Who's the fairest of them all?

On the evening of July 20 at the Formosa Regent, a 21-year-old office worker from the southern city of Pingtung won the championship in the first Ford Supermodel of the World -- Taiwan, putting her in the media spotlight. In addition to NT$800,000 in prize money, Lin Yi-hsing (林怡忻) is going to represent Taiwan in December, facing off with representatives from 40 other countries at the Ford Supermodel of the World contest in the Dominican Republic.

If she wins, Lin will be awarded a US$250,000 contract with Ford Models, which has helped former models such as Sharon Stone and Kim Basinger abtain their star status.

Will Lin join their ranks? Will the entertainment industry's ongoing quest for Asian beauties put her in the world spotlight, following the success of such Asian models as Chinese-Malaysian Ling Tang?

Having signed two commercial deals and a modeling contract since winning, Lin has quit her previous job and wasted no time moving to the modeling hub of Taipei. The future has never seemed brighter.

Commenting on her surprise triumph over the many willowy contestants, some as tall as 184cm, Kris Fang (方登愷), creative director at Unique Premier Modeling, the authorized host of the Taiwan event, said that it's not all about being tall and slim. "Modeling requires a certain air and grace," he said.

"The international fashion industry is looking for a kind of face ... a face which, by just looking at it, no one can be sure where the model is from. Is she from mainland China or Taiwan or Singapore? It makes people wonder," Fang said. "She can represent all Asians. It's a face without nationality."

Recognizing the international fashion industry's increasing interest in Asian models, Fang stressed that it was his years of negotiating efforts that brought one of the world's two biggest modeling contests (the other being Elite Models' Model Look of the Year) to Taiwan. His low-key attitude when talking about the biggest modeling contest in the fashion industry comes in part from his realization that a Taiwanese model, however successful domestically, can rarely make it to a catwalk in Paris.

According to Johnson Jiang (江振誠), editor in chief of Showtime, a modeling trade magazine scheduled to be launched next month, the significance of the contest is undermined by another factor.

"It would have meant a lot more if the contest was organized by a neutral party and integrated all the agencies in the industry," Jiang said. Having a single model agency host the contest virtually denies access for models of other agencies, according to Jiang, because in Taiwan's modeling agency circles, the concept of "schools" is deep-rooted.

Moreover, other agencies are likely to discourage their models from joining the competition for fear that they may want to switch agents. Helping their models win a contract with an international agency and go to work in Europe or the US is not in local agencies' interests, "because that way they lose their workforce and profit."

"Despite the flaws, it's a nice opportunity for those completely new to the field," Jiang said. "It may give aspiring models the hope of someday becoming a top model on the international stage, but at the same time, it shows them that the chance is one-in-a-million."

Gisiele Wu (吳孟桑), the contest's runner-up, remains cautious about a modeling career and plans to finish school first. Although new modeling opportunities have increased since the contest, she has no illusions about becoming a star, nor is she quitting her part-time job as a waitress anytime soon.