I guess it was all about what was trendy at the time. I remember reading Roshumba Williams' book back when I was 16. She writes that she would go to different castings in Paris and they would just say "No black girls this season!". She says it wasn't a racial thing, it was just what they were working with at the moment. Some of the people who rejected her were crazy about black girls the next season and she got hired a lot. I think it was very different back in the day.
But yeah, I like the Brazilian girls, too! The blond Nordic girls are exotic to me too (big surprise - I'm Eastern European!) but Brazil... That's a whole different world!