Glamorous but easily ruffled

By REBECCA BARRY

Sometimes it's tough being beautiful. Model-turned E! TV presenter Cindy Taylor is feeling the pinch as she is interviewed in the L'Oreal Powder Room.

The presenter of the American entertainment channel's Wild On travel show, which screens here on Sky TV, is filming snippets of New Zealand Fashion Week, a prospect that means she gets to trussy up in designer garb. Today she looks ever the princess in a gorgeously fussy Trelise Cooper frock.

But as a photographer snaps away, Taylor's groomed brow furrows. Someone recently published a photo of her mid-sentence, mouth open, "looking stupid", she explains. She demands he stop.

It's hard to imagine the Paraguay native and former magazine cover model ever looking stupid. And for someone so used to the camera lens, it seems an unusual request. I suggest she put up with it and check the images afterwards. She nods through an uneasy smile.

"I just love New Zealand fashion," she gushes, those stunning white teeth reappearing. "The designers are extremely talented and creative."

Since arriving in the country in the weekend she says she has fallen in love with Cooper's designs and IPG (International Play Girl) - the latter she modelled yesterday.

It's all in a day's work for someone paid to travel the globe in search of a good time. Since filling Brooke Burke's glamorous shoes a year ago, she has bungy-jumped, waterskied and surfed her way through more than 25 countries. New Zealand, it seems, is a little scary. Not only are there publicity shots to contend with, according to one Powder Room fixture, Taylor hasn't spoken to anyone all day.

Midway through describing what a wonderful time she is having, the smile and the poise disappear. "Did you get it yet?" she asks the shutterbug. "It distracts me a lot while we're talking."

Herald Feature: New Zealand Fashion Week

L'Oreal New Zealand Fashion Week official site