Joleen Marara
RENOWNED modeling guru Sipho Ncube Mazibuko, has vowed that there is no going back in her bid to bring back her beloved ‘baby’, Miss Summer Strides.
Mazibuko said this after successfully staging a casting event which took place at Lavinia Gardens in Waterford on Sunday.
However, the event was marred by a low turnout of models.
This forced Mazibuko to organise a second casting that has been slated for Strides Salon located in the Central Business District this Thursday.
“We had a casting today, unfortunately we had a low turn out. Only 14 girls turned out,” said Mazibuko on the sidelines of the event.
“However, we are going to have a second casting because when I made the announcement about bringing back Miss Strides, people thought I was joking since I am a bipolar person,” she added.
The poor turnout did not dampen the glamour and glitz that has always been associated with all the Strides event.
“….we had intelligent and beautiful girls most of them from local universities. We want 20 models for our semifinals then we will cut down to10 for the finals,” she said.
Mazibuko recently told this publication that she was forced to bring back the once famous modeling showcase after realizing that the modelling industry was on its knees.
“I decided to come back because the modelling industry is now comatose, right now look at Miss Zimbabwe and it’s the same with Miss Tourism. So like someone who has always had a passion for modeling I thought it was high time I bring back to life Miss Summer Strides,” she said.
On Sunday, Mazibuko said she had engaged modeling agents in the city in her endeavor to bring back the cat walk industry to life.
“We want to work together as Bulawayo modelling agencies, this is a Bulawayo project, I maybe leading but it’s for everyone.”
The semifinals have been slated for November 14 with the finals taking place on November 28.
The modeling contest is open to all models in Zimbabwe aged between 18 and 25.
