Does your littl’un have the face of an angel? Are you sure? Why not put that to the test and enter them in a child beauty contest? If the thought doesn’t make you cringe, then children’s product store Babyshop might have just the ticket: they’re on the hunt for 20 photogenic children aged one-12 to become ‘brand ambassadors’. The chosen kids will be featured in Babyshop’s autumn/winter collection, and will become catwalk models for a gala fashion show to launch the clothing line.
Of course, judging children on their appearance will mean some find the exercise slightly galling, but Rahul Saxena, of Babyshop, said they only went ahead with the project after parents asked them if their children could be in the company catalogues. ‘We’ve had stores in this region for around two decades, and for the past few years parents have been asking us if their children can be in one of our fashion catalogues. After a lot of consultation, we’ve finally decided to go ahead with it and run this competition,’ he explains.
As well as accepting online entries of pictures of your child, if your littl’un is exceptionally fair you and your youngster could be approached in a mall by a member of the Babyshop scouting team, who’ll be holding roadshows in the UAE’s shopping centres to find the most comely children. But if you’re ignored, don’t worry, the scouts are probably on a lunch break.
After three months of scouting, 500 children will be picked and then whittled down to 200 through casting auditions, where they’ll have to make a short video interview with their parents. Experts from the fashion industry will then pore over the tapes, judging your child on their looks, personality and confidence. And finally, they’ll pick the children to appear in the catalogue and put them through a training session to prepare them for life in front of the lens.
What’s that you say? Judging kids by their looks is unethical? Rahul insists not. ‘First things first, this isn’t a beauty pageant. We don’t agree with that kind of thing. We firmly believe that all children are beautiful in their own way. And we’re not just judging the children on their looks, we’re looking at their confidence and personality as well. Most of all this is a bit of fun for both the children and their parents. The winning children will be taught by fashion experts how to appear more confident and then they’ll be in this catalogue that’s read by thousands of people. It’ll be a real boost to their confidence and they’ll be like superstars among their friends and in their schools.’
And don’t fret if your kid’s rejected by the judges, it may just have saved them from becoming the next Lindsay Lohan.
Visit www.babyshopstores.com for more information about how to enter the competition.
Five former child models
Patsy Kensit
Long before the first of her three rock star marriages (Dan Donovan, of Big Audio Dynamite, Jim Kerr, of Simple Minds and Liam Gallagher, of Oasis, in case you were wondering), when she was just an angelic looking four-year-old, Patsy appeared in a Birds Eye frozen peas advert.
Lindsay Lohan
If you’re looking for a reason not to push your child into a modelling career, Lindsay Lohan’s wreck of a life is it. Before she was 10, the young Miss Lohan had appeared in more than 100 adverts, including ones for Pizza Hut, Wendy’s and Calvin Klein Kids.
Ralph Macchio
Ralph’s boyish looks were a distinct advantage in his early modelling career, meaning he was cast as a child in Dr Pepper and bubble gum commercials while actually a teenager. But after playing an adolescent in both Karate Kid and My Cousin Vinny while firmly in his twenties, the wheels came off his acting career as the wrinkles set in.
Nicolas Sarkozy
Although his wife Carla might be the model in the family, the diminutive French president also appeared in front of the lens in his youth. It recently emerged that, when he was 12 years old, he starred in a washing powder advert to raise cash for his impoverished mother.
Brooke Shields
The Blue Lagoon star started her modelling career aged just 11 months in an advert for Ivory Soap. She went on to become one of the most prolific child models of her day and, when aged 14, she became the youngest person to ever appear on the cover of Vogue.
