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The Elite Model Look 2003 kicked-off July 16th here in Miami Beach and finished-up last Saturday night in a lush outdoor setting at the ocean-front Palms South Beach Hotel, where three finalists were chosen to advance to Elite's World Finals to be held this fall. Only thirty girls out of more than 400,000 hopefuls who had previously been discovered in cities from Marion, Indiana and Clarksville, Tennessee to Bridgeport, West Virginia and Puyallup, Washington were chosen to compete in this USA Finals event. The contestant's schedule during their three days at the Palms South Beach hotel in Miami Beach was a whirlwind of activity beginning with a group dinner at Nicola Siervo's Metro Kitchen at the Astor hotel where the girls got to know each other and were also exposed to a little South Beach glamour, as Taye Diggs plus a few cast members from "That Seventies Show" were dining just a few feet away.
Then it was on to the business of meeting with top magazine editors and international talent scouts, attending yoga classes, runway rehearsals, photo shoots, fittings with designer Liz Collins, and completing a professional beauty makeover at Stella Salon in South Beach. A busy schedule indeed. Since its creation in 1983, the Elite Model Look search has become the international standard for discovering the most beautiful new faces in the world, faces that will go on to grace the covers of the world's most prestigious fashion magazines and film productions. Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Linda Evangalista, Gisele Bündchen and many more of the world's top models all began their careers with the Elite Model Look contest.
Hosting Saturday night's runway show and contest finale was Ashley Scott, also a former Model Look contestant. Ashley was the star of The WB's Birds of Prey series where she played Helena Kyle (and her alter-ego, Huntress) the beautiful daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle, better known as Batman and Catwoman. Ashley also recently completed filming on Trespassing, a sci-fi thriller that stars Estella Warren. Ashley's latest film, due out in August of 2003 is S.W.A.T. starring Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell. Girls get started in the Elite Model Look competition by attending one of the many Elite Model events held across America and in fifty countries around the world. Girls unable attend one of these numerous events may also enter the competition by following a mail-in procedure that sets out the exact standards for the four photos required for entry. Professional photos are not required, and are actually discouraged, in that talent scouts are looking to determine a girl's natural beauty, not the beauty created by photographers and make-up artists.
Girls who follow the mail-in procedure stand just as much chance of being selected for final competition as other girls, and as a matter of fact, one of the contestants in Saturday night's Miami Beach USA finals—Sarah Beth Cooley—was a mail-in winner.
The Elite organization assembles a top team of judges that are at the forefront of today's fashion world, from magazine booking editors and model editors, to its own talent scouts. Such people will have a hand in defining the coming styles and trends, and they know implicitly what look will be required to convey those trends to the world. Judging this year's Finals competition were a team of eleven fashion industry and magazine publishing professionals, including:
Contestants competing in the USA Finals in Miami Beach represent a cross-section of the entire country. Below is a list of all contestants and the location of their initial win:
Winners of the USA Finals competition will advance to Elite's Model Look International Finals to be held this fall, and of the sixty girls who will attend the International event, over half will join the Elite network directly, with 15 girls receiving a two-year modeling contract. Congratulations to the trio of beauties winning this years Miami Beach USA Finals: Emily Vaneck, Stacy Lobb and Shayla Rosenthall.
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While three
"winners" were chosen during the USA Finals to advance to
the World Finals competition this fall, all of the girls participating
in the event benefit immensely from the experience. This unique
event provides girls with valuable exposure to international model
scouts, photographers and fashion industry VIPs. The
training and experience they receive in a celebrity-packed runway
show setting provides a priceless jumpstart for their modeling careers.
