Mohalenyane Phakela
MALE and female local models are invited to submit their portfolios for selection to take part in the third annual Luxury Brand Model Awards Global Fashion Week 2017 in Seoul, South Korea from May 7 to 12.
Auditions will be held at the end of the month or during the first week of April in Maseru at a venue to be advised and aspiring contestants should send their portfolios including details of full names, height, age, location, email and three professional photos to Southern Africa representative, Culvin Mavunga on his Zimbabwean WhatsApp number, +263 77 4526986 on or before 7 March.
Mavunga told this publication that the minimum height requirement is 1.7 metres for females and 1.72 for the males. Applicants must also have valid passport, be photogenic, have good facial skin, must be slim and be professional models aged from 18 and 30.
“The fashion week hosts models from around the globe so I am in charge of scouting models from the Southern African region including Lesotho,” Mavunga said, adding, “We want four models, two males and two females from Lesotho to be part of the Southern African team”.
“We are looking for practising models either in the cat walk or the panther walk and we will be hosting auditions for Lesotho models who would have submitted their portfolios before the deadline,” he said.
Mavunga is the president and international relations manager of Miss Heritage International which took local beauty queen, Bogiswa Hesman to its pageant in India in 2015. Mavunga also worked with Thotoane Motlomelo at the Africa Top Model contest in Zimbabwe last year.
“I have worked with a number of Lesotho models such as Hesman who still holds the record of top votes in the history of Miss Heritage International, Thotoane at the Africa Top Model 2016 as well as the president of Lesotho pageantry board, Tlali Tlali among others.
“I saw so much talent in them and we are working on bringing many international pageants to Lesotho as well as a modelling school.
“Modelling in Africa is often regarded as part of prostitution industry but it is a decent career path and we cannot all do office jobs. Modelling is a sustainable way of empowering women and in our case, we follow a professional code of conduct because we believe it is every model’s dream to be the next Tyra Banks or Naomi Campbell.”
He said it was important to promote African models on the global stage because there was so much talent on the continent.
“Just like in soccer, African models need to be exposed to international platforms and gain experience so that they can represent their countries better,” he said.