MEET THE NEW QUEENS!

INDIA HAS CAUGHT ON TO THE IDEA OF ‘INCLUSIVE’ VS ‘EXCLUSIVE’ CELEBRATIONS OF BEAUTY, PERHAPS WITHOUT LOOKING BACK INTO HER HISTORY AS A CULTURE WHERE HER GENE POOL ITSELF WAS INNATELY INCLUSIVE! SANGEETA WADDHWANI LOOKS AT A GLOBAL TREND

 

So you could be 65-years-old, (below) a self-made millionaire, jetting around the world and happy to participate in a pageant that honours not just your timeless appeal, but your achievements. This is the profile of Kay ( Karpal Pannu) from Las Vegas, who bagged a citation for TIMELESS BEAUTY, and who woke up at the crack of dawn to see the Taj Mahal, despite jet lag and despite already packed dawn-to-dinner schedules.

You could be having a mid-life crisis and be looking to revamp your image. Or, you could be a young mom-to-be, flaunting your baby bump through sequined evening gowns, proud to be alpha feminine.  Or, (like me, below), you could be a mere 5”5 self-made diva, highly influential in your industry and hence iconic to your tribe.

 

Just ten years ago, no international pageant would consider such women fit to enter a ‘beauty’ pageant, because traditional paradigms of beauty were – be above 5 feet 7 inches,  vital stats around 36-26-36, under age 30, and of course, a woman with the conventional attributes – attractive face, great hair, great skin, and stage presence.

 PAGEANTRY AND THE YOUNG ME

Fate cast me into the heart of old world pageantry success stories when as a cub reporter at Society magazine, I was asked to write the cover story on Sushmita Sen’s victory as India’s first Miss Universe, in 1994. Since the contest was in Manilla, and there were no cell phones, we had zero luck tracking her down for a phone-in interview, though the hotel did put us on to her room!

 We summoned artist Samir Mondal to do a rich watercolour portrait of India’s first Ms Universe as no professional shoot was possible while she was still in Manilla

The magazine had a 24 hour window to hit the presses, so all I could do was interview her family, and every photographer, friend, boyfriend, co-model who had anecdotes to share about this exceptional beauty who had shattered expectations and raced ahead of even the most bet-on race horse Aishwarya Rai, to become India’s trump card candidate to Miss Universe.

 

That was 1994. I was both in awe and had a tad sense of FOMO seeing these women in their 20s, garnering global attention, repping India in front of millions and forever finding a space in the annals of the entertainment world. The Miss India-to-global-success, fame and fortune story inspired hundreds of middle-class girls to stand for long queues at auditions for pageants, their mothers fussing about and pressuring their little beauties to make a grab for a title. It was a major THING in the 90s… a make or break fairytale that was life-transforming.

PARADIGM SHIFTS:  FEMALE POWER

Fast forward by three decades, and in fact, the conventional-paradigm beauty pageants are getting far less attention. Instead, it is the pageants that aspire to honour women beyond appearances and age paradigms, that are winning hearts and engagement. Note how Instagram posts about Ms Eygpt, Logina Salah, went absolutely viral, fostering conversations on inclusivity and diversity at pageants in general. The lovely lady found a place in the Top 30 candidates at Miss Universe 2024, despite having vitiligo. And we are talking still of the conventional 73-year old Miss Universe pageant, featuring women of a certain age, height, weight.

 THIRD WAVE FEMINISM PAGEANTS

Now watch the curtains lifting on New Age, Third Wave Feminism pageants which are mirrors to a society where women are a far cry from mere visual totems. They are well-groomed, well-spoken homemakers, CEOs, boss ladies, single moms, writers, artists, retailers, accountants, surgeons, entrepreneurs, change leaders and paradigm shape-shifters. It would be an insult to have them parade around in swimsuits making predictable comments about Mother Teresa… caricatures and memes of what beauty queens were doing three decades ago.

 

Here, the jury is out on women having influence, positive social impact, adaptability, along with the older jazz – be fit, be attractive and command the stage with your confidence. The needle of female (audio-visual) relevance, has shifted to include women from age 25 to 65. Because with the advances in science and beauty fixes, ageing is an option….

2024: NO MORE SWIMSUIT ROUNDS AT MISS AMERICA!

As I was researching this blog, I was not so surprised to read that the Miss America pageant had dropped the swimsuit round altogether. Why? According to a website, www.worldimperialbeauties.com, the reason cited was “judging criteria now emphasize personality, talent and social impact. World Imperial Beauties prioritizes community contributions and the ability to inspire.”

