agencies still prefer the tried and true method.
Another factor that comes into the modelling world is age. "The best age for models is about 18," said Peters. "At that age, a model is finished with school and has developed and matured somewhat," he continued. Nonetheless, you do have 14-year-olds who enter these competitions. Romae Gordon of Pulse Models says that is not what the agencies look for. "We stress education. We stress finishing school first and afterwards then modelling is fine," she said.
Peters says that education is becoming an increasingly important factor in the fashion business. "Clients want models who can be spokespersons for their products. It is not just about the exterior package anymore," said the S.I boss.
However, being 'discovered' at the age of 14 does have its benefits. "A good age to discover models is 14 15. Then you get the time to work with them and teach them the craft of modelling. So, by the time they get to 18, they are just right," Peters said.
Once again, this makes Willis' story so amazing. She walked into the Pulse office at the age of 22 (that is near senility in the model industry) and made it big at 23.
How does she feel about the whole ride? "It's amazing, very amazing what I have achieved. I have been blessed by God," said Willis.
There are hundreds of other model hopefuls who wish to one day be able to utter those same words.
Yashmin Johnson, this year's male winner of the CVM Saint International Faces of Summer Model Search, has already said just that.
