Broadcasting
Face of Africa: Finalists Mingle with Naomi Campbell as Finale Nears
The 12 M-Net Face of Africa semi-finalists impressed the judges and designers at Swahili Fashion Week during castings and early shows – but in last week’s tension-filled episode, they took to the catwalk for the Fashion Week Finale knowing they’re just one step
away from the Face of Africa Finale in Lagos this Saturday.
After a successful show for South African fashion icon David Tlale, the elated finalists were brought back to earth with a bump as they faced the final elimination.
Two models were sent home in a heart-stopping elimination process and as the top 10 finalists struggled to balance the joy of making it to the final with the sadness of losing two of their number, Face of Africa judge Juanita Daniel revealed that they will be treading the catwalk one more time – in a charity fashion show with international fashion icon and supermodel Naomi Campbell!
Campbell’s Fashion for Relief teamed up with the White Ribbon Alliance to raise funds for charity in Dar es Salaam and the Face of Africa Finalists were invited to join the charismatic supermodel on the ramp. This unprecedented opportunity left the finalists speechless – apart from their shrieks of delight when Campbell visited them and greeted them one-by-one!
After the show, the supermodel had nothing but praise for the M-Net Face of Africa Finalists. “I want to thank all of you beautiful women – you’ve done extraordinary work and you look like you’ve been walking the ramp for years,” she said. “I’m so impressed and I want to thank you all for giving your time – I’m really grateful and I’m so happy to have worked with you all.”
In last week’s episode, viewers also travelled home with Zimbabwean Rosanna (the feisty extrovert whose brother says she will set the bar for African models just as Oluchi did), Mozambique’s Ernania (whose mom says she cries every time she sees her on television doing so well on Face of Africa) and Marvis from Nigeria (the natural entertainer who is living her fashion dream through Face of Africa) to find out more about them.
The top 10 finalists made it through boot camp, did a high fashion calendar shoot, participated in fashion editorials for True Love East Africa and Dossier Magazine and wowed fashion experts at Swahili Fashion Week, where they shared the catwalk with a legendary supermodel – does it get any better than that for an aspiring model?
The M-Net Face of Africa 2010 is set to be named – and she is guaranteed to walk away from the Finale this Saturday with a ready-made superstar model toolkit – a modeling contract from O Model Africa, $50, 000 in cash from M-Net, skincare products for 12 months from Iman Cosmetics and a trip to New York, courtesy of Arise Magazine, to participate in New York Fashion Week.