Eyes On The Stars
For all the dreamers out there, for all the starlets and sweater girls who ever heard the tale of Lana Turner plucked one day from a drugstore counter and immortalized the next on celluloid, it was the event of the season.
About 140 model hopefuls and several hundred onlookers gathered Wednesday night in Center Court at Topanga Plaza for the West Coast opening of Elite Model’s nationwide talent search.
Malisa Young, 22, came early--way early--to beat the crowds before the 6 p.m. event.
“I was here at 4 p.m.,” said Young, a single mother of a 2-year-old. With wide-set eyes and an abundance of thin braids framing her face (people tell her she looks like actress/singer Brandy), Young said it couldn’t hurt to audition.
Her chances were slimmer than a runway model.
Last year, more than half a million girls entered just the United States portion of the international contest. Ten were chosen.
Or to put it another way: In 1983, Cindy Crawford was a contestant. She lost.
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This was news to Heather Summers, 19, who was pacing back and forth at the perimeter of the crowd.
“I feel stupid,” said Summers, who has corn-colored hair and delicate features.
Nerves had set in. So Cindy Crawford got beat? That was heartening.
“I guess that means I have a chance,” said Summers.
A buzz arose near the makeshift runway, framed on one side by the Laser Rejuvenation Institute and on the other by Godiva Chocolates. Roshumba Williams had arrived. With short cropped hair, deep brown skin and two swaths of leopard print spandex as cover, she couldn’t help but be noticed by the crowd.
“You’ve got to give it up,” confided supermodel Williams, noticing the crowd’s attention to her exotic looks.
She expertly fixed her lipstick.
“If you’ve got it,” Williams declared, “You’ve got to do it.”
Williams, who has appeared in a swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated, among many other magazines, was one of the judges for the event. “I’m able to know from looking at the girls if they have a certain quality,” she said.
But at least some of the qualities a woman must have to make it as a supermodel are more easily defined.
If you are under 5 feet, 7 inches tall, if any part of your body is “out of proportion,” if your skin isn’t clear, if you are too far out of your teens, you can forget it.
Or at least you can forget about what most people think of as modeling--the world of one-word names and multimillion-dollar contracts.
“Most young women aspire to be models,” said Elite’s Cathy Young, who flew in from New York to run the show.
“You don’t always look for the prettiest face.” The two winners from Wednesday night’s event will go on to the regional contest.
Eventually, the American winners, culled from mall contests in 75 cities, will be up against candidates from 50 other countries in France in the fall.
Of course, not all modeling is done in exotic locales with armies of stylists at beck and call. There are many models who make a living by posing for catalogs and advertisements.
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But a girl who dreams might as well dream big.
In 3 1/2-inch heels, Kara Burns is 6-foot-1.
She’s already been to an agency that wanted her to pay $2,500 for model training. She wasn’t about to do that, but she figured it would be fun to come out to the mall.
She and her mother traveled an hour from Acton to be there.
“It’s always been my dream to model,” said Kara, 16. “I want to have fun, but I’d also like to get something out of it.”
On the catwalk, the contestants walked to thumping techno music, aping what they’d seen on television, placing one foot in front of the other, swinging their hips. The crowd was enthusiastic. Mark Kubes, 28, stood at the back, clapping for each contestant.
“I know it takes lot of guts to get up there in front of a crowd,” he said.
Next to him, Will Claytor, 28, clapped too, but his thoughts were not of bravery.
“I’ve seen three I think can model and another 25 I’d take for myself,” said Claytor.
At the end of the evening, the judges selected two finalists to compete in the regional competition to be held in June at the Beverly Hills Hard Rock Cafe: Stephanie Rips, 14, and Helena Brook Leyanza, 18.
