NINETEEN-year-old model, Fadzai Muvuti from Bulawayo was named the Elite Model Look (EML) Zimbabwe winner at a glamorous event held at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) on Saturday evening.
Report by Melissa Mpofu Muvuti broke into tears when she was announced the winner.
“I have contested in pageants such as Miss Bulawayo, but I’ve never won. I’m really happy to have clinched this one as I didn’t expect it. It just happened and I want to thank God for this achievement,” she said.
Muvuti, who has been modelling for three years, managed to beat 18 other models including former Miss Zimbabwe Malaika Mushandu.
She was selected based on photogenic qualities, personality, natural beauty and potential to correspond to current fashion trends.
For winning the Zimbabwe edition of the Elite Model Look contest, Muvuti will travel to Shanghai, China, in December to take part in the Elite Model Look world contest.
Though the pageant was well organised with a Black tie red carpet cocktail event before the show, it did not attract a lot of people as the HICC auditorium was close to empty.
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This did not kill the fun though for the few guests who attended as Ammara Brown and High Definition dance group put on sterling performances. South African DJ, Euphonik also lived up to expectation as he put on a five-star performance at the after party which was held at the Rainbow Towers VIP room.
Guests took to the dance floor and left during the wee hours of the morning.
Paris-based EML president Michaela Goddard-Quesada, who headed the judging panel at the EML Zimbabwe search, said they decided to bring the contest to Zimbabwe because of the potential the country has in modelling.
“Zimbabwean women are beautiful and I’m so impressed by the quality of models who were shortlisted for the Elite Model Look. The level of the girls this evening (Saturday) was that of an international show,” she said.
Michaela who interacted with the models said judging was very strict because they were trying to get the best girl that could be versatile and one to sell on the international market.
She added that Muvuti needed to start preparing for the grand finale against 68 other models from different parts of the world. Eight African countries will take part.
“Fadzai needs to start preparing for the final search because the competition will be very very hard,” she said.
Michaela said she was honoured to be in Zimbabwe for the first time and would be delighted to come back next year for another model search.
“I think everyone knows that Zimbabwe is a very beautiful country so I will be more than happy to come back next year. What I didn’t know is that the people are so warm and kind,” she said.
The top three winners of the EML world final contest will secure contracts worth ₤300 000 awarded by Elite Model Management.
They will also sign contracts with the global EMM network.
Elite manages over 2 000 models.
