The shopping mall concourse was abuzz with the shrill sounds of children and excited mums (and some grandmothers, too) as they flocked about the brightly-lit corner of 1 Utama in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Anticipation filled the warm, sticky afternoon as tots of all shapes and sizes trooped in, spreading doses of adorable to melt even the most kid-phobic of people.
Cue for the oohs and the oh-my-god-he’s-so-cute remarks from curious onlookers as little boys and girls put their best faces on to vie for a spot in Gap’s second annual South-East Asian casting call late last year.
The casting call – a popular nationwide contest that is held yearly in North America by the US fashion brand – made its debut in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in December 2010. The local event, organised by FJ Benjamin, Gap Inc’s franchisee, took place over four days in two weekends at 1 Utama and Pavilion Kuala Lumpur recently.
The contest sought to discover new faces to front the babyGap and GapKids ad campaigns and was open to newborns and children up to the age of five for its babyGap category, and those aged between six and 10 for the GapKids group.
Last year, the South-East Asian casting call attracted up to 1,900 entries from across the three countries. This time around, the Malaysian auditions alone drew over 600 entries. A look around the audition venue saw plenty of pint-sized participants, all prettied and prepped to be photographed. While some parents brought their kids along simply for the fun of it, others harbour quite serious modelling ambitions for their little ones.
Mother-of-three Jasmine Liew, like the majority of the parents who showed up, belongs to the former. On this Saturday, she brought her one-year-old daughter Yew Huai En for the girl’s maiden audition. The 37-year-old primary school teacher from Kepong, KL, whose other children are aged six and four, decided to enrol her youngest as she is “the cutest.”
“She’s definitely not shy in front of the camera,” said the chatty mum, who happily shared that Huai En’s dad, a technical consultant, takes lots of pictures of her with his digital SLR camera.
True enough, little Huai En was cool as a cucumber as she struck a pose for the crowd. Still, Mum quietly conceded: “I think it’ll be very difficult to win something as big as this. We just wanted to try it out for fun.”
For Olga Thomesen, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mum, it was also the first such outing for her 15-month-old, Ekaterina. “We heard about the contest last year but missed it. We were stuck in traffic,” recalled the Russian native.
Earlier that day, she had fussed over which dress to pick for Ekaterina. “I thought they were going to shoot against a white background and I wanted something that would make her stand out, so I chose a dress with navy stripes. It’s our first time at a casting call and it’s certainly something interesting.”
Homemaker Alicia Chew Sue Lynn, 29, came with her seven-month-old daughter Taylor Grunden at the urging of family and friends.
“I first found out about the contest via SMS. Then everybody kept telling me I should sign her up because she’s such a cute baby and always smiling, and it’s so easy to take pictures with her. This is our first try,” Chew explained.
While she was excited about Taylor’s potential shot at becoming a child star, Liew insisted she would not encourage her daughter, who was born in Wisconsin in the United States, to pursue a modelling career when she is older.
“Modelling is fine now as she doesn’t understand fame at this age and it’s fun but I don’t think I would want her to do this when she grows up. She might become arrogant.”
Already, smiley Taylor looked the part of a mini-diva. Sporting a pink headband, the tot seemed complacent in the presence of her toys, a mini-fan and her doting grandma, Christina Chen, 56. Chen was reciting rhyming verses to placate her little granddaughter as they waited in line.
Syahrain Hanni, 27, meanwhile, was candid about her modelling aspirations for her child Mya Rania, six months old, whom she named after the beautiful Queen Rania of Jordan.
Clearly, KL-born Syahrain, who once worked in the fashion industry, channels her passion for fashion to her daughter. The bubbly Mya caught everybody’s eye with a huge, bubble-gum pink flower headband. “I bought it online. It’s not available in Malaysia,” said the proud mum when we commended her choice of accessory.
She hopes the audition will kick-start a modelling career for Mya. “I will definitely support her if she wants to pursue a career in modelling in the future. Maybe she’ll grow up to be like Miranda Kerr (the Australian supermodel of Victoria’s Secret fame who is married to British actor Orlando Bloom). I love Miranda – she’s just so cute and adorable.”
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
