Over 100 hostesses have been employed at this year’s Baselworld. They need to be more than just beautiful, as exotic language skills are increasingly in demand.

The first thing visitors at Baselworld face are not watches. There are beautiful women. The first one at the entrance, wrapped in white costumes with much glitter, on the head demonstrating her sassy glitter hat – something between a Pillbox à la Jackie Kennedy, Basque beret and Princess Leia’s hair worm. In the Gucci pavillion they wear dresses professionally, black, strictly, elegant. And Jacob & Co. have their tall, slender beauties in black evening gowns and decorated with diamonds, which one would expect a Russian oligarch’s wive to wear.

For the watch and jewelry industry hostesses are nearly as indispensable as the timepiece itself. They are what the brand represents to the customers and they serve coffee and chocolates. It is far more difficult for agencies to provide the right hostesses for the individual customers.

The director of the model agency METRO Models Zurich is busy around the clock during Baselworld. “I always have to expect that a customer and an event is organized at the last minute and that a few hostesses are missing for the care of the guests,” says the Zurich representative.

The more exotic, the better

Admission is by invitation only and so one elderly man was told by a hostess that he cannot be admitted wihtout one. The man quickly replied: “Yes, you can.” It was Signor Bulgari himself. “Fortunately for us, he even praised us because we behaved correctly,” says the representative.

There will be over a hundred hostesses during this year’s BASELWORLD, informs the METRO Model representative. And these must meet several requirements. In addition to good looks and a neat appearance a command of 3 languages is required. Even better if non-European languages such as Chinese or Russian are spoken.