It has always been the beautiful eyes, of course. Then there is the porcelain skin, the lithe clotheshorse frame and the air of exoticism.

Asian models are no strangers on international catwalks but why has none quite assumed the mantle of a supermodel?

It is likely a question on the lips of many ahead of a new model search here as part of a fashion extravaganza called Fashion Season@Orchard (FSO).

The 10 finalists of FSO Asian Model will strut their stuff in Orchard Road next Saturday and the public then votes for the one most likely to crack international runways.

To be sure, the Asian brigade has been breaking new ground in recent years.

China-born Du Juan, 28, is the only Asian model to have graced the cover of French Vogue so far, a feat she achieved in 2005.

Liu Wen, 22, was the second busiest model for last September's spring/summer 2010 shows after French beauty Constance Jablonski, walking a total of 70 shows in New York, Paris and Milan.

She will also go down in history as the first Chinese model to walk at the Victoria's Secret show last year.

Along with rising Japanese mannequin Tao Okamoto, 22, Du and Liu are the Asian models du jour. But those in their class are few and far between.

Junsuke Yamasaki, fashion editor of the Japanese edition of fashion glossy Dazed And Confused, notes that most American and European fashion houses have at most two places for Asian faces on their runways.

'Many Asian models are too short for runways, which require female models of at least 1.77m,' says the 27-year-old in an e-mail interview.

'It also doesn't help that there are no internationally recognised Asian fashion magazines or photographers, which are two key mediums to propel a new face to supermodel stardom.'

India's top model Lakshmi Menon, 27, prompted a discussion on why there are so few Asian model stars after she appeared solo in a 12-page fashion spread in Vogue US last May.

Emerging American designer Daniel Vosovic told New York magazine that he had struggled to find 15 Asian models to cast in his first show two months ago.

'It was a freaking struggle. Some agencies just had no Asian girls. It seems really funny that people have been casting all-white shows forever and that?s never discussed.'

Things are looking up for Asian models though.

Jeanette Ejlersen, 43, Female magazine's creative editor who picked the finalists for FSO Asian Model, says China's ascent as an economic powerhouse means Paris and Milan runway shows now tend to feature at least one Asian model.

Singapore's former international model Hanis Hussey, who left for Paris when she was 16 after winning a model search, agrees that more doors are opening for Asian models.

'In fashion, people seek what they don't have,' says the 45-year-old, who worked in Paris for 12 years.

'There's a place for Asian models in Western markets because they desire what's exotic to them.'

Some Asian models certainly have the West mesmerised.

Just last month, Japan's Ai Tominaga, 29, and 36-year-old Malaysian model Ling Tan, who chalked up over 30 shows for both fall/winter 1997 and spring/summer 1998 at the peak of her career, walked for Givenchy's fall 2010 show.

Tominaga also worked quirky by wearing multiple layers of hats on the January cover of a Nordstrom catalogue.

Hats off, then, to Asia's hot models.

This article was first published in Urban, The Straits Times.