The Miss Universe Pageant

I'm not sure if you were able to catch the Miss Universe pageant last night, but I wouldn't miss it! Anything that has to do with beautiful women, I wanna watch it: the Victoria Secret's fashion show, America's Next Top Model, you get the idea. I think this is because I'm a perfectionist, and these women are "supposed" to be the epitome of a beauty. I will admit that I'm quite critical, and I definitely enjoy "standard" forms of beauty. So I wasn't all that impressed with our contestants this year: even just a slightly long nose will make you lose my vote. I was also surprised to see several contestants with short hair cuts (I don't think I had ever noticed that before at Miss Universe!), and to see brunettes representing Denmark and Norway! I couldn't even come up with a top 5 because that's how few of the women I thought were truly exceptionally beautiful. However, only one of my top 5 made the top 15, so obviously I don't know what I'm talking about! The one who made it was Amy Willerton, Miss Great Britain. She is the love child of Gisele Bündchen and Blake Lively. Or Cindy Crawford without the mole. I also really liked Miss Israel, Miss Belgium, and Miss Bolivia. (Photos are from MissUniverse.com. From left to right: Great Britain, Israel, Belgium, and Bolivia.)

And of course it's not just about the women themselves, but the fashion! The costumes from their native lands and the ballgowns are so amazing! Rhinestones, feathers, and sequins, oh my! I couldn't even pick out a favorite because they were all so gorgeous! Most women will only get to dress like that on their wedding day (and even then, the dress probably isn't as extravagant!). It's like watching celebrities on the red carpet! Below are some of my favorites of their country-land costumes. Latin American contestants always seem to go all-out for this part of the competition; those are the bottom four photos. (All pictures are from MissUniverse.com).

But then I contradict myself when I think about pageants. We still have pageants in the 21st century? Really? It seems so archaic, judging women on their beauty and volunteering activities. It was sad last night how few women mentioned jobs, probably because a lot of them don't have them: doing pageants is what they do for a living. Now, I realize that if you want to win a lot of pageants, and big ones like Miss Universe, you really do need to dedicate your life to it. But in this age of feminism, when there are so many choices for us and what we can do with our lives, why not strive for more than beauty and grace? Many of them spend their free time reading to blind children or building houses for the homeless, which is very admirable. But it's hard for your average audience to relate to the lives of these women: You look pretty and help out your community...while we're working 40+ hour work weeks at a desk or outside and barely have time for ourselves, let alone time to help others. And maybe that's why we like watching pageants: it's a whole other world outside of our reality, where the women are stunning and wear sparkly dresses everywhere, like Disney princesses come to life.

Who were your favorites? What did you like or dislike?