O.C.’s model citizens

COSTA MESA — If Dina Cloeters’ career plans turn out right, she’ll be fearsome during the week and beautiful on the weekends.

The Aliso Viejo resident was among hundreds of women queuing up at South Coast Plaza Saturday in hopes of becoming a model for More Magazine. For the second year in a row, the mall’s Talbots store hosted a call for women older than 40, and Cloeters decided to give it a try — before heading off to boot camp for her pending job as a prison guard.

“Your chances of it are slim,” Cloeters, 50, said about making it as a model. “Prison guard, there are always going to be criminals.”

Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, more than 400 women filed through Talbots to fill out applications, have their hair and skin touched up by beauticians, and get their pictures taken and mailed to New York. The annual model search, put on by More Magazine and Wilhelmina Models, regularly attracts more than 10,000 women.

Among those lining up in Talbots Saturday were Alexandra Jackson, a lawyer from Los Angeles who attended the call with her mother and mother-in-law, and Brenda Hughlett, a former Army officer who works as a medical assistant at UCLA. They may not be the typical Victoria’s Secret crowd, but Judy Goss, the bookings and castings editor for More Magazine, wouldn’t have it any other way.

“We’re looking for women with a healthy contemporary look who are fit and personally accomplished,” said Goss, whose magazine targets women entering middle age. “I always say we’re looking for inner beauty as well as outer beauty.”

Out of the thousands of entrants each year in the open call, More and Wilhelmina select 10 finalists, who fly to New York for a photo session and a runway show before appearing in a More photo spread. Three of the finalists ultimately receive modeling contracts with Wilhelmina, with the grand-prize winner taking home a personally fitted dress from designer Heidi Weisel.

Isabel Estolano-Franklin, who flew in from Santa Cruz County to attend the call, admitted that it was a long shot, but said after subscribing to More for years, she couldn’t resist applying.

“I’m over 40, obviously, and I’ve never felt better at any point in my life,” Estolano-Franklin, 47, said. “I thought, ‘Why not?’”

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].