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Bournemouth Echo Thursday 27th November 2008
They postured, they posed, they pouted -- and that was just the boys! Meanwhile the girls rose to the occasion in skyscraper heels, strutting their stuff for the judges in an array of thigh-skimming dresses with all the poise of professional supermodels.
Yet most of the 17 finalists in the Face of Mane Street 2009 model search competition, hadn't even set foot on a catwalk before last week.
All of the contestants had been given a crash course in how to walk like a haute couture model courtesy of Kellyanne Morgan and Emma van Lindholm of LMP Models Ltd -- a new model agency in Bournemouth.
And after just a few days of training, they were soon sashaying in style before a packed audience at The Cumberland Hotel on Sunday night.
The 12 girls and five guys had been hand-picked out of 225 entries for the grand final fashion show following an open casting session at the hotel at the end of September.
But the cheers from the predominantly female audience got even louder when the six male finalists modelled a collection of business suits and underwear supplied by House of Fraser in Bournemouth.
Then it was time for the judges to retire and after more than half an hour of deliberation, 22-year-old Michelle Smith and 23-year-old Christopher Baker were revealed as the faces of 2009.
Andrew Bell of Mane Street who was on the judging panel, said the standard was so high it had been a very tough decision. "It's the best event we've had in over 20 years and it's the first time we have had a male winner. We are a unisex salon so it made sense to have a male image too.
"Christopher is ridiculously good-looking. He looks as if he's just stepped of the pages of GQ magazine and Michelle is a classic beauty so I think they will work very well together. They have just the right image for Mane Street. We will be using them in all our promotional and marketing material now including the national hair and beauty magazines too."
Both Kellyanne and Emma, who have more than 17 years' experience between them and have worked with names like Dior, Karen Millen and Zara, said the future looked very bright for the two models.
"Everybody did such a fantastic job and we were very happy with the choice of models," said Kellyanne.
"We have already had some enquiries about Michelle. I think they will both do very well."
The two winners will also be starring in a photo shoot for the January edition of Dorset Society magazine.
Tags: Face Of Mane Street fashion show Mane Street Bournemouth hairdresser
