What? ME Worry?

On the lookout for modeling talent, we’re always anxious. But when it comes to scouting modeling schools, we can relax knowing students such as this year’s Mr. & Ms. Barbizon will deliver

By now, after years of reading about the success stories of talented young people competing for the Barbizon top model award during the IMTA competition, our readers and the industry fully realize the importance of scouting this event while looking for the next new talent for a variety of positions in the entertainment field, from runway, to print, as well as on-screen. Professionally, we look for the next face to grace our pages and present leading fashion designers’ gowns in the Pageantry & PromTime Fashion Showcase, featured in our Spring 2008 edition. And this year was no exception.

The atmosphere in New York City during the IMTA/Barbizon competition is like no other. Literally hundreds of young aspirants move from competition to competition, attend the numerous training seminars, and meet with various agents and scouts throughout the week. Upon our arrival, we immediately meet with Barbizon executive Wendy Cleveland and plan our call-back meeting to interview and select the next Ms. and Mr. Barbizon, who will be featured in the upcoming Fashion Showcase. How will the selection process go? Will we find the next face of Barbizon. Believe us when we say, “We are just as nervous and tense as the talented young women and men we meet. The pressure to find the next face and talent can become excruciatingly intense in a short period of time.”

MR. & MS. BARBIZON 2007: Michael and Jenna venture out on the sidewalks of New York, celebrating their selection as Fashion Showcase models.

TROPHY TIME: Pageantry CEO Carl Dunn congratulates Ms. Barbizon 2007 Jenna Gallaher and Mr. Barbizon 2007 Michael Stoltzfus during the awards presentation at this year’s IMTA/Barbizon convention in New York City.

Why worry? One thing we must remind ourselves is that we will always find our talent. All the young people of Barbizon are trained for this opportunity. They all come prepared for the call-back and interview. They are aware of the possibility that they are about to earn a place in the largest on-location fashion photo shoot in the world for prom, pageant, and social occasion apparel. They are ready! So... why worry?

As with any major scouting effort, many times we look to fulfill a need or look before our next model or talent search. Not so in New York. Our appointments schedule was filled with deserving young people—each one qualified in his or her own right. That’s when it happens. The next face is sitting directly across from us. The decision is made. All of their hard work has paid off, and the next featured models of Barbizon have set themselves apart from the other top-rate talent.

In the upcoming Spring 2008 editions of Pageantry & PromTime, you will see the very people who caught our eye. Jenna Gallaher and Michael Stoltzfus will share the pages that many previous Ms. and Mr. Barbizon alumni have graced. Were they really that qualified? Here’s something to keep in mind and help build the suspense until the release of the Spring 2008 magazines... After watching the models give their all and demonstrate why they were originally chosen, we chose Jenna as one of the featured models to shoot for the PromTime cover. That’s quality and talent! Will she be the next Barbizon face showcased on the cover of Pageantry & PromTime? Readers will just have to wait till the Spring 2008 to find out.

What? Me worry?