On 18th October 1954 Antigone Costanda, Miss Egypt, became the first non-European to be crowned Miss World. The following year, during the 1955 Miss World beauty pageant, Costanda did not attend the event and crown her successor as per the usual tradition due to political hostilities between Egypt and Britain over the Suez Canal. On 15th October during the 1956 Miss World pageant this photo is taken of Miss Israel (Rina Weiss – left), holding hands with Miss Egypt (Normal Dugo – right). Some two weeks later on the 29th October, Israel invaded the Egyptian Sinai.
Carole Crawford, Miss Jamaica, became Miss World in 1963, just months after Jamaican independence in 1962. Remembered as one of the shortest entrants (only 5’3”) and a face that was ‘uncharacteristically Jamaican’, being only part black, Carole became the first “coloured” Miss World. She went on to become a nationally recognised icon – with her face pictured on a special issue of more than 3 million stamps.
Miss Jamaica stamp 
Miss Jamaica, Carole Crawford with her stamp
In 1966, the winner was Reita Faria from India, the first Asian woman to win the event. She impressed the judges in ‘Best in Eveningwear’ for wearing a sari and after her one-year tenure as Miss World went back to concentrating on her medical studies, becoming the first Miss World doctor. That same year Miss Spain, Paquita Torres Perez, withdrew from the competition because Miss Gibraltar, Grace Valverde, was in the pageant.
By 1970, 58 contestants competed for the Miss World title but it was Jennifer Hosten, Miss Grenada who won the crown. The event was marked by controversy in the days beforehand, during the contest itself and afterwards. Hosten was the first black woman to win Miss World and there were several accusations the contest had been rigged. The organisers had allowed two entries from South Africa, one black (who placed 2nd) and one white. The evening itself was affected by protest by Women’s Liberation activists and the Angry Brigade anarchists.
Protesters at the 1970 Miss World 
The winners and runners up at the 1970 Miss World
These incidents demonstrate that the Miss World beauty pageant is not just a competition judging beauty. It is a site in which meanings are ascribed to individual and collective identities performed through women’s bodies, where political, cultural and racial issues are contested and mediated, and the nation is forced to confront itself.
The Miss World contest was created in 1951 as part of the ‘Festival of Britain’, which was initially pitched as a celebration of the centennial of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The winner selected was Kiki Håkansson from Sweden, despite 21 out of the 26 contestants being British, leading the contest to be dubbed ‘Miss World’ by the media. Gradually, as the popularity of the contest grew, countries sent in candidates from their own national competitions.
Thus, for a woman to reach the London stage and present herself in front a transnational audience and panel of judges, she must first be deemed suitable in demeanour, appearance, and style to embody the values and goals of her nation. This process is self-reflective and a place where a particular public can “tell stories to themselves about themselves”.[1] Each decision made by the individual and those surrounding her, whether it’s about skin colour, dress or even body language, reveal elements about the political, social and cultural context in which national identities are expressed and constructed. Consider: South Africa sending two racially contrasting candidates, Miss India choosing to wear a sari for the evening wear portion of the show or even Miss Egypt and Miss Israel holding hands in the midst of a conflict between their home countries. The Miss World beauty pageant insists on equating women’s bodies with discourses of the nation, formulating the equation woman=nation. The deployment of female bodies to such a degree heightens the performativity of national feminine identity and its negotiation on a global stage. On the other hand, these women also represent a ‘world community’ and those who win often end up conforming to the aesthetics of an unspoken western vision of glamour or style.[2] Furthermore, the contest itself is a profoundly political arena where issues regarding gender, race and international conflicts are negotiated.
This is why I have decided to choose the Miss World beauty
pageants to be the focus of my final project. I will look at the first 19 years
of its existence starting with Kiki in 1951 and ending with Jennifer in 1970,
highlighting how the global and the national interests interact during moments
of tension and also sympathy. In this way I hope to find out what it means to
be a specifically feminine representative of the nation.
[1] Sarah Benet-Weiser, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World and National Identity (California, 1999), p. 2
[2] Raka Shome, Transnational Feminism and Communication Studies, The Communication Review 9.4 (2006), p. 264