LANGLEY – An Indo-Canadian woman is among several large and curvy women, most of whom never thought of themselves as models, and none with traditional modelling experience, who have won a modelling contest.
Yogeeta Lai was one of the four winners from Surrey. The rest of the winners included Sarah Baarda, Kaleigh McDonald, Chelsea Hibbs, all from Surrey and Tiffany McFadyen, of Coquitlam, and Danielle Keil, of New Westminster.
Earlier this year, Surrey resident Sonya Perkins launched a unique model search contest, seeking out six full-figured women to be the face of national advertising campaigns for her two downtown Langley companies, Forever Yours Lingerie and LUCY Clothing, reported Langley Now.
The contest wrapped up May 15 with what she described as a flurry of eleventh-hour submissions. In the end, there were more than 250 women between Vancouver Island and Hope who applied.
Each of the winners receive a $500 wardrobe and a three-month paid modelling contract with the possibility for renewal, and all will become the faces of a national advertising campaign.
The model search was born out of a desire to find women who best represent the stores’ customer base.
“We were looking for real women who could wear the bras and clothing lines that we sell in each of our locations,” Perkins said.
With a modelling industry that profiles women sized eight to 12 as plus size, Perkins was frustrated by the idea of having to fit fashions to models who would most likely never shop at one of her boutiques.
