The evolution of Miss Universe. How the ideal of female beauty has changed over 70 years

After the end of World War II, the world was recovering and needed entertainment to get back to normal life as soon as possible. One of those leisure activities was the Miss Universe pageant, which originated in California in 1952 thanks to Unviersal. Nearly 70 years have passed since then. The world has changed so much that in 2018, a transgender girl participated in the pageant for the first time.

Winners of the Romanov Dynasty crown

In the first five years of the pageant, there was only one rule – the girl had to be between the ages of 17 and 24. No one forbade them to be married, to have children. Therefore, the first winner Armi Kuusela from Finland did not stop being a beauty queen after getting married. The second “Miss Universe” in 1953 was a Frenchwoman Christiane Martel, who, like the Finnish, was 18 years old at the time of victory. The girl’s height is only 167 centimeters. According to the current modeling parameters, this is quite small.

Initially, the contest was intended to advertise beach products. There were no competitions, just a defile and a photo shoot. But the reward was awesome. The winner received a crown of the Romanov dynasty, which cost a lot of money.

Christian Martel, France. “Miss Universe – 1953”

“Miss Congeniality.”

You’ve probably seen this movie starring Sandra Bullock. Well, the name originated back in the 1960s. The organizers of “Miss Universe” realized that just assessing the beauty of girls – it’s boring. And people began to get tired of it, stopped paying money for tickets and watching the show on TV.

To change this, nominations “Miss Congeniality”, “Miss Photogenic” and “Miss National Costume” were introduced. Participating countries became more and more numerous. For example, in 1963 the contest was won for the first time by a girl from Brazil, Yeda Maria Vargas, another 167 cm taller.

Yeda Maria Vargas, Brazil. “Miss Universe – 1963”

New rules and online voting

In 1972, globalization finally reached the beauty pageant, and it was held for the first time outside the United States – in Puerto Rico. The rules were changed as well. Now the age limit for the contestants was from 18 to 27 years old, and the winners had to work for a year under contract with the organizers. Spain’s Amparo Munoz, who became Miss Universe in 1974, paid the price. She refused to travel to Japan and was deprived of the crown. The girl, by the way, was not only older than her predecessors (20 years), but also taller (173 cm).

Amparo Munoz, Spain. “Miss Universe – 1974”

In the late 70s, personal computers began to appear in the world, and the jury decided to use online voting to summarize the results of the contest. Computerization of the process raised many questions, few believed in the honesty of voting through electronic terminals, but later, in parallel with the development of technology, resentment went down.

Soviet girls in the show

The 80s became the most crisis time for the contest in terms of ideas. Everyone was finally bored with endless defiles in different costumes and swimsuits. Help came from where it did not sting. Thanks to Perestroika, girls from the USSR and the entire post-Soviet space got a chance to take part in the Miss Universe contest. And they figured out how to make the show much more interesting. In addition to banal fashion shows, they introduced tasks for general outlook, wit, sense of humor, and knowledge of manners.

Karen Diana Baldwin, Canada. “Miss Universe – 1982”

Trump’s influence and dark-skinned winners

American billionaire Donald Trump sensed a gold mine in the resurgent beauty pageant and bought the rights to Miss Universe, taking advantage of problems with previous investors. Trump invested a lot of money in the show, competently promoted advertising and made sure the pageant was once again watched by many Americans and people around the world.

In 2005, the title was won by Natalia Glebova, a Canadian representative from the city of Tuapse in the Krasnodar region. At the age of 24, the girl had a height of 180 cm and parameters close to the ideal -87-62-91.

Natalia Glebova, Canada. “Miss Universe 2005

Trump is often reproached with racial intolerance. Partly because of this, in 2015, Donald decided to abandon the contest and focus on the election campaign. By the way, these accusations are quite strange, because it was during his leadership that two dark-skinned girls, representatives of India, Puerto Rico and Latin American countries became winners of the contest.

Mpule Kwelagobe, Botswana. “Miss Universe 1999

Why was Oksana Fedorova stripped of her title?

During the Trump administration in 2002, “Miss Universe” for the first time became a girl from Russia, Oksana Fedorova. The contest was held in May, and in September Oksana was stripped of this title. What happened and is it another intrigue against our country? Everything is much simpler. The winner was obliged to fully work out the contract with the organizers within one year, for which she received decent money. She received a luxury apartment in New York and had to be ready to travel to different countries with charity events.

Fedorova decided to return back to St. Petersburg to defend her dissertation. The organizers had no choice. They deprived the Russian of the crown and gave it to the girl from Panama, who took second place.

Beauty is constant

Fashion is cyclical, but beauty is constant. Almost 70 years have passed since the beginning of such contests, but the standards of beauty have not changed much. Swimsuits and evening gowns have changed, but the winners of Miss Universe are still as good as they were in the 50s of the last century. Except taller.

Gabriela Isler, Venezuela. “Miss Universe 2013

The only thing I would like the organizers to wish is to pay more attention to the Russian contestants. One victory in 70 years is very little. And if we take into account that a Russian woman was deprived of the title, it becomes quite sad. So in the next contest we are waiting for the Russian girls to return to the top!