| Aussie sisters join modelling's Elite |
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THE Carr sisters, Jacqueline and Georgia, are the first Australians to represent the internationally famed Elite model agency after the company opened for business on the Gold Coast last week. The company, which made famous Claudia Schiffer and Linda Evanglista, signed a $32 million deal with a Queensland developer last Thursday to manage models in Australia and New Zealand. Jacqueline, 16, and Georgia, 14, from Bayswater in Victoria, were chosen from a national talent hunt conducted by the newly appointed head of Elite in Australia, Greg Tyshing.
The two will compete against 80 finalists from 50 countries in the the annual Look competition in Shanghai, on November 11. Mr Tyshing said Australia was favoured to host the Look competition in 2007, with Bangkok set to follow Shanghai in 2006. The girls will be accompanied by Mr Tyshing and their father Damien to Shanghai, leaving their mother Sandra at home with younger sister Meg, 11. It is their first time overseas. Jacqueline said her exams had been postponed at Aquinas College in Ringwood, and her school friends are behind her desire for an international modelling career. But Shanghai won't be all lipstick and hairspray. "We've seen the schedule and there are 16-hour days of photo shoots and rehearsals," said Jacqueline. Founded by John Casablancas in Paris in 1972, Elite is the world's largest model agency, with 32 operations across five continents. Elite became embroiled in a scandal when BBC journalist Donal MacIntyre made an undercover documentary claiming that Elite executives - including president Gerald Marie, who was married to Evangelista for six years - propositioned underage models. Marie was suspended from the board. The BBC faced libel action, and 18 months after the program had aired, the corporation was forced to acknowledge that MacIntyre had misrepresented the agency and that the undercover investigation revealed no sexual exploitation by Elite executives of its models or Elite Model Look contestants. Elite accepted that sexual remarks made by some of its executives were clearly inappropriate. Terms of the settlement remained confidential, and both parties agreed no further statements would be made on the subject.
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