‘America’s Next Top Model’ turns 15 in a big Italian way

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Forget ‘America’s Next Top Model.’

It’s now ‘America’s Next Top Modelle,’ Tyra Banks told The Times recently. Banks was referring to the CW reality show’s big move into high fashion for its 15th season.

Marie Claire, Jane, Elle and Seventeen? Child’s play. The winner of this season’s ‘Top Model’ will appear in a six-to-eight-page spread in Italian Vogue early next year.

The magazine, considered the most prestigious fashion publication in the world, has partnered with the CW show for the first time, and its influential editor, Franca Sozzani, will appear on the program as a judge. In addition to the Italian Vogue spread next year, the winner will appear on the cover of the magazine’s May 2011 supplement, Beauty in Vogue.

Sozzani told The Times that judging the girls was more challenging than she expected.

‘It’s very strange because usually I see the book or talk to the photographer and they show me their photos,’ the editor said. ‘When they’re in front of you, it’s different because it’s an emotional approach for the girls. They cry. So it’s more difficult.’

Banks and Sozzani had a lot more to say about the new season. It premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m.

-- Maria Elena Fernandez
twitter.com/writerchica

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