EVERY year, hundreds of thousands of attractive young women with dreams apply for all kinds of fashion model contests around China. Only a few have what it takes to make it big time in the country and even fewer make a splash internationally.

The Elite Model Look contest searches for fresh new faces worldwide each year. The China final in September will be held, for the first time, in Paris - an indication of how important Chinese modeling has become.

Fashion scouts will be looking for interesting new looks, and what the professionals prefer is often quite different from what the public likes.

In the fashion world, everyone who makes it is tall, but beyond that, what works for a domestic audience with certain ideas of prettiness often isn't the same for international catwalks in Paris, Milan, London and New York, and the covers of international fashion magazines.

What flies internationally, in fact, turns many Chinese people off. Top models must be tall, thin and leggy and have tiny heads with "palm faces," so small they can be covered by an open palm of the hand.

As for features, Oriental exotic is out - it was popular a decade ago when people were just getting to know about China. And fair skin and "pretty" looks are not essential - makeup can fix anything, and some models see themselves as "palettes." Interesting, refreshing looks are in - conventional "sweet" looks are too conventional.

Still, it is possible to make it.

Success is not all fantasy. Look at Liu Wen, Du Juan and Sun Feifei, the three top models in China, who are also recognized internationally.

All of them entered the world of high fashion by entering a modeling contest "by accident." In a short time, their lives were transformed.

Born in Sichuan Province and reared in Shandong Province, Sun was an ordinary college student before she won third place in last year's Elite Model Look world final.

In less than one year, the 20-year-old has graced the covers of numerous international and domestic fashion magazines, signed up with luxury fashion brands to appear in their global advertising campaigns and earned far more money than most girls of her age.

Contest winners get more than US$100,000 in prize money, plus contracts to come.

Although these three young women, Liu, Du and Sun, are internationally appreciated, to most Chinese people they are far from "beauties."

This goes to show that you don't have to look perfect - at least you don't have to meet older ideas of perfection - to become a model these days. In fact, perfection doesn't sell so well.

"I think I look more like a 'girl next door'," says Liu, who appeared in 74 fashion shows earlier this year at the world's four major fashion weeks (London, Paris, Milan, New York). She's one of the hottest Asian models in the international market today.

"Years ago, when people told me that I should go abroad for career development, I thought they were indicating that I'm not pretty enough, in a nice way," she laughs.

In fact, Liu does look quite "ordinary" according to Chinese people's traditional standards of a beauty.

Favored domestically these days are regular features, large eyes (usually with double eyelids), a nose with a high bridge and white skin - a soft face. Oval is ideal. Many people also like a "sweet" face. The look is actually rather "Western."

Liu, by contrast, is attractive and interesting with darker skin, long, slanted eyes, an ordinary nose and a sharp chin.

She says of her style: "My outstanding characteristic is that I don't have a strong characteristic. I'm like a piece of blank paper, you can paint it any color you want."

"I had never been told that I'm beautiful before I became a model," says Liu. "I still don't think I am. However, compared with Western models, I think we (Chinese models) are more feminine, demure and not as tough as some Western girls appear to be."

The type of Asian models favored by the international market today has changed from the "look" in vogue a decade back. Then there was a demand for Chinese models with very "exotic" looks, such as Lu Yan and Li Xin.

The look: long, narrow eyes, single eyelids, defined cheekbones, a full mouth, a nose without a high bridge. That was quite different from what Chinese people liked, and what they still like today.

Both Lu and Li were considered not just "average" but actually "ugly" by many Chinese people.

"At that time, China was still a mysterious Oriental country to many Western people," says Liu, a native of Hunan Province. "So were Chinese models. You could easily be remembered as long as you had some distinctive Asian features."

But things are different nowadays, due to the country's rapid development in recent years, and the international success of Chinese actresses such as Zhang Ziyi.

"Your body proportions and your attitude toward the job are what count the most," Liu explains. "They must meet the international standards."

Those international standards are a height of at least 1.78-1.8 meters, a rather bony/angular frame and a small "palm face."

Further - and very important - models need to be good in front of a camera. Top fashion photographers and magazines look beyond runway skills - they want models who are imaginative, dynamic, flexible and spontaneous.

These are the major standards cited by Emma Cai from ESEE Model Management, one of China's leading model agencies, contracted with top models including Sun, Song Shanshan, Kang Qianwen and Zhou Bin.

"Graduates from Chinese modeling schools are all very well trained with catwalk skills, but most of them have very poor shooting sense," she says. "To be international-wise, you must be creative and look good in front of the camera."

According to Russell Woo, an established local show/event director, perfect body proportions and a tiny face are crucial.

"As a model, it's the clothes that wear you, instead of the other way round," he points out. "After all, fashion is still a game played exclusively by slim people. To display the clothes, being skinny is far from enough. You must have long legs, too."

Maggie Mao, fashion editor from Grazia magazine, concurs that tiny faces are essential.

"It (a small head) is a must," she says. "As a matter of fact, you don't necessarily have to have perfect facial features because there are always makeup tricks."

Some models look quite ordinary but they can be transformed by makeup into another person, stunningly stylish, coy, vampish or whatever is needed.

But you can't change the size of your head, or the length of your legs.

Professor Wang Yiqun from Shanghai Donghua University has been teaching modeling since 1991. According to her, what the general public likes can be quite different from what the professionals prefer.

"I think the general public still prefers cute, healthy girls with a fair, round face," she says. "In fact, people with a 'palm face' would look quite weird in real life. The same is true if they are too skinny."

Different clients have different requirements, adds Cai from ESEE Model Managements.

Some brands, especially those for casual wear and sports brands, prefer to use models who look sweet, cute and are not too skinny, especially for runway shows and events in public places, such as streets or shopping malls.

Elite Model Look

The China final of Elite Model Look 2009 will be held on September 13 and - for the first time - in Paris. The competition was launched nationwide earlier this month.

All the contestants will be trained by professionals and fashion designers in Milan and Paris before the final.

They will also be featured in a fashion show at the Louvre Museum, according to Tian Ming, a director at Shanghai Dragon TV, an organizer of the competition.

The champion will represent China in the world final at the Beauty Crown Hotel in Sanya, Hainan Province.

Seventy contestants from more than 60 countries are expected to take part on October 6.

Elite Model Look is a global campaign by France-based Elite, one of the world's leading model agencies, to discover fresh new faces. Every year, more than 350,000 young women from all over the world enter the competition. Top models selected from past contests include Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Gisele Bundchen.

Since its debut in 1995, the Elite Model Look contest in China has helped launch the careers of top Chinese models such as Xie Dongna, Wang Wenqin, Shi Zhouliang, and most recently, Sun Feifei.

The competition is no stranger to Shanghai people as the city has held its world finals in both 2004 and 2005.