The history of beauty pageants has been based on women’s physical beauty since antiquity, and different civilizations and social strata in different periods of history have followed a series of patterns that have been globalized around the world; however, there are very particular exceptions that have brought about controversy on this subject.
In this sense, we could say that the concept of beauty can vary according to cultures; for example, in the old Pythagorean School the connection between mathematics and beauty was considered important, from there they began to take into account these parameters to look for symmetry in objects, even in people, to establish a harmonious concept of beauty.
But, Plato raised the concept of beauty from a more human and spiritual perspective, affirming that beauty in the world is visible to all; however, this is only a manifestation of the true beauty that lies in the soul, which we can all access to if we manage to internalize and understand what the real knowledge of beauty implies.
Starting from this premise, it is interesting to mention examples in which beauty has a sense contrary to the one conceived from the western perspective; for example, in the Mayan culture it was considered that a person with strabismus was beautiful, and for this reason the indigenous mothers hung some resin balls from their children’s hair so that they fall on their eyes, which made them to twist, causing a deviation which, as was said before, was considered a symbol of beauty.
As you can see, the concepts can vary drastically, depending on the culture and country; however, in this article we are going to delve into the conceptualization of beauty mostly accepted in the modern world, but that lays its bases in antiquity. In this context, it is believed that the history of beauty pageants begins with the stories that are included in the Bible, specifically in the book of Esther (2: 2: 4); when it is explained that King Ausero was challenged by Queen Vasti, and he, as a response to this challenge, decided to call for a “contest” to choose his new consort.
Thus, an orphan named Esther, appeared before the King, who, astonished by her beauty, selected her from a group of young people, and placed the crown on her, thus naming her “Queen”, and celebrating with a huge feast in her honour, so it is also said that the crowns with precious stones used to crown misses today have their origin in this act of coronation mentioned in the Bible.
Despite this story which could be taken as the first antecedent of the history of beauty pageants, it is convenient to quote a second antecedent which has relation with the Greek goddess of discord, called Eris. It is said that this deity was very conflicted and self-centred, and because she was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, who were the parents of the famous hero “Achilles”, she was offended and in revenge, she sent to the celebration a gold apple which was inscribed with the word “kallisti”, which means “for the most beautiful”.
It begins like this, with a story taken from mythology, interesting enough that many do not consider as a true antecedent, but that it is worth mentioning because it takes us back to enigmatic times full of culture and mysticism.
Continuing with the narrative, Eris, the Goddess of Discord, fulfilled her mission to sow discord in the celebration, since the goddesses Hera, Aphrodite and Athena wanted to keep the apple because each was considered the most beautiful among the beautiful ones, asking God Zeus to make the election between them, mission that in turn he entrusted to the Trojan Prince Paris, who was besieged by the offerings of these three beauties. Hera promised him to be sovereign of the world, Athena promised him to be invincible in the war and Aphrodite promised him to give him Helena, wife of King Menelaus, the most beautiful woman in the world.
Finally, Paris chose Aphrodite, who became her protector, so Hera and Athena swore revenge; however, Paris did not pay attention to them, and later abducted Helena, which led to the Trojan War.
But, we are going to move in time and space to the United States and to the mid-nineteenth century, when a businessman named Phineas Taylor Barnum, who had experience in performing competitions for horses, birds, dogs, cows and even babies, had the fabulous idea of organizing one for women; however, this one failed miserably, due to the fact that most of the participants had bad reputation, and people started to protest.
But despite this setback, Phineas Taylor Barnum did not become discourage and took up his idea again years later, changing the method of choosing the winner. Thus, the publication of photos of each of the candidates, exhibited in his museum of “phenomena”, became the way to choose the most beautiful girl, becoming one of the first antecedents of beauty pageants, where the physical beauty, their faces and bodies were simply taken into account, as well as what they could transmit through their photographic poses.
But, if we talk about the first official beauty pageant, we must clarify that the first one that was made was Miss America, made in 1921 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States, being Miss Margaret Gorman the winner.
At the beginning of this contest, the competition among the youngsters was based only on physical beauty, where the face, hair, poise, elegance, and especially the body were valued, for which a parade in bathing suit was done; however, later this event started to evolve and the “talent” category was included among the aspects that were taken into account in the evaluation of the qualifying jury.
In the process of history of beauty pageants, Miss United States and Miss Universe emerge, because in 1951, Yolande Betbeze, the winner of the previous contest, refused to wear the swimsuit that “Catalina” bikinis brand as sponsor of the contest had assigned her, fact that made the brand withdraw its sponsorship of the contest and create Miss United States and Miss Universe pageants on its own.
It should be noted that the first edition of Miss Universe was held in 1952, in Long Beach, California, and the winner was the representative of Finland, Armi Kuusela.
The event began to be televised in 1955 by the CBS network, making these contests become popular all over the world and more and more national competitions be added year after year with the intention of sending a beautiful emissary to the world’s top beauty pageant.
An interesting event happened in 1993, when the Bosnian War was taking place in Sarajevo, a conflict that brought many deaths and suffering to their people, which was the reason why a beauty contest was organized as a means of protesting against the attacks on the civilian population by the Serb snipers.
This Miss Sarajevo contest that the nominee Inela Nogic won was held in a basement of the city, where the candidates marched with a banner with the message: “Do not let them kill us”, achieving to participate in Miss Universe, with which achieved worldwide fame for its beauty and value, becoming a symbol of resistance.
Currently, there are more than 80 countries that compete year after year for the Miss Universe crown, which send their candidates after having won their national competitions and prepared them from the physical, emotional, communicational and intellectual point of view. Each time the demands in terms of preparation are greater, and countries resort to endless strategies to position their candidates as members of the semi-finalists and finalists.
The countries whose candidates have won the most crowns are: The United States with 8, Venezuela with 7 and Puerto Rico with 5. It should be noted that the candidates from Venezuela and the United States achieve to capture the attention of the press every year in different parts of the world where this event is held; their names are usually mentioned among the favourites. In the case of Miss Venezuela, its candidates are selected after a strict preparation and tend to be very well prepared for this competition, most of the time being among the finalists.
In recent years, Miss Universe has undergone a series of changes since the current President of the United States, Donald Trump, sold the franchise, making sure that beauty patterns have already changed, to the point that candidates whose bodies are not completely in shape have classified, that is, they have been overweight.
Also, making history in 2018, Miss Universe accepted the first Transgender Miss as part of a new inclusion policy. This candidate was Angela Ponce, Miss Spain, who despite not having qualified among the 20 semi-finalists, received special treatment, being called to the stage and walking alone on the catwalk, as a symbol of non-discrimination, fact that has been controversial since there are many defenders of this decision, as well as many detractors who do not consider that she should have been among the candidates for not having been born as a woman.
It is that way like the road and evolution of the beauty pageants, that goes from the stories of the book of Esther in the Bible, to going through a beauty contest through photographs and then it would give rise to the emergence of the first official contest in history, as Miss America was in 1921, have taken us to Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International, among other hundreds of contests that take place all over the world, and gives us faith in the competitive spirit of the human being, who seeks in appearance and intelligence, elements to highlight a new concept of beauty.
ALFA