Lord & Taylor announces that celebrated TV personality Robert Verdi will present the twelve semi-finalists of NEXT YEAR'S MODEL The 2008 Lord & Taylor Model Search, at a Fashion Show on the 10th floor of its Flagship store, March 6th, 6 PM. The semi-finalists will be announced on February 29th on the NEXT YEAR'S MODEL website, www.lordandtaylor.com/modelsearch, shortly after the second-round voting comes to an end at midnight February 26.
Twenty would-be contestants were selected at casting calls held earlier this month at the Lord & Taylor stores on Fifth Avenue, Garden State Plaza, Paramus NJ, Prudential Center, Boston, MA, Chevy Chase, Washington, DC, Eastchester, Scarsdale, NY, and Garden City, NY. The public vote has had the opportunity to vote their favorites, one vote per e-mail, and they can still vote on the ten top contestants per market from the first-round vote presently posted on the site. Public vote will count for 49%.
"I remember going to Lord & Taylor every weekend with my Mom when I was a kid ... there was always something so captivating to me about the Lord & Taylor lifestyle. All the best dressed people shopped there and I knew that I wanted to be just like them," Robert Verdi said. "I'm thrilled to be hosting the Lord & Taylor's model search: they're a shopping institution and now cultivating new images of American beauty."
One of the most highly recognizable faces in the world of fashion today, Jersey-born Robert Verdi changed the way America sees fashion in 2000 when he co-created and co-hosted the groundbreaking show Full Frontal Fashion on Metro TV, the first show to bring non-stop coverage of Fashion Week into America's living rooms. In 2002, Robert began co-hosting Surprise by Design, which would become the Discovery Channel's highest rated daytime show. Shortly afterwards, Robert joined E! Entertainment Television as their voice of fashion and was charged with covering the red carpet as well as hosting Fashion Police, a weekly insider's look at the world of fashion and style. He has been a guest star, as himself, on UPN's Eve, ABC's Hope & Faith, and most recently in a cameo in The Devil Wears Prada. Verdi has also appeared as the in-the-know interior design and fashion expert on The View, Regis & Kelly, The Today Show as well as cable's CNN Headline News and VH1's The Fabulous Life. Robert has also written columns for the magazines InsideTV and The Daily. Verdi has also used his design virtuosity to help update the homes and the wardrobes of A-listers like Eva Longoria, Hugh Jackman, Sandra Bernhard, Mariska Hargitay, Bobby Flay and Joely Fisher.
Industry experts, including LaVelle Olexa, Lord & Taylor's SVP Advertising, Sales Promotion and Public Relations and David Lipman, Chairman of LIPMAN, the advertising agency responsible for Lord & Taylor's much talked about $10 Million branding campaign, will be among the judges who will select the two winners of NEXT YEAR'S MODEL The Lord & Taylor Model Search to be shot during Fall 2008. The winners will also win a $1000 Lord & Taylor shopping spree and each of the ten finalists, a $500 Lord & Taylor shopping spree.
Aimed to modernize the store's image while celebrating its 181-year-old heritage, Lord & Taylor's branding campaign debuted last Fall, showcasing the results of the four year repositioning effort spearheaded by Jane Elfers, Lord & Taylor's President and Chief Executive Officer. Lord & Taylor has created a buzz in the fashion industry by demonstrating its commitment to upgrading merchandise assortments, in-store services and amenities, brand packaging and the total overhaul of its media mix.
