SUNPOST – NIGHTLIFE – BY CUBBY- JULY 2002

Friday night Ingrid Casares who looks lovelier than ever these days, opens a new venture called PRIVE along with Michael Capponi. PRIVE, located in the Opium Garden complex under the ownership of the Milon brothers, held a sneak preview party last Friday night for the model crowd in town for the Elite Model Look 2002 contest.

SUNPOST – SECOND FRONT - TEENAGE MODELS INVADE SOUTH BEACH

By Jason Jeffers - JULY 2002

This past weekend, Miami Beach played host to the 2002 Elite Model Look USA competition. Every year for the past 19 years, Elite, one of the largest modeling agencies in the world, has staged a “model look competition” in one of its major markets such as Italy, Hungary, France and Sweden, in an effort to find fresh faces. (The age of the average contestant is 15.) Miami Beach is the scene for finalists within the continental United States. After winners in each country are picked, they go on to the Grand International Final, to be held this year in Tunisia.

Several of the world’s most famous models have been discovered through the competition, such as Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour and Gisele Bundchen, said Karen Lee, Elite’s director of North American Scouting. This year 38 contestants flew in from all over the country to take part in four days of primping and partying: a modeling boot camp of sorts.

Last Thursday, the girls filled Stella Salon. Regarded as one of the best salons on South Beach, Stella provided the girls with makeovers, readying them for the cat-walk. As they made their way from chair to chair, the girls admired each other’s new cuts, flipped through magazines and compared modeling experiences ranging from national advertising campaigns to fashion shows at their local mall.

On Friday morning, the girls converged in a conference room of the hotel to practice their runway walks. In charge of the session was runway coach Wayne McIntosh. “We don’t give the girls a specific way of walking, we just want them to be comfortable and natural,” McIntosh said. Contestants got to show off their “runway walk” skills this past Saturday when contestants modeled clothes by New York designer Liz Collins at the Royal Palm Crown Plaza. For the swimsuit segment, they wore pieces designed by Rod Beattie of LaBlanca. Before the final segment the audience was entertained by Cher impersonator Erica Andrews of San Antonio, Texas. For their final strut down the runway, the girls stepped out in shorts by Dickies and white t-shirts bearing the “Elite” logo. “Go, Runway Goddess!” McIntosh yelled from the photographers pit as the girls paraded in front of the judges. The panel included supermodel Allesandra Ambrosio, Elite modeling executives and representatives from various fashion magazines. Some contestants played up the demure factor, stepping gingerly and pouting, while others let their hips do the talking, suggestively swaying with authority. “I thought it was amazing,” Ambrosio said. “The girls were really incredible this year.”

By the end of the Royal Palm event, Elite had proclaimed its United States winners: Courtney Fulton of Conne Terra, Missouri; Melissa Haro of San Jose, California; Randi Garcia of Janesville, Wisconsin; Brianne Miclean of Hopkinton, Massachusetts; and Nikki Baker of Iverness, Florida.

As the crowd trickled out one might have expected divas in distress, bawling over their losses, but many of the girls filtered into the audience, hugging their families who came to watch them saunter down the catwalk. On the way back to their rooms, two of the girls barely seemed fazed at all. “It was worth it for the goodie bags,” quipped one, as she prepared for that evening’s party at the Versace Mansion.

Outside the mansion, a crowd shoved to get into Elite’s VIP after party – many of them waving tickets and invitations over their heads. Burly doormen exhorted the frenzied throng to move back, although the crowd was already spilling into the street. Soon afterwards, the doors were shut, leaving a few parents as well as a journalist for People Magazine wondering aloud how they would ever be able to get in.