So the day of the grand final has arrived. You
are tall and thin. You have a different hair colour to last year’s winner and
you’re not wearing a green dress. You’ve done 999 appearances and raised the
highest amount of charity money. You are either related to all the judges or
most of them are close family friends. Your gown cost more than a small car
from the ‘right’ boutique and you’ve booked the most expensive hair and make-up
artists who seem to be the ones that did all the previous winners. You’ve
tagged the director in all of your Facebook posts and they’ve liked a few of
them. You’ve had training with all the ‘right’ experts and you’ve got the
‘right look’ for that particular pageant system. It’s not your first pageant
because you were the runner-up last year and you’re besties with several
reigning queens. You’ve hired a swanky convertible to arrive at rehearsals in
style so that the judges will think you’re loaded and you’ve had a photoshoot
with the pageant’s official photographer.
You’re 100% guaranteed to win. Right?
WRONG!
Well, you might win but then again you might
not.
Having been involved in the pageant industry
for over 30 years winning numerous titles during the 1980s including Miss Great
Britain Wales and Model of the Year, qualifying for the BBC live televised
final of Miss United Kingdom, 3 times International finalist (winning Mrs
Swimsuit at Mrs Europe 1992!) and more recently as a Queen mother to Erin
White- Miss Jr Teen Great Britain 2016/17 I think I have heard most of the
myths and stereotypes that perpetuate to either put girls off entering a
pageant in the first place or serve to give totally unnecessary stress and
anxiety to finalists in the run up to the big day. I’ve actually fallen for
quite a few of them myself over the years! There is nothing worse than being
told that you have absolutely no chance of doing well because your dress is the
wrong designer, you’ve only done 35 appearances, you’re doing your own make-up
and you’ve got cheap shoes.
So, to help dispel some of those ideas here is
a collection of 10 totally random and ridiculous thoughts and myths about how
to win a pageant that are all 100% inaccurate. This article is aimed to be
completely positive and self-confidence boosting to dispel all those silly
things you hear when you’re competing. Huge THANK YOU to everyone who
contributed to my initial discussion and gave evidence to prove that to walk
away with your coveted crown on the night does NOT depend on whether you
conform to any particular stereotype or follow all the ‘right rules’. Evidence
shows, and I know that prestigious pageant directors, judges and reigning
Queens will agree, that all you have to do is to be the best that you can be in
whatever way suits you. Wow the judges and show that you could be an amazing
Queen for all the right reasons! If you’re confident in yourself, confident
that you have done all you can do and have enjoyed the journey to the final
this will serve you well at interview and you’ll shine on stage because this is
what the judges really look for.
Here goes……….
MYTH No 1
You have
to be tall and thin to win
FICTION
There may be a grain of truth here if we were
talking about the old style beauty contest circuit that I was part of decades
ago. Happily this has not continued into the modern era. Modern pageants today
accept and embrace all body shapes and sizes. The fact that the very title has
changed to ‘Pageant’ from ‘Beauty Contest’ demonstrates that times have changed
and that today no such stereotypical ‘beauty queen’ ideal exists any more. Some
girls are naturally tall and/or slender while some are petite and/or curvy.
We’re all different in our own way. I don’t know of any judges who will
purposely mark someone down because of their actual figure, even in swimwear,
if they’re rocking that stage. ‘Best in Swimwear’ does not mean ‘Best Figure’.
Hannah Golding-Young European Miss
International Ms. 2017- is a fabulous example of this and puts it very well
when she says:
“Pageants accept all bodies and I’m very proud to be a curvy
winner! If you win the crown and you happen to be tall and slim, that’s just
because you were the right winner on stage that night! Same as if you’re short
and curvy! It’s all about your stage presence and who you are as a person.
There are so many curvy queens out there, it’s great the pageantry industry is
so diverse that you see all different body types, skin tones and different
backgrounds”
Megan Goldberger – the current Miss
Divine UK and Sarah
Pritchard -
Mrs Galaxy International 2017 are also shining examples of queens who
have curvy figures. They are also fabulous and beautiful role models,
ambassadors for their titles, have larger than life personalities and huge
hearts. And that’s why they won their crowns.
On the subject of height….. It’s probably impossible to tell how tall any of the girls actually are because of their heels! But as evidence shows you don’t have to be ‘tall’ to win. Bella Normand definitely wasn’t the tallest queen. She’s incredibly petite without heels. But it didn’t seem to stop her from winning Miss Galaxy International 2016 and Lydia Yhnell Pugh, an ex-Galaxy Queen and the current Mrs UK World, is 5ft 4in. Ursula Carlton was the 4th shortest of all the Miss Great Britain finalists and still managed to win. All proving that lack of height inches does not equal lack of fabulousness and Queenly attributes! So in terms of height it’s definitely a case of quality over quantity.
MYTH No 2
You have
to have the ‘Right Look’
FICTION
What even is the ‘Right Look’ anyway?
You only have to research all the past winners
of that title or system to see that they will all be different in their own
unique way. I bet if you asked any pageant director what was the ideal ‘look’
for their Queens there would be a lot of head scratching and puzzled
expressions! Ask any reputable director and they will tell you that the judges
look for many qualities in finalists but a particular physical look to conform
to a pre-conceived ideal isn’t one of them.
