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Hong Kong modelling contest that was ‘chance in a million’, with the winner guaranteed a job, free clothes and flights
- In 1966, Australian model-turned-businesswoman June Dally-Watkins announced she would turn one underprivileged Hong Kong woman into a top-flight model
- Multiple big-name sponsors promised that the winner would not need to spend a penny for her potential modelling career
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“A Hong Kong girl will be given a chance of climbing to success on the rungs of a ladder to a top-flight modelling career,” the South China Morning Post reported on September 4, 1966.
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This exciting news came when the Australian model-turned-businesswoman June Dally-Watkins, who was on a brief visit in Hong Kong, said that “when she returned in October with Australia’s first comprehensive fashion collection to give a series of charity fashion shows, she would select a local girl to take back with her”.
Dally-Watkins – who had, in 1950, set up a finishing school in Australia bearing her name – said the girl would be personally groomed by her to be a model.
“I want a girl from an underprivileged area. Some girl who would never have the chance of such a career without help. She should be a girl of character – perhaps someone already serving with one of the voluntary auxiliaries or interested in youth work,” Dally-Watkins said.
Multiple big-name sponsors promised that the young woman chosen would not need to spend a penny for her potential modelling career.
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