Rating:

July 11, 2007

ONE model is too "pear- shaped."

Another model's face is "too round."

And yet another one - a 16-year-old beauty from Brazil - is advised to lose her "Brazilian attitude" and while she's at it, a couple of pounds too.

These girls - participants in "A Model Life with Petra Nemcova," a new modeling competition show on TLC - all look OK to me.

But, ironically, I'm not a gay man in the fashion industry - which means my opinion on the physical qualities of a group of young women aspiring to become fashion models isn't worth squat.

I'm an idiot about this stuff. While I was watching a preview DVD of this new show, it never occurred to me that Lucia, a blue-eyed, 18-year-old, drop-dead gorgeous stunner from Slovakia, was shaped like a pear.

And, as far as the Brazilian goes, I fail to see where she can shed the weight this modeling agency executive advises her to lose.

Such are the mysteries of the fashion industry, whose idiosyncrasies have formed the basis for such shows as "Project Runway" and "America's Next Top Model," on which "A Model Life" seems to be modeled.

Nemcova, the supermodel who survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, is this show's Tyra Banks.

In "A Model Life," six young hopefuls from around the world will take a stab at becoming models in New York. Though it's not a weighty matter for me, I wish them well.

"A Model Life with Petra Nemcova"
Friday, 10 p.m., TLC

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