By Lauren Paxman
The new face of Ann Summers: Lucy Moore beat 4,000 other models to be chosen to front the lingerie chain's Valentine's Day campaignWhen Ann Summers launched a 'find a face' campaign in November, the models they had apparently plucked from oblivion already looked a lot like professionals.
But in a victory for curvy women, the winner of the competition to find the face of the underwear chain's Valentine's Day campaign was the only plus-size finalist in the running.
Lucy Moore, a University of Westminster criminal justice student from Portsmouth secured an impressive 22 per cent of the public's 30,000 votes for Ann Summers' next star.
Miss Moore, who is a size 16, models Ann Summers' Elise (left) and Giselle lingerieThe 20-year-old was chosen from more than 4,000 entrants as one of the ten finalists to star in the chain's first ever TV advert which was screened during the final episode of ITV2’sThe Only Way is Essex.
She wowed the panel during the October judging day, which was only attended by a few plus-size models.
Miss Moore's stand out personality, body confidence and sexy, size 16 curves won over Ann Summers' CEO, Jacqueline Gold who chose to put her through to the finals.
The other nine women chosen were Sinead from Beaconsfield, Katie A from Essex, Mary from Clitheroe, Hayley from Dudley, Natalie from Huddersfield, Melanie from London, Kassidy from Hebburn, Katy K from London, and Abigail from Hartlepool.
'Real women': Ann Summers' first TV advertisement aired in November, it featured 10 women who are not professional models including Lucy, second from left at the backThen, in a bid to win over the public, Miss Moore embarked on her own promotional tour building support for her campaign.
She featured in her local newspaper as well as spending time in her local Ann Summers store as real life mannequin, modelling key lingerie lines in the store window.
Drumming up further support Lucy even donned the company's Miss Claus outfit for the opening of the new concept store in Milton Keynes, and even to Twitter and Facebook to build support from her followers and favourite celebrity tweeters.
Miss Moore told MailOnline that although she has always wanted to be a model, she still could not believe that she had won.
She said: 'At school I was the biggest girl in my group of friends, so I avoided being teased by being fun and bubbly.
'Now all of my course mates at university have seen me in my underwear. It's a bit weird.'
Tattoo lover: One of the contestants, Mary from Clitheroe, is a businesswoman who has 'wife' inked on her knuckles
Woman in black and lady in red: Natalie from Huddersfield (left), Sinead from Beaconsfield (centre) and Melanie from LondonMiss Moore added: 'This has been one of the most exciting things to happen to me and I couldn’t believe I made it into a national modelling competition and have now won; it is beyond anything I could have imagined.
'Hopefully it will be an inspiration to other curvy girls and give them confidence.
'I kept looking at the other girls and thinking how beautiful they were. I thought any one of them could win it.
'I want to represent women with a curvier figure and show them that you can be sexy no matter what your size or shape.'
From left: Katie A from Essex, Abigail from Hartlepool and Hayley from DudleyJacqueline Gold added: 'This has been such an exciting campaign for Ann Summers and I was amazed by the amount of entries we received.
'The campaign was about finding a real woman who embodied our brand and oozed sexiness and confidence.
'Lucy really stood out for us and we are really looking forward to showing off our new Valentines collection with Lucy taking centre stage in the campaign and store windows.'
Lucy’s first campaign for Ann Summers will be revealed in store windows across the UK on the 19th January 2012.
From left: Kassidy from Hebburn, Katy K from London and Lucy's original promotional shot
source:dailymail
