Fashion Wire Daily January 18, 2005 - NEW YORK - The biggest questions for most high school girls usually revolve around The Three Gs: Grades ("Will I pass Chem 1?"), Girlfriends ("Oh my God! Jen is, like, my Best. Friend. Ever. Why is she ignoring me?!") and, of course, Guys ("I wonder if he likes me? I wonder if he'll call? Hey, why is he talking to Jen?!").

For the teenaged lovelies competing in last week's Ford Supermodel of the World Contest, however, there were three very different questions being posed: Will I win first prize (and a $250,000 modeling contract)? Will I win second prize (a $150,000 contract)? Or will I win third prize (a $100,000 contract)? And the money is just the beginning.

After all, the contest, which Ford Models' founder Eileen Ford launched in 1980, famously propelled last year's winner, 19-year-old Ukraine native Nataliya Gotsiy, to instant Supermodel stardom — with all the glamorous runway shows and editorial work that implies.

Pretty heady stuff for 44 young girls who had been plucked from 44 countries — each having won her nation's Ford-sponsored beauty contest — and flown to New York City for a whirlwind week of spa treatments, test shoots, sightseeing, Calvin Klein and Teen Vogue go-sees and media meet-and-greets. All of which culminated in Wednesday night's runway show at the Tunnel nightclub, where the bevy of beauties would strut their stuff in three different "looks" for fashion taste makers, magazine bookings editors and a panel of judges that included Eileen and Katie Ford, Vogue's Kate Armenta, Elle's Nina Garcia, E! Fashion Cop Robert Verdi and supermodels Ines Rivero and Patricia Valesquez.

Just the thought of it would be enough to send the average 15-year-old spinning into Clearasil Crisis Mode. But these are not your average 15-year-olds, as FWD discovered when we met up with 11 of the contestants last Sunday morning at the Scott J Aveda Salon Spa on 86th Street, where they were being treated to complimentary spa and beauty services in preparation for the days ahead.

At 9am, East 86th Street was deserted and eerily quiet. At 9:15, the Sunday morning calm was broken by the vision of the statuesque stunners tumbling out of cars and into the salon, most still bleary eyed from their transatlantic flights the night before.

Wearing identical white fleece jackets with "Ford Models" emblazoned on the back the gorgeous goslings gathered in the front of the salon, where a massage therapist named Maurice proffered mugs of Aveda Comforting Tea and explained the various services they had lined up.

After getting the 411 on Scott J's Single Process Clear Gloss shine-enhancing hair treatment, Express Facial, Focus Massage and the Aromatherapy Sensory Experience, they broke into smaller groups and were escorted to the back of the salon, where they retired to private rooms or sat waiting to get their hair washed and blown-out for the following day's test shoot and walking lessons at Daylight Studios.

Ford's special projects director Hampton Moore told us the winner wasn't always easy to spot at first glance. "Nataliya [Gotsiy] actually has a great story," Moore said of last year's winner, a student who entered the contest at the suggestion of her boyfriend. "She won [in the Ukraine] and came over here, and Katie [Ford] hadn't seen her, no one had seen her. Her hair had been dyed a weird color and her pictures didn't really represent her, so it was just amazing. She was someone no one was expecting beforehand. It was great! That's kind of the way it is. Even with pictures, you don't really know until they come over and you see them in person and see how they photograph [professionally]."

Anne Grossenburg, the US contestant from Sioux Falls, South Dakota who began modeling just three months ago after winning the Ford Supermodel Contest in Chicago, sat in the middle of the salon getting a scalp massage.

"It's been a lot of fun," said the sweet-faced 19-year-old blond, who is a freshman at Loyola University, majoring in elementary education. "Everybody's been really nice and it's so interesting to hear where people are from. It's neat."

"Whatever happens, happens," the self-described French-horn loving "dork" added philosophically. "It's such a good experience, I'm just here to have fun"

Antonia Wilson, the edgier-looking 18-year-old UK winner sitting beside her (the two were bunking together during the trip), had a bit more modeling experience — having signed with Storm when she was 15 — but was equally ambivalent about winning, preferring instead to talk about fine arts and painting, which she is studying at university.

Sif Agustsdottir, a 16-year-old with a charming overbite, had arrived from Iceland at 1 am that morning and was suffering from serious jet lag and sleep deprivation. "Time has to say about that, I don't know," she said dreamily of her imagined future as a model while she lay in a back room getting a reflexology massage.

Just outside, Otilia Aionesei (a fresh-faced 16-year-old blond from Romania) and Deniz Ikizler (an elfin 19-year-old from Turkey) sat on green slipper chairs, also getting foot massages. Aionesei has only been a model since August, but has already landed a spread in V magazine, while Ikizler began modeling three months ago and is currently studying to become a French teacher.

Ikizler's favorite part of the experience so far? "The jet lag perhaps," she cracked with a mischievous grin. "Eleven hour flights and waiting for the passport and visa for two hours..."