 

INDIAN BEAUTY AND GENETIC DIVERSITY

Since the overwhelmingly positive performances by our Miss Indias in the globalsphere since the Ash-Sush double whammy in 1994, (we have since had Priyanka Chopra, Lara Datta, Manushi Chillar, and so many other luminaries emerge), we had a flood of modelling agencies shopping for Indian beauties to enrich their portfolio of models. Yours truly, as Executive Editor at L’OFFICIEL magazine, back in 2003, had been told by Iris Minier, Worldwide Director for the Ford Supermodel of the World Contest, that Indian beauty mystifies the world, because it is such a blend of different races:

 

“YOU HAVE A GREAT GENETIC DIVERSITY – THERE IS NO GENERIC INDIAN FACE.”

–       IRIS MINIER, WORLDWIDE DIRECTOR, FORD SUPERMODEL

 

Expanding on this idea, Deepti Dutt, then Creative Director, Ford Supermodel Worldwide, had shared, “Indian faces can sometimes have Grecian features, Italian skin and hair tones, and an African thickness of lips, combined with Nordic high and chiselled cheek bones. Some girls look Latina, others Hispanic. So our faces are identifiable across cultures, across markets around the world.”

Little wonder we saw Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan) as the face of Longines for over a decade, Dipannita Sharma for Breguet for half a decade… and Lisa Haydon for Carl F Bucherer. To name just a few.

 

URMIMALA BORUAH: A QUEEN DISCOVERING NEW QUEENS

 I got to know about and meet ‘Urmi’ when she conducted an Instagram campaign inviting candidates for her Queen of the World 2024 pageant. I liked the idea of playing with a queen identity, not being a spring chicken in my 20s!  With 30 odd years of writing four books and working for five top international media brands, my work was my way of serving the world’s largest democracy and even helping bring the spotlight to women achievers, as two of the five brands I had worked for were for women – ELLE, and L’OFFICIEL.

As the audition unfolded, I found Urmi to be a woman’s woman – offering so many a chance to enter into a spotlight that might change the way they were perceived by family, friends, even colleagues at work. Who does not love to look at an accomplished woman who ALSO burns up the beauty charts?

When not staying up all hours assembling talent and executing the week-long rounds and photoshoots for finalists, overseeing dance and rampwalking training at a top notch hospitality property and a stage lit up with up-to-the-moment LEDs and reflective surfaces… Urmimala is seen travelling the globe.

Why not?  Taking an interest in global glamour platforms is central to her role as Founder and CEO of UMB Queen of the World Pageants. From Paris Haute Couture Week to New York Fashion Week, from bringing her native charms to the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival to seeing how progressive pageants are conducted worldover, the world is her pearl and oyster

There are many pageants afloat today, and during the week-long training, one heard of ‘scam’ pageants too. Megha Soin, from Dehradoon, shared that her husband had invested upto six lakhs in a spurious enterprise that offered to host a finale in Dubai – “but they had no coaching, no mentoring,  no professional hair and make-up artists,” she rued, feeling so much better at participating with UMB Pageants.

One felt grateful that UMB did rope in amazing talent – ramp training by Tanvi Kharote (@tanvikharote), show direction by Lokesh Sharma (@lokeshsharmaofficial), choreography by Avi B Payal (@avibpayal), stage speech coach Rita Gangwani (@ritagangwani_official), and the delightful Prajakta Alberquerque. We were told that  hair and make-up were by Lakmé.

Coaching and mentoring zoom sessions were lined up for months before the one-week on ground training in real time and space, and many valuable tips could be rehearsed prior, especially Tanvi Kharaote’s beautiful displays of ramp walk styles, poses and the importance of sharing eye contact and engaging the jury and the audience.

ELITE QUEENS: WHO’S THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL?

And of course, candidates were chosen from all over India – from Jammu and Kashmir, Shimla, Dehradoon, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Nagpur, Assam, Chattisgarh, Ahmedabad… you name the city. We even had a participant from Singapore and one from Las Vegas, who both became dear friends.  

 

So who topped the charts in our ELITE Queens category?  A very genteel home-maker, with excellent taste in fashion (and gold leafing in her interiors), Madhulika Jagdale, topped our category. (Her daughter also took a title in her respective MISS category). They hailed from Nagpur.

A cardiac surgeon, Dr Surpreet Chopra, who also ran an NGO and had a skincare brand, won second runner-up prize.

First runner up was Mamta Khan, who had founded the Aware Foundation in Ganeshpuri, Maharashtra, for animal welfare. I realized through this experience, that many are the Shalini Passi’s of B-town and C-town India. Diversity and inclusivity…we love the new paradigm!

 

PAGENTRY, A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS

At the end of the day, we can see that pageantry lures a growing demographic of women who are solvent, (either through family wealth or self-generated businesses and careers). From all angles, it is a brilliant business to be in. We read this AI generated post on google, “While a precise figure for the size of the beauty pageant industry in India is not readily available, according to current market research, the broader Indian beauty and personal care market is valued at around US$28 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach US$46.6 billion by 2032, indicating substantial growth in the industry which includes beauty pageants as a component.”