Fashion

A school to train beauty queens

Jayanthi Liyanage

Business magnate and retired Chairman and Managing Director of Celsin Ltd. and Eastern Engineers (Ceylon) Ltd., Sebastian Arthur Clarence Perera, or Seba as he is known to his friends, harbours a dream which he hopes will be fulfilled in the new year.

This is setting up a school in Sri Lanka to train potential beauty queens. Similar schools exist in India, Italy, Turkey and many parts of the world, even in China, points out Perera, stressing that beauty queens must not only be trained in deportment, catwalk and social graces but also on accumulating general knowledge in order to provide intelligent and cultured answers when questioned in-depth on stage.

As he measures up, there are several pre-requisites to a potential beauty queen. She must have beauty of face, a height over 5’5” with a proportionate figure, knowledge to speak intelligently and language skills to speak fluently and in-depth knowledge of Sri Lanka to explain about the country on an overseas platform, is how he sums up these requirements.

Then we can send not just one girl to one pageant a year, but about 4-5 girls to several beauty pageants every year, Perera is enthusiastic. Then we are sure of securing a place. Right now our contestants do not even come to the top ten positions in major pageants.

There is very good potential in Sri Lanka which we must scout and train in every aspect. If we want promotion and publicity for Sri Lanka internationally and if the country is to become an important place for international pageants, the school is a must.

He feels that the local beauty industry has not made much headway. Now Asian countries like India, China and Malaysia are making an impact in beauty pageants. Sri Lanka too should be there, he emphasizes. In India, they begin training from a very young age.

He also wishes to educate and involve village masses in international beauty pageants for which the platform would be the beauty school. Whether they be village or urban girls, the school can train anyone who wants to compete in an international beauty pageant, said Perera.

Shy girls will not come to individuals but they may come to a school. Confidence comes from being taught and when the girls are trained, they will truly become different, is his reasoning which is not without substance when all facts are considered.

A lot of girls with potential do not enter pageants as they feel left out. A school can take them out of their shell.

Perera also calls upon sponsors to take up the responsibility of financing the training of young women in the school. If big companies can sponsor the girls, they can use the girls for promoting their companies at no cost. That cuts the advertising costs, he says.

Perera is adamant that our girls must be sociable to the extent that in a foreign country they must be able to laugh, talk and joke with others. That itself is a qualification. He recently sent contestants to Miss Globe International and Miss Hawaiian Tropic and says that they are very big pageants like Miss World with about 70-80 young women contesting.

Beauty queens

Professionals who takes a liking to beauty, international pageants and promoting the country can join hands in the school to train beauty queens. If someone sets up a school, I can help with my experience and knowledge, is his promise.

With this idea in mind, he is also planning to revive Miss Tourism International pageant in the latter part of 2010.

This was shelved for several years due to the war situation in the country. ‘Now that peace is ushered in, I can talk to the parents of beauty queens in 40-50 countries to send the girls here safely’, says Perera. The planning process requires the donkey work of around seven months.

Perera holds the international franchise for the beauty pageants Miss Tourism International, Queen of the World, Miss Globe International, Miss World University, American Dream Festival, Miss Bikini International, Dream Girl of the Year, Miss Model of Models, Miss All Nations, Miss Model of the World, Queen of the Year and Miss Hawaiian Tropic, while being the owner of Miss Asia International.

Charlie See created Miss Tourism International on February 18, 1969 at Sheraton Hotel in Hollywood.

Held in Cyprus Hilton in Nicosia, with See assisted in compering by movie star Raquel Welch, the pageant crowned Ingeborg Sorensen as Miss Tourism International and Queen of Queens Europe.

On receiving the franchise from See, Perera very successfully held the pageant in Sri Lanka in 1993, 1996 and 2002 and in India in 1997, with the singular distinction of being the first Asian to sponsor a beauty pageant in the Far East.

Prior to this he was also the first Asian to be appointed as Far East Manager of Gala Cosmetic House in London, based in Singapore/Malaysia for its brands Max Factor, Our Door Girl, Gala, Mary Quant and Miners of London in which capacity he served for 14 years gathering invaluable experience in marketing cosmetics and international trade.

