Former beauty queen, Elohor Aisien is not a stranger to modeling. The fashion entrepreneur has impacted the fashion and modeling industry such that hardly would a major event hold without her input. Her flagship project, Aquafina Elite Model Look, Nigeria, is one of the foremost modeling and fashion events in Nigeria. The modelling competition, organised by Elohor’s BETH Model Management Limited will be marking a decade of producing Nigeria’s runway stars and putting Africa’s modelling industry on the global map with its 2017 event. In the last 10 years, Elohor, through the Elite Model Look has provided the opportunity for young girls gain entry into the fashion world, become models and have fabulous careers.
However, starting was not bread and butter for the pretty entrepreneur. The first edition of Nigeria’s Elite Model Look was held in 2008 after Elohor had reached out to several international agencies across the world, with the objective of staging a Nigeria-based model convention. She was lucky to have connected with Elite who was then looking for people in Africa to work with on the launch of a local version of the Elite Model Look contest. After going back and forth, she signed the Elite franchise contract in 2007 and organized the first edition a year later. The internationally recognized competition was discovered much later, supermodels such as Cindy Crawford, Gisele Bundchen, Alessandra Ambrosio and Nigeria’s models such as Chika Emmanuella, Mayowa Nicholas, Victor Ndigwe and recently, Davidson Obennebo, the first African to win the world finale in the last 33 years. The platform has offered these talents the opportunity to walk the runways of top international brands such as Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, H&M as well as feature in major campaigns for Hermes, Chanel, Balmain, Calvin Klein and many more. This year’s edition of the competition has been slated for Sunday, October 8 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos with the theme: Africa Rising: Haute Couture. The aim is to showcase the potentials of Haute Couture in Africa to the world through fashion pieces and catwalks.