A Chilean soap-opera star, a beauty from Ancient Pompeii and a freckled tomboy hardly make an average beauty pageant line-up.
But the three faced off in the first world-wide digital beauty contest which to the surprise of many frenzied online fans was won by a woman who is virtually real flesh and bones.
Katty-ko, who was modelled on a Chilean soap-opera star, has won the first world-wide digital beauty contest.
"Virtual models are not the anti-real, they are a different representation of reality," said Franz Cerami, the organiser of Miss Digital World.
Each of the contestants had to provide glamorous shots of hi-resolution divas, complete with date of birth and body measurements to make busty video game heroine Lara Croft blush.
Chilean Rodolfo Perez Ayala decided that no figment of his imagination could beat the beauty of his wife, Katty Kowaleczko, so he hired artist Flavio Parra to recreate her from pixels.
Kowaleczko, who plays Paula Sandoval in the popular Latin American soap opera Tentacion, was transformed into Katty-ko and won the digital contest with more than 17,000 online votes.
"I''m so happy Katty-ko won. I think her strength is her resemblance to a real woman - not too exuberant or voluptuous", Kowaleczko, 40, told reporters. "Her beauty is in her simplicity."
Kowaleczko was not afraid of being replaced by her 3D clone in movies or theatres, but hoped she would become "a sort of ambassador of Chilean beauty and creativity".
Cerami said Latin American interest in Miss Digital World had boomed since Katty-ko joined the contest, which attracted about 3600 entries from countries from Iran to Australia and even from the ancient Roman empire.
"Pompea" was the digital reconstruction of a young woman killed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
"She was a slave, but also a rich man''s lover. When her body was discovered, archaeologists found many jewels and a bangle with the inscription ''dominus ancillae suae'' (from the master to his servant girl)" said Genny Tortora, a professor at the University of Salerno who led Pompea''s creative team.
Other contestants included Kaya, the most realistic model with digital freckles, pouty lips and upturned nose.
Now, Cerami''s dream is to manage an agency of virtual pin-ups , touting them for calendars, games, ads, and movies. One is even reported to be heading for Playboy''s front page.
一位是智利肥皂剧明星，一位是来自庞培古城的美女，还有一位脸上长着雀斑的顽皮姑娘，这三者几乎没法在一场普通的选美大赛中相提并论。
然而，她们却在首届“数字世界小姐”选美大赛中三峰对峙，令不少狂热网友惊奇的是，最后的赢家竟是一位以真人为原型的虚拟美女。
“虚拟美女和真实并不矛盾，她们是对真实之美的不同体现。”“数字世界小姐”选美大赛的组织者法朗兹·赛拉米说。
每位参赛者都必须提供女主角高清晰度的迷人照片，并附上她们的出生日期和足以让电脑游戏里的大胸女英雄劳拉·克劳福特脸红的三围数字。
智利人鲁道夫·佩雷斯·阿亚拉确信，在他的想象中，没有别的虚拟形象能比他的妻子凯蒂·科瓦列兹科更美丽的了，因此他请艺术家弗拉维奥·帕拉来用像素重现她的模样。
科瓦列兹科在拉美流行肥皂剧《诱惑》中扮演了保拉·桑多瓦尔，以她为原型塑造的“凯蒂”在网上投票中以1.7万票赢得此次数字小姐大赛的冠军。
“凯蒂获胜我非常开心，我想她的优势在于她和真正的女人很相似，并不过分奢华或性感艳丽。她的美源于她的简单朴素。”40岁的科瓦列兹科对记者说。
科瓦列兹科夫人并不担心自己在（将来的）电影或戏剧中会被她的3D“替身”所取代，她希望自己能成为“象征智利美丽和创造力的使者”。
赛拉米说，自从凯蒂参加比赛后，拉美人对“数字世界小姐”选美大赛的兴趣大增。此次大赛吸引了来自伊朗、澳大利亚等国的3600名参赛者，甚至还有选手来自古罗马帝国。
“庞贝尔”是利用数字技术“复活”的一名公元79年在维苏威火山爆发中死去的年轻女子。
“她是一个奴隶，同时也是一个富人的情人。当她的遗体被发现时，考古学家发现了许多珠宝和一只刻着‘主人给他的侍女’字样的手镯。”萨勒诺大学的热尼·托尔托拉教授说，他是“庞贝尔”设计小组的领导人。
其他参赛者还包括最具现实主义风格的虚拟美女“凯亚”，她有着数字技术合成的雀斑，噘起的樱唇和翘翘的鼻子。
赛拉米现在的梦想是成立一个虚拟美女代理机构，将她们“推销”给挂历、游戏、广告和电影等产业。据报道，已经有一位美女登上了《花花公子》的头版。
（中国日报网站译）
Vocabulary:
tomboy: a girl considered boyish or masculine in behavior or manner（行为似男孩的顽皮姑娘）
figment: something invented, made up, or fabricated（臆造的事物，虚构的事）
pin-up: a picture, especially of a sexually attractive person, that is displayed on a wall（挂在墙上的性感美貌女郎画像）
