LOOKING good is something the Gold Coast does really well.

And our best fashion designers and stunning models have proven they can match it with anyone in the world. The inaugural Gold Coast Fashion Week hit the catwalks in September and gained international headlines.

PICTURE GALLERY: NRA Australian Fashion Festival

PICTURE GALLERY: Stunning designs from Fashion Week 2007

PICTURE GALLERY: Gold Coast Spring Fashions 2007

It was a milestone of sequinnes and stunning styles for the Gold Coast fashion industry with guests from aroud the country descending on Australia's glitter strip for the five-day festival.

However, it was the controversy surrounding the selection of 12-year-old Maddison Gabriel as the surprise winner of the Face of the Gold Coast that drew unexpected attention. In some ways it diverted the world's eyes away from the event itself but there can be no denying that "fashion" and the "Gold Coast" have never been uttered in the same sentence so frequently.

Maddison will be the marketing star for the lead-up to next year's Gold Coast Fashion Week, and get a foot in the door to the modelling scene with a contract through the official GCFW agency, Ugly People.

Book your Gold Coast accommodation for Fashion Week 2008

But aside from Fashion Week there is plenty more going on. With so many talented designers and such an enormous variety of fashion boutiques for shopping, it's little wonder Gold Coasters are some of the best dressed in the nation.

That's why The Gold Coast Bulletin has also dedicated an annual edition of Tuesday Magazine to honour the 50 Best Dressed Women of the Gold Coast. Plus we have some of the world's best models in our city.

Samantha Harris: It was 2005 when Banora Point schoolgirl Samantha Harris stole the Australian Fashion Week spotlight as a 14-year-old Aboriginal model making her debut in high heels. Now 16, the Tweed River High student was again turning heads at the annual spring/summer showings in Sydney for the likes of Jayson Brunsdon, Alex Perry and Vogue Australia, looking much more polished and confident. When Samantha was first interviewed by The Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper in 2005, the shy teen barely spoke a sentence. Now, she can easily recap on the countries she's seen and people she's met since. Her modelling agent Kathy Ward, director of Chic Models, says Samantha had also travelled to New York for modelling assignments and hinted she could have a promising international career ahead of her.

Talullah Morton: Tweed Heads is a long way from bright lights of the international modelling circuit, but Tallulah Morton has made the journey from local 14-year-old to top model in just a couple of years. The striking teenager, who attended Wollumbin High School, now regularly graces the runways of Australian Fashion Week and New Zealand Fashion Week, with plenty of interest in Milan and New York as well. She's made the move to Sydney to further her modelling career and has been snapped up by a top modelling agency down south.

Catherine McNeil: She’s graced the catwalks of Paris, London and New York; her photographer is world-renowned and her face has made the cover of international fashion magazines.
Fashion industry insiders say Logan City teenager Catherine McNeil could be the world's next supermodel. The 17-year-old Cornubia girl has signed with world famous photographer Mario Testino and will be the new face of Hugo Boss. That follows on from the successful launch of her catwalk career at this year's Milan Fashion Week in Paris, where she did an astounding 35 shows for top designers including Givenchy. Catherine's Sydney agent, Kathy Ward, of Chic Management, said they unearthed Catherine's talent in the Girlfriend Model Search in 2003 the same competition which discovered Gold Coast model Samantha Harris.

Sophie Monk: The blonde bombshell was living on the Gold Coast and had a day job impersonating Marilyn Monroe at Warner Brothers Movie World, before she reached national fame with the reality TV-inspired female singing group Bardot. After going solo, Sophie modelled for a variety of labels and then moved overseas to pursue an acting career in the US. Her highest profile movies have been Date Movie and Click, with two more flicks ready for release soon.
She's had several small acting roles. But Sophie still relies on her modelling talent from time to time, most recently for the Biofit Bra brand on a visit back home.