Supermodel Naomi Campbell will visit Thailand next month to offer advice to Thaksin Shinawatra on his idea to groom Thais to be models, the former Thai prime minister has said.
Thaksin said on Saturday Ms Campbell will be in the country from Feb 8-10 to give him tips on how Thais can follow her success as a supermodel.
The de facto leader of the Pheu Thai Party said Thais of all genders with potential would be screened to train them to be world-class models, with the only condition that they must possess a natural look with no surgery.
The nationwide election of local government chiefs will be held on Feb 1.
Thaksin asked for help from all villagers to start scouting women, men and LGBTQ people in their neighbourhoods with the potential to be models to take part in the scheme.
On Jan 5 he gave a speech in Chiang Mai province, saying he wanted to see Thai women with natural beauty join beauty contests.
Parts of the speech brought strong accusations of racism when he described models from Africa.
“African people, who have black skin and flat noses that make it difficult to breathe, are hired for millions of baht to be models," he said. "Thai people look much better. There’s no need for [our people to get] nose, jaw or breast augmentation."