Miss Asia

Perera was the first person to bring young Russian women to England for a beauty pageant which was Miss Asia. That was the first time they were allowed to leave their country for a pageant and saw the lights in London, Perera recollected. As Jane Brown writes in the Observer of London on November 20, 1988, under the title When East goes West, It is a piece of diplomatic history.

It was the first occasion in modern times that Russia and China had fielded entrants in an unrigged, open competition in the West and, inevitably, there was considerable nervousness at rehearsals there was even a rumour that Kremlin might pull out all the girls at the last moment. The competitors were not in swimsuits and instead of doing the catwalk, they gave presentations about their country and sang traditional songs.

Photographs and press cuttings

Well-preserved memories in the form of photographs and press cuttings surround Perera as he takes a look back to his days of marketing cosmetics and of receiving ownership of Miss Asia pageant.

Letters from renowned No.10 of Downing Street and Lord Mayor of London and the London Chamber of Commerce support the then sole owner of Miss Asia pageant, Phillip Dews vesting in Perera the title and full franchise for the pageant to register it in Sri Lanka.

For three years, I helped Dews in the pageant free of charge and in recognition of that service, he gave me the pageant, said Perera. United Nations too wrote to him pledging their support, mentioning that Miss Asia trade and culture show is unlike most similar events. It seeks to stress contributions young women make promoting distinctive features of their own countries while furthering international co-operation.

As franchise director of Miss Asia, Perera took Sonali de Alwis to London in 1988 for the glittering pageant held in Hotel Ramada and she bagged the 3rd place of the contest.

Miss Thailand was crowned Miss Asia and Miss Russia became the first runner-up. His advertising acumen is narrated in this little tale when he was the Far East Manager for Revlon and Max Factor.

At that time they were promoting false eyelashes the trade of which were very competitive. I made my designer paint an eye on the midriff of a model and attached eyelashes to that. We called it the Third Eye, he remembered with amusement.

Perera now lives in his spacious new house in Nugegoda, after moving from Kensington Gardens where he lived for many years. He is thrice blessed with the name Sebastian, being named so, after being born on St. Sebastian’s Feast Day and being an Alumnus of St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa.

Oriflame - Male Face of 2010

‘Oriflame Male Face of the year of 2010’ competition will be held on the 8th of January 2010 at the Taj Samundra Hotel in Colombo. This competition is the first of its kind which is being organized by Oriflame to launch the “North for Men Fairness Lotion” in Sri Lanka.

“Oriflame International is expanding its product portfolio in the Men’s personal care range and has paid close attention to this market which has shown a tremendous increase in sales the past year,” said Managing Director Oriflame Sri Lanka Pierre Martenson.

When focusing on the new men’s range the company followed the path of the Northern Oriflame Expedition. The outcome of the Expedition is the Arctic Pro Defence which is an active polar botanical root found in one of the most remote regions of the arctic. This root has both healing and protective properties. This breakthrough discovery was handpicked for ‘North For Men’.

“It is encouraging to promote a product such as this into the local market as we find that today, the male population in Sri Lanka is extremely conscious about their skin and want to make sure it is well taken care of. In the Asian region, the Fairness Lotion which is part of the ‘North for Men’ product line has created a great deal of interest as the fairness product sales are fast picking up” said Manager Marketing Oriflame Sri Lanka Kenny Gordon.

The Entries for the ‘Face of 2010’ came in from around the island and 14 finalists were short listed after a tedious preliminary selection process on the 22nd of December 2009.

“We never anticipated so many entries. Unfortunately, we are in a position to select only a limited number of participants to compete in the finals and we hope that these finalists would make the best use of this opportunity to grow with the company and be future brand ambassadors for Oriflame in Sri Lanka” added Martensson

The 14 finalist are currently undergoing a rigorous model training program and they have also been privy to having their overall look improved by having personal grooming and personal fitness and gym facilities provided by ‘Body Bar’ Colombo 5.

Apart from the winner of the competition, there are several mini titles such as Mr. Personality, Mr. Flawless Skin and Mr. Physique which would be adjudged prior to the show at a mini contest selection which would be held at “Prive” Colombo 7.

The winner of this competition will be the Oriflame brand ambassador for a period of one year.

In style

Neelika a part-time model and teledrama actress comes out in stylish and colourful outfits to be photographed by Ruwan de Silva for Daily News Fashion this week.
Her hair and make-up were done by Dilruk Wijesekera Academy.