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'Marvillous' Miss Barbados
Style Observer
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Our first encounter with the lovely Leah Marville came some three years ago backstage Barbados Fashion Week. Then, a pencil-thin runway ingénue, she perhaps had no clue that following her stint as a Saint model on The Rock, she'd become her native island's poster child for 'beauty with a purpose' - Miss Barbados 2009.
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| Miss Barbados 2009, Leah Marville. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood) |
"Pageantry is not a career for me," Marville tells SO on an overcast Wednesday afternoon, the eve of her departure from The Rock to Johannesburg, South Africa, the city which this year hosts Miss World events and the Grand Coronation Show slated for December 12.
"What appeals to me is that you can be a vehicle of change and the title can help you to do that," she adds in a very matter-of-fact tone. Eschew all thoughts of just a pretty face, a subtle wrist movement that affords the perfect wave, or a winning smile with nothing behind it all; Marville instead wants to use this platform to bring international attention to Bim (a term of endearment for Barbados).
"I want to be a change agent, help make that paradigm shift in Barbados," she reiterates as she adjusts her chocolate brown tulip dress cinched at the waist with studded detailing. "This gives me the opportunity to promote the Caribbean and, especially, what's truly unique about Barbados."
She knows exactly what she's talking about, too, since she's worked and lived in other Caribbean islands.
But more than clamouring over azure waters, cream-coloured shores and to-die-for sunset vistas, the beauty wants the world to know that life in the developing world is rife with challenges.
To this end, she started The Love Campaign charity, which seeks to alleviate the stigma attached to those infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
"The high incidence of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean is alarming and hopefully, through the opportunity of representing Barbados on an international level, I can change that," she adds noting, too, that her project also features a school-assistance fund which affords children affected by HIV/AIDS a social and creative outlet.
Though Marville feels that her life as a model has somewhat prepared her for her new role, she points out, "Pageantry is a completely different paradigm."
"Modelling has prepared me in terms of time management, but as a model you get a script or storyline; you do what the client wants. Pageantry, though, is real life. you have to be yourself," she observes.
And with real life come lots of life lessons, some of which the 20-something year-old student lawyer is willing to share with SO.
"I've learnt so much already. I just want to broaden my exposure and be on my way to fostering communication between my island and the world," she says, noting that she is most grateful to be sharing this moment in time.
"What comes before us and what comes after us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us," she muses as she sums up her chances at nabbing the international crown.
"I do think I stand a good chance, because I'm a very gracious person who has an outstanding appreciation for life. I hope that shines through during my time there (in South Africa)," Marville tells SO. Of course, styling by a cluster of formidable Caribbean designers like Meiling and Peter Elias out of Trinidad & Tobago, Uzuri out of Jamaica, Shakad, Pauline Bellamy, along with several boutiques of her native island, should help her to shine even more throughout the competition.
And though Barbados has never copped the crown - only having a semi-finalist in 1974 or making the top 15 in recent years - the would-be entertainment lawyer is forging ahead with a dream.
It's the bigger cause she's after.
"I know I'm in a competition with 120 girls, but I feel like I'm in it by myself," she admits, "not because I feel I'm above any one of them, but because I approach this platform as an avenue for me to grow. if it's for me, then, another girl can't win!"
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