SEARCH FOR NEW FACES OF FASHION TO BE HOSTED ON THE WEB BY MICROSOFT PORTAL MSN

August 28, 2001Aug 28, 2001, 11:00 PM GMT+1

Keen to get a jump on major rivals Yahoo! and AOL in the battle for European subscribers, Microsoft portal MSN has signed an exclusive deal with top model agency Elite to host the organisation’s new-talent competition on the web.

The Elite Model Look talent contest, which was established 18 years ago, has served as a launching pad for some of the industry’s biggest names, including supermodel Cindy Crawford, Ines Sastre and Brazilian beauty Gisele Bundchen. Posting virtual proceedings of this year’s event, which will take place in Nice over the course of a week kicking off on August 31, is part of the portal’s drive to boost its European youth users.

Last year 20,000 people logged on to see who had made it to the number one newcomer slot, and this year organisers are expecting even higher figures, nudged upwards by the introduction of high definition coverage.

The competition finalists have already been chosen, with an initial pool of 400,000 international young hopefuls weeded down to just 62 entrants aged between 14 and 24. Their fortunes in the course of the next week will be posted online in more than a dozen sites in nine different languages.

Daily updates, plus an opportunity to vote for your favourite candidate, are posted at www.elitemodellook.com.

Last year, 20,000 web surfers logged on to discover the winner of the Elite Model Look contest, and organisers are expecting even more interest in this year's event due to MSN's high definition coverage

The competition, which first ran 18 years ago, has helped launch the careers of some of the fashion industry's biggest names including Gisele Bundchen (above)

Model wannabes come from all over the world, with an initial 400,000 entrants being whittled down to just 62 finalists

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