If she wins, Ikizler says she hopes to walk in a Versace show, while Aionesei longs to work for Calvin Klein.

When we caught up with the girls three nights later backstage at Tunnel, they remained their philosophical teenaged selves. "It's a great experience," said Ikizler as she sat in a director's chair waiting to be called onstage. "I'm very glad to be here. It doesn't matter who wins."

Nearby, Eileen Ford looked around at the lanky lovelies. "Aren't they nice," she said. "What's really nice is they've made many friends. Even if they don't win, they'll have those friends forever."

Indeed, the backstage area felt like being back in high school with 44 of the tallest, skinniest, prettiest girls you'd ever seen gathered in one room — and they had all the nervous energy of typical high school or college girls as they sat in clusters chattering excitedly to one another, brushing a stray hair from a friend's mouth or just silently holding hands.

"My heart is like 'doon doon, doon doon,'" said the willowy Agustsdottir as she pumped her balled-up fist to mimic a rapidly-beating heart.

Suddenly, a "First Looks in Ten Minutes!" announcement blared over the PA, and the girls all skittered to change into the Rock n' Republic, Chip and Pepper and Seven For All Mankind denim with LYCRA looks that would open the show.

Holly Watson, a LYCRA spokesperson, told us why her client had opted to book the Supermodel contest winner and runners-up, sight unseen, for a major advertising photo shoot the following day.

"The LYCRA brand is constantly striving for innovation," trilled the peppy blond. "The thing we like about the Ford model contest is it's the next fresh face. It's on the cusp, and we want to be tied to that."

Contest judge and Vogue bookings editor Kate Armenta sat in the front row waiting for the next fresh face showcase to begin. "This is my first year and it's really been a thrill," she told FWD. "This morning was really exciting — we saw a lot of beautiful girls — and I'm looking forward to seeing the show." (The actual judging process had taken place earlier in the day, when all 44 girls met the judges one-on-one to walk and show their video clips and portfolios.)

"They don't know the outcome yet," Armenta confided. "The announcement is tonight, so it's very exciting."

Sitting a few seats away, Katie Ford, CEO of Ford Models, talked about what makes a girl well-suited for World Supermodel Domination. "We are looking for somebody who has the potential to become an international superstar," Ford said. "They have to have facial features that are very symmetrical and proportionate for photography, but also a toned body and the height for modeling, and then a personality that is flexible, because in modeling you're traveling to new countries and working with new people every single day. So it's a tough job."

As the lights dimmed, Lucky magazine bookings editor Kristi McCormick explained why Ford ruled the roost when it came to modeling competitions.

"All the agencies have supermodel contests, but this is the best one by far," said McCormick, who worked as a model agent at Next and Wilhemina herself before jumping to the editorial side of the pond. "They do events with such class and style, and the winners actually become supermodels, whereas in some other contests the number one winner really never does anything with their career. [PLEASE ITAL 'BECOME.]

Ford will get them a Pantene campaign, a Cover Girl campaign — whatever the sponsor is."

"They don't take on anyone who they can't represent wholeheartedly," she added. "If Ford signed the model, they work. I'll probably see half of these girls in my office, and I'll try my best [to use them] because if they believe in the model, I believe in the model."

Then it was sh-sh-sh-showtime, folks! As David Bowie and Joan Jett pumped from the speakers, the 44 girls Ford had deemed the most beautiful in the world strutted their stuff, first in denim and then in designs by Jeffrey Chow, Zac Posen, Narciso Rodriguez and Calvin Klein.

A few of the girls (including Agustsdottir) looked terrified, a few (including Ikizler) looked brazenly confident, but most just looked, well, blasé, as is the wont of runway models everywhere.

Then the lights came up and Katie and Eileen Ford took to the stage to announce the winners. The grand prize went to 14-year-old Brazilian nymph Camila Finn, second prize went to Romania's Otilia Aionesei, and third prize went to 18-year-old Canadian Ingrid Schram.

"She has to be ready!," last year's winner Nataliya Gotsiy told FWD of the newly-crowned beauty. "Before, I didn't do modeling so everything was new for me. All this year was a big, big experience. Now, I live in New York, I have a lot of new friends and I see my face in international magazines, which is great."

As 2005 Supermodel winner Finn did her first TV interview with WB-11, runner up Schram stood taking it all in. "I"m still in shock," she told us. "I can't believe it! I don't think I'll be able to believe it until tomorrow morning maybe."

We sidled up next to the ethereal 14-year-old Finn, who knows not a word of English. "I'm happy because it's the first time a Brazilian girl won the contest," she said through a translator.

So did this barely-teenaged beauty — daughter of a Coca Cola sales rep and secretary — dream of being a model while she was growing up in Brazil? Nah. "I wanted to work with computers or be a writer, because in school I do very well in composition and writing," she said with a big beatific smile.

Then she headed off to do a little post-show celebrating before going back to her hotel and to bed. She had her first photo shoot at 9 o'clock the next morning, and she wanted to be ready for her close up.