MYTH No 3
You won’t
win wearing a green dress
FICTION
Now this one was new to me although I did have
an idea that green was not a popular colour for gown choices although I wasn’t
quite sure why. So I did a little research and unearthed some fascinating
information about the colour green and it’s rather unfortunate reputation for
being an unlucky colour throughout the UK and USA. However, in Ireland,
leprechauns notwithstanding, green is considered the luckiest of colours.
Green is also a lucky colour for those born
under the signs of Aquarius and Capricorn and signifies a positive change, good
health, growth, healing, hope, vigour, vitality, peace, and serenity.
Green is considered the
colour of nature and immortality, and in China green is the colour of The
Heavens. It’s also present on many national flags around the globe. But did you
know that the colour green carries a bizarre superstition with it.
According to "The Penguin Guide to the
Superstitions of Britain and Ireland" green is the only colour to be
consistently regarded as unlucky, with the strongest prohibition focused on
clothing, and it was widely believed - as early as 1889 - that wearing green
would surely lead to wearing black (ie at a funeral).
Records of this green superstition go back as
late as the 1700s. It’s said that to wear the colour green is to bring about
death and this is why….. In 1778 Carl Scheele, a Swedish chemist, was
experimenting with the substance known as arsenic. Of course we all know about
arsenic right?
Scheele actually used arsenic in inventing
shades of green pigment and dye he called Scheele’s Green. It quickly became
widely used in making wallpapers and fabrics. Of course Scheele knew that
arsenic was extremely toxic, but he never expected anyone to eat their clothes!
However, it was soon discovered that if these materials were to become damp or
wet, which of course they would, the clothes would give off a poisonous gas.
This led to many people becoming quite ill and some even died from it.
Anyway, so the green dress myth appears to come
from superstition but the recent crowning of May Parry –
Jr Miss Galaxy UK in her gloriously beautiful and stylish green gown definitely
dispels the idea that you won’t win in green. Green gowns have also graced the
stage at Miss Universe and Miss World. And if that wasn’t enough evidence,
don’t forget that Ursula
Carlton won Miss Great Britain in a green gown and Victoria Tooby
won Miss Teen Galaxy Wales and Charlotte Cassie
Clemie won Mrs Galaxy Ireland also in glorious green. So unless you’re
particularly superstitious, or just not keen on green, wear your green gown
with confidence!
While on the subject of gown colours, as long
as your gown suits your individual style, body shape and complexion any colour
will do. As long as you are confident that you look amazing you will shine on
stage regardless of what actual colour your dress is.
MYTH No 4
You have
to buy your dress from the ‘right’ shop and book the ‘right’ hair and make-up
artists
FICTION
Gladly this one is also total fiction but I
have seen social media comments from the uninitiated that this is the case
which is completely unfounded speculation.
There are plenty of prom and pageant boutiques
up and down the country and plenty of online suppliers. Some may have
connections to a particular pageant system and some do not. Ask any prestigious
director or experienced judge and they will tell you that it makes absolutely
no difference whatsoever whether the girl has bought her gown from any particular
shop. In fact judges will also tell you that they have not got the foggiest
idea where any dress has been purchased, whether it has been hired, borrowed,
worn before, what it cost and it wouldn’t matter even if they did know. It’s
not a dress competition.
So where you buy your dress from makes no
difference to whether you win or not. It’s not the dress provenance that wins
the crown. It’s the girl wearing the dress not the dress itself or where it
comes from.
The only thing that will make a difference is
whether the dress suits your style, suits your colouring, flatters your body
shape and you feel good and confident in it.
The same goes for swimwear, fashionwear and
opening round outfits.
As far as hair and make-up artists are
concerned it’s a personal choice whether you have professional hair and make-up
and who you choose for lots of reasons. Some girls have professional artists
for either, or both, and some girls do their own. I don’t expect the judges
have any clue when you are being interviewed or walking on stage whether you
have had professional hair and/or make-up and if so who did it. Makes no
difference to the result. The only important thing to consider is whether you
have the styling that makes you feel and look your best on the day. Some
stylists and MUAs have fabulous reputations for their work, are very popular
choices because of it and if it’ll make you feel better about yourself get them
booked if you want to. But it doesn’t really matter who does it as far as the
judges are concerned as long as you look amazing that’s all that matters
MYTH No 5
Last
year’s runner-up always wins
FICTION
Well sometimes they might and sometimes they
might not.
If last year’s runner-up was good enough to be
runner-up then obviously there probably is a good chance that she will be good
enough to do well again the following year. But not always. There are plenty of
examples of either last year’s runner-up coming back to win, dropping a few
places or being runner-up again. Some girls get a top 5 placing and come back
to win overtaking last year’s runner-up and some girls don’t place the first
year but win after repeated attempts. I’ve seen one fabulous example of a girl
working her way up to the crown by being 2nd runner-up, 1st
runner-up and then winning on her third attempt. Think that’s enough of that
one really!
I’ve also heard that you won’t ever win your
first pageant. A special shout out here to Ursula Carlton-Miss
Great Britain. First ever pageant, wore a green dress, was one of the shortest
and she had red hair! A pageant myth buster in more ways than one. Enough said!
Tune in next week
for the next 5!!
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