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So You Want to be a Russian Supermodel
Russia is definitely not the country to come to if you harbor any insecurities about your bulging thighs or pudgy stomach. Women here seem to wake up perfectly tousled, ready for a night on the town, even at noon on a Tuesday. Americans are not so lucky, or at least not these two, who have spent the last week stuffing their faces with Russian sweets as they scan the eye-candy of Russian women that populate the streets here in Rostov.
Of course, it doesn’t help that the first story Amy and I decided to work on is about Russian super models competing in the Best Model of the South of Russia competition.
We started our reporting at Image Elite, one of the top modelling agencies here in Rostov. Our translators (Natasha, Anush, and Ilena) helped us interview dozens of young girls whose biggest dream was to become the next top model of Russia. We watched red and blonde waterfalls of hair fall over perfectly madeup faces, as girls (and boys)strutted their stuff to Russian pop artists, such as Tatu. When the models weren’t prancing around they were primping and teasing their hair and bodies to perfection, while Amy and I sat taking extensive notes every step of the way.
We interviewed the directors of the agency who gave us VIP tickets for Friday night’s pageant. When Friday rolled around Amy and the translators and I headed over to the event extra early to get a sneak-preview of the models in competition mode. We spent three hours interviewing the models and even spoke to Veronika, last year’s Best Stage Model winner. By 9p.m. the models were on the stage poised and ready to go, each one more perfect than the next.
Three hours and four dance routines later, it started to rain, dampening the audiences’ spirits, but not the models’ smiles. You had to be there to see all the girls in their perfect up-dos and dresses flittering around the stage like they were frolicking on the beach, while rain soaked through their evening wear and flattened their hair.
The whole carnivale-inspired evening was a mixture of glamour, glitz, and absurdity, which became all the more laughable when they crowned the wrong girl Miss Rostov Photo Beauty (see photo above) because of a mispronunciation of the names by the Italian judge. When they realized their mistake the real Miss Rostov (photo below) was given the other girls sash and cake and the other girl stormed off angry. Oh, the trials and tribulations of being a Russian beauty queen!
Filed under: Reporting Rostov