As a child she waded in muddy Philippine rice paddies, now teenager Janicel Lubina struts down runways for the country s top designers and is hoping to be crowned among the world s most beautiful women.
Lubina is a star recruit in one of Manila s beauty pageant boot camps, where shy, lanky teenage girls from remote farming provinces are transformed into poised Barbie dolls who can preach about world peace in six-inch heels.
Beauty pageants are hugely popular with women in the Philippines, with many taking part in the hope it will lead to luxury living, success in high fashion, and movie stardom.
“My mother was a maid. I can t be a maid forever and get stuck in the province,” 19-year-old Lubina told AFP before she auditioned for this year s Binibining Pilipinas (Miss Philippines) contest.
Lubina mastered what is dubbed the “duck walk” at the Kagandahang Flores (Beauty of the Flower) training camp in Manila, where students are taught to perfect their beauty queen strut by swinging their hips from side to side like ducks.