The unreal face of Africa.

Who is responsible for the imposition of Eurocentric beauty concepts on Africans?

Beauty is skin deep and everyone has their own perception of what is beautiful. As such, during auditions for beauty pageants such as the recently concluded Nokia Face of Africa, some of the unsuccessful contestants felt changed. The Face of Africa auditions were the culmination of Short months of scouting for the African ‘look’ Contrary to popular perception, the event is not just about physical beauty, but also personality, right body dimensions, flawless skin as well as a winning smile It is about a mystifying characteristic referred to as the X factor – an inexpressible state of being outstanding, as determined by the judges.

“The best women reside in Africa are the final words in Ludacris’ song, ‘Pimping all over the World.’ While the rest of the song might seem to efface the compliment. Ludacris points out something that Africans have known for a long time: Africa is home to many heterogeneous beauties of all genres, sizes, shades, heights, and ethnic backgrounds.

From the beautiful tall Tutsis, to the dazzling queenly Ethiopians, the wonderfully curvaceous Zulus, the derriere blessed Ndebele, the striking jet black Luos, the elegant Fulanis, the exotic Cape Verdians, and to the colorfully dressed stunning Maasai women, Africa has a plethora of unexplored beauties. It seems the world is finally catching on and quite literally, cashing in on the beauty of African women.

20th century has witnessed a burgeoning of black contests. Perhaps the biggest engine to expose African beauty to the world highly publicized Nokia Face of Africa Contest, a continental African model search. Thanks to this event, African models have been catapulted to world of haute couture, glossy magazine me cover, stardom, and international catwalk. The catwalks of Face of Africa have also undeniably established themselves as the place to spot hot celebrity designers both African and inter portal Africa seems to be spawning a new breed of young, hot, sexy, and glamorous models.

In 1997, M-Net launched the first Face of Africa model talent initiative, visiting 19 African countries in the search for an iconic African beauty. After a jet-set scouting period, finalists were selected and the finals were held early in 1998 at the Elephant Hills Intercontinental, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

During the event, 17- year- old Nigerian Oluchi Onweagba, was declared the winner. The schoolgirl turned international supermodel went on to showcase creations from designers such as Tommy Hilfiger, Jean Louis Scherrer, Pierre Balmain, Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier Gianfranco Ferre, and Chanel. In addition, she appeared in leading international magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Elle, Vanity Fair, ID Magazine, and Allure.

Following Oluchi’s win, the stage was set for three more years of Face of Africa style, fashion, and beauty. In 1999, the search for the new Face of Africa continued and this time around, a hometown girl, 18- year-old Benvinda Mundenge, won the title at the Windhoek Country Club in Namibia She went on to feature in the highly prestigious magazines such as Women’s Wear Daily Frank, Erude and Joyce. One year later, 17-year-old South African, Nombulelo Mazibuko, was announced Face of Africa 2000 winner at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. In a year filled with new experiences, the young model appeared in Divas and Madame Figaro, both French magazines, and took to the stage in the Rodin Museum in Paris, and also featured in GQ magazine and Fashion TV.

Then in 2001, a striking 20-year-old Senegalese, Ramatoulaye Diallo, emerged the star of a glam slam final on May 26 in Sun City, Johannesburg. Diallo captivated a continental audience and set a path to one of the fashion capitals of the world – New York! M-Net CEO, Glen Marques, says that the new season is as a result of the success of previous Face of Africa searches across the continent. “M-Net and

Face of Africa are synonymous and when we decided to rest the project in 2001, its unique appeal continued to attract enduring interest. Essentially, the event was brought back in 2005 due to popular demand. It is significant how many people recognize and identify with this initiative.” In 2005 the search was on again and the elegant 1.75 metre tall, Kaone Kario from Botswana, walked away with Africa’s most prestigious modelling title – the M-NET Nokia Face off Africa crown and a three-year modelling contract with Storm Model Management. Presently, she is Africa’s most sought-after supermodel.

