Role model, Real Model By JESSICA LEOW WAR heroine ... Singapore's first woman lawmaker ... You are looking at Mrs Elizabeth Choy. Who once even posed in the nude. Between covering herself with glory, she still dared reveal ... But then, you are looking at a remarkable woman. "I enjoyed posing very much, I was treated with a lot of respect," said Mrs Choy, now 87, in her MacKenzie Road house on Tuesday. She modelled for artists while taking an art appreciation course in London after World War II. Black beauty : Mrs Choy posed nude for this sculpture, Serene Jade, by Dora Gordine, in 1949. The sculptress was most struck by her beautiful feet. There, she posed nude for the sculpture, Serene Jade (above), by sculptress Dora Gordine. You can see it at an exhibition focusing on her at the National Museum's Early Pioneers Room, which started on Wednesday and ends in August next year. About posing nude, she said: "There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. "But the first thing Dora noticed was my feet - she said they were beautiful." It was not just her feet. Her "incredibly straight back" so impressed one of her art teachers he called the principal - who then called all the teachers. "They took some pictures, for art's sake, they said." Recalling one modelling session in 1949, she said: "I was treated like a goddess in a temple. The atmosphere was almost sacred and the students very respectful." Here, you see the beauty that captivated them. Bathing belle : This photo of Mrs Choy in a home-made bikini was taken by her nephew at Changi Beach in 1954 But this black-and-white photograph (above) is not part of the exhibition. She was modelling for her nephew, then a budding photographer, at Changi Beach in 1954. "I made the bikini out of a piece of sarong. I sewed most of my own clothes." On a holiday in Greece in 1958, her bikini-clad hourglass figure and Asian looks attracted photographers. "They developed the pictures and gave them to me." Wonderful memories of open beaches and her home in Sabah gave her hope during the Japanese Occupation when she was tortured and given electric shocks, she said. Living down those horrors has not been easy. "Even now, anything with electricity, like microwave ovens and the television, puts me off." First published in The New Paper, Nov 1, 1997 Next: One must not be prudish Previous Moses' start page Chee Beng's start page Nura's start page Leslie's start page Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.