SHE’S ONLY 13 AND SHE KNOWS HOW TO MODEL

One by one they paraded down the runway one recent Saturday afternoon in front of Bloomingdale’s at Valley View, most looking older than their years and each very nervous. All wanted to be chosen the “Top Teen Model” in Dallas. A panel of judges that included representatives from several Dallas area modeling agencies had evaluated photos sent in by more than 500 contestants before narrowing the field to these 25 finalists.

Most of the folks at KEGL radio, which co-sponsored the event along with Mischief Body Spray, used words like “wholesome” and “fresh” to describe the girls competing for a free 28-week modeling course.

“All we asked them to do was send us a full-length photo,” says Donna Fadal, an account executive with the Dallas rock station, “so some pretty fat girl wouldn’t send us just a picture of her face.”

Many did send full-length photos that made them look wholesome. But some of the ingenues sent slick professional photos that made them look glamorous, older and, some might say, pretty sexy-maybe even stretching the boundaries of good taste.

“The girls were not cutthroat about the competition,” Fadal says. “But they’re all overachievers. There wasn’t a dead-beat in the bunch. Actually, we had more of a problem with the parents. In fact, one of the girls accidentally damaged a dress and her mother wouldn’t pay for the damages because her daughter didn’t win.”