Thanks to these beauty contests, more African faces are appearing on popular glossy magazines. Their beauty has challenged the images that the western media has projected for long, which propagated the invisibility of the natural African or black woman. But what is the value of these contests been? Whereas they have changed the lives of a few individuals, they have done little to change the perception of the African woman. Most African women argue that these contents are not accurate representations of the African concept of beauty.

Granted, winners may share the same darkness of skin and a few reflections of African heritage, some of them even have the signature thick nose and thick lips. But many African women complain that they do not see reflections of themselves in the winning models. Iman, one of the past events’ winners, for instance, does not look like most sub-Sahara Africa women, in addition, only the Dinka, Luos, and Nuers can identify with the Alek Wek.

In Uganda most of the contestants were turned away from the recent Face of Africa contest because their hips were too big, and would thus negatively affect sponsorship and advertising opportunities for whichever modelling agencies took them up Girls who made it past the preliminaries were pencil-thin, and one of them made headlines for appearing malnourished and emaciated. In a continent with a potful of ethnic traits, it’s dangerous to make generalizations about the standard African look. A Xhosa and an Eritrean, for instance, though both are Africans, are significantly different. Many Africans tend to have wider noses, fuller faces, more generous posteriors, and hips. It is usually nomadic Africans who have Germanic 6 ft heights and most African women are less than 5’6.

It, therefore, begs the question what kinds of mound do organizers of such contests try to fit African beauties in? Is it really an African concept of beauty? And if so, what justification do they have in claiming that the Xhosa’s failed on account of their height or the Banyankoles on account of the size of their hips? It is clear that the judges are still operating within the narrow confines of a Eurocentric concept of beauty, where the standard aesthetic of long straight hair, a straight nose, and high cheekbones is the order of the day. All the winning models are tall and slim. And in such contests one irony carries the day – kinky African hair does not take anyone past the elimination rounds, neither does being larger than size 2 or having excess weight. But don’t most Africans have kinky hair, and don’t they look well fed’?

Theresa, a former Toronto-based black model, explains that the modelling industry is a vicious dog-eat-dog-world. It’s a very tight-knit industry controlled by a small group of people. Models have to succumb to the image that designers dictate. “It is a fickle industry where the girls have no control over their looks and have to yield to the whims of other people.” As such, they are deprived of an opportunity to be themselves. Upon signing modelling contracts, the beauties become a company’s property, literary. That probably explains Beyonce Knowles’ million-dollar contract under whose terms she is forbidden to change her physical appearance in the next few years. Hopefully, she never gets an attack of adult acne, but then again she has the money to pay specialist dermatologists to fix her face. Theresa further explains that models have no control even over petite details such as their hairstyle or nail trimming. Perhaps the untold story is that at the end of their modelling careers, most of them wear wigs and weaves because they have either damaged their hair or scalp and even ruined their skins through excessive use of make-up.

Models undergo more criticism than the average person. One small physical feature may be an enhancement in one campaign but in another, the same positive attribute may make them lose contracts.

Another appalling reality is that when a black woman is on the cover of a magazine, even when her features are somewhat Eurocentric statistics show that she makes fewer sales than a white model. Perhaps this explains why we rarely see black models gracing magazine covers alone; they are in most cases accompanied by Eurocentric looking ones. There is a lot of pressure for black models to look like white ones, as opposed to being true reflections of their natural self.

Theresa points an accusing finger at designers, who are more often than not “narrow-minded” in their choice of models. Consumers who continue to empower modelling companies by continuously buying from them stereotypical representations of beauty are also culpable “Many people are up in arms against the hypocrisy and manipulation of the modelling industry, but they go back to support the same people who set the standards,” she concludes.

Interestingly, many of the fashion commentators, judges, critics, and designers expecting perfection from models are themselves miles from being perfect. In most cases, they cannot fit in the clothes the models wear, and neither do they look half as good as models do.