From the catwalks of Paris to a model solution for Hongkong

IT TAKES one of the best to make one of the best, or so goes the thinking behind Hongkong's newest modelling school which will open next month.

Former Chanel and Christian Dior model Marianne Cartier is joining the territory's top choreographer, Kiki Fleming, in a venture which is hoped will breathe new life into the modelling scene.

The pair collaborated soon after Ms Cartier arrived in Hongkong a few months ago, working together on the hugely successful Vogue Alley show.

Ms Fleming and Ms Cartier say the school is desperately needed as the local modelling industry is running out of fresh faces and, in order to prevent it going stale, new talent has to be found.

''It is essential to have a breath of fresh air,'' Ms Fleming said.

''There is a desperate situation here with regards to the quality of the models. That is why we have to open this school.'' The school will take the form of a series of intensive seminars. The preliminary plans are to run the individual sessions over 10 days; some will be evenings while others may be full days. The syllabus is a comprehensive one: girls learn how to do ''fullturns'' in heels and flats, model everything from jackets and capes to jewellery and lingerie, learn grooming and hygiene, spend a day at a nails, hair and beauty salon, visit a photographic studio and, most importantly, try to come to grips with the business of modelling.