Thanks YQT.
At least I remembered part of her name correctly! :bsmilie: Growing old oredi mah! :sticktong
It was AMAZING how Singapore hated her, comdemend her and immediately after, all the big name designers in Milan could wait to sign her on! As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Did you ever see Nora's Paris spread in Swimwear Illustrated? The way she expressed herself through her eyes, face and body would put many models to shame.
Add: Apologies Find Me ... OT again. Sigh, it's a virus here in CS I tell you, all this OT-ing!
Correc: She probably did manieee swimwear shoots since she was based in France. She also did a topless shoot for GQ in the late 90s. If your caucasian photog boss and the CD were blown-away by her X-factor, then that must have been the same spread we saw! Was it like a 'three-some' with a caucasian girl and a guy(?) in a tan/neutral coloured room that was on the 2nd or 3rd floor apartment (going by the perspective of the exterior visible through the window in the NG)? A few of the shots showed her sprawled and crawling like an exotic, wild cat.
The amount of sexual energy at that shoot was both something you could swipe a finger against and lick like thick, whipped fresh cream, yet it was tastefully done! AIYOH! Wait one day I see if I can look through my store-room and find if I still have that issue. I have this habit of keeping old mags and books. See lah, the things that 'old men' and foggy memories get up to! :bsmilie:
Apparently Nora also studied acting while she was a model, and went on to star in two films, one of which was and international success. She was with Ford Models, and was a model for Cover Girl in New York. She's now a successful real estate agent in NY.
http://www.halstead.com/agent.aspx?id=n7a
http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/models/nora_ariffin/photos/
Sooooo, who says Singapore girls can't make it big in the international modelling scene, and beyond?
Yes, they were illuminaries!
Bonnie passed on in a very sad, and dramatic way in the SilkAir crash. It was the time when Jamie Yeo was a young radio DJ, and I think she received quite a lot of flack for an 'insensitive' comment she made on-air too soon after that crash.
What's interesting was that while some of our girls achieved international success* as elevated models, they also wern't 'bimbos'. Hanis went on to start her own business (can't remember the name), and what strikes me as particularly helpful was that Nora studied professional acting in New York even while she was modelling. I am sure that helped her immensely in internalising and projecting.
I hesitate to say this, but nowadays, I seriously doubt if any of the 'hot' models you see flaunting it at weekend shoots would even know what professional modelling demands.
* Nora quickly achieved international recognition by becoming the 1st Asian model to represent 'ALLURE' for Chanel Perfume. Soon Seventh Avenue took notice and Nora re-located to Manhattan 4 years later, where she became recognized as the face of L'Oreal Feria Hair worldwide, appearing on a 3-story billboard in Times Square.
I can't remember the 'in-between' years after she left modelling, but she was variously involved in the beauty/business related industries, and is now 'Singapore's No 1 celebrity golfer'. Did you know Bonnie personally? I didn't, but I wished I did, and not for the glam reasons either.
Sigh ... at the risk of sounding like an old hag, I would say, "Those were the days when we had REAL models".
Radio personalities get off a little easier probably because they are never 'visible' and therefore more forgettable than TV personalities. In a way that's also good because they are allowed more freedom to get creative ... itmakes for far better entertainment. If it only wern't for uptight self-rightousness of some citizens ... the same thing that got Bonnie 'ostracised' from what was shaping to be an interesting column in the Sunday Times that she was given, and in my opinion, wrote quite well.
