AOL Latino Debuts ’Fashionista,’ a New Fashion Online Reality Show

First of Its Kind Interactive Reality Series Features Nationwide Search for the Next Hot Latino Fashion Designer

Exclusively Sponsored by Mercury Milan; Featuring Dayanara Torres and Eduardo Lucero

NEW YORK, - AOL Latino, the leading bilingual portal for U.S. Hispanics, today announced the premiere of a new interactive online reality series called “Fashionista” (http://www.aollatino.com) where contestants will compete to be named the top Latino fashion designer. The winner will have the opportunity to design a red carpet gown for actress/model and ex Miss Universe Dayanara Torres. The winner will also showcase his designs in the pages of a leading Hispanic magazine. Mercury Milan will be the exclusive sponsor of the program.

“AOL Latino prides itself in being able to create innovative multiplatform bilingual programming targeted to today’s Hispanic,” said Mark Lopez, publisher, AOL Latino. “We are thrilled to partner with Mercury Milan to offer fashionistas the chance to showcase their talent to a nationwide online audience, and provide users the chance to pick the next Oscar de la Renta or Carolina Herrera.”

“The Fashionista program is a continuation of Mercury’s fashion strategy. We know that our Mercury Milan target is keenly interested in fashion and this is a real Hispanic passion point,” said Dave Rodriguez, multicultural marketing manager, Ford Lincoln Mercury. “Partnering with AOL Latino and offering this program digitally, is right in tune with our customers and the excitement of fashion.”

To kick off the competition, AOL Latino’s fashion editors picked the Top 20 designers from hundreds of submissions from up-and-coming Latino fashion designers. AOL Latino users will be able to vote for their favorites, ultimately selecting the five semifinalists. The ultimate winner will be chosen by a panel of judges including Torres and leading LA fashion designer Eduardo Lucero.

As part of the program, contestants will have the opportunity to create and manage their own Web pages using AOL Latino’s social networking service, Latino AIM Pages (http://latino.aimpages.com). Each page will include headshots, photos, bios, updates and blog entries.