This year, the title of the most beautiful girl in the universe was awarded to the representative of Puerto Rico Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza. The Japanese took the second place in the competition, and the representative of Switzerland took the third. Note that the alignment in the top five was clearly not in favor of the fair-haired: the blondes in the final (representatives of Switzerland and the USA) were clearly in the minority. But the brunettes (representatives of Paraguay, Japan and Puerto Rico) “suppressed” not only in quantity but also in quality – the first two places went to the dark-haired beauties.
In total, 86 beautiful women, each of whom became the beauty queen in her country, fought for the right to become the most-this year. Russian Anna Litvinova dropped out of the competition after the first round, during which the contestants walked the catwalk in swimsuits.
Tiara, Crown of the Miss World Winner
Luxurious diadem worth 250 thousand dollars Zuleika Rivera Mendoza received from the hands of the owner of the title “Miss Universe 2005″ Canadian Russian origin Natalia Glebova, by the way, we also note a burning brunette. The crown, encrusted with pearls and 1529 diamonds weighing 300 carats, was made by Japanese designer Mikimoto. In addition to the Zuleika diadem, numerous gifts and cash prizes totaling a quarter of a million dollars are relied on.
Natalya Glebova at the Miss Universe 2006 contest
Traditionally, after winning the contest, the most beautiful girls in the universe devote themselves to charity. So, Natalia Glebova, as a goodwill ambassador, has been working all year to attract public attention to the fight against AIDS in the world. In South Africa, Natalia publicly passed a blood test for the presence of HIV infection.
However, not every beauty likes publicity. Upon learning that the Miss Universe has more responsibilities than rights, the Miss Universe 2002, the dark-haired Russian woman Oksana Fedorova, refused the title. “I understand: a Hollywood star is one thing,” the quotes Fedorova. “She can participate in such shows, in any, different. But Miss Universe is an image completely different. This girl travels the world with charity events. How can she participate in such shows? I don’t understand this! ”
Oksana Fedorova
“I asked to give me two months to defend my dissertation. They, of course, could not allow me to be absent for such a time. And we just decided to leave,” Oksana commented on her “quitting”. The Miss Universe crown was immediately handed over to the Panamanian beauty Justin Pasek.
Universes beauties: where do they live and what do they do?
“Miss Universe” is one of the most prestigious international beauty contests, which is watched by more than 800 million viewers around the world. The owners of the competition are American entrepreneur Donald Trump and NBC Broadcasting Company.
Armi Kuusela, the first Miss Universe 1952
The first Miss Universe International Competition was held in 1951 by the renowned swimwear manufacturer Catalina Swimwear. Then, girls from 29 countries fought for the title “Miss Universe”, and Armi Kuusela, an 18-year-old schoolgirl from Finland, became the winner. She became the first on whose head lay a real crown, previously owned by the Russian Imperial Court.
Until 1972, the competition was held within the United States. The situation has changed dramatically with the spread of satellite broadcasting: in 1973, the girls went to fight in Greece for the title “Miss Universe”. The programs covering the competition turned into a television series, and viewers were told not only about the development of the competition events, but also about the traditions and sights of the host country of the competition.
Janelle Commissiong, Miss Universe 1977
In 1977, the title “Miss Universe” was first awarded to a black woman. She became Janelle Kommissiong, representing the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago at a competition. Russia began to take part in the competition relatively recently – the first Russian beauties appeared in the Miss Universe finals only in the 90s of the last century. The first Russian woman to win the competition was Oksana Fedorova. After Oksana resigned from the title of “Miss Universe”, her name was removed from the register of winners.
To date, the first place in the number of victories is occupied by the United States of America, the second – Puerto Rico and Venezuela, the third – Sweden. Most often, the winners of the competition are girls with the name Margarita.
Today the Miss Universe contest is a springboard on the path to real success: many girls, together with the title, receive worldwide fame, offers from leading modeling agencies in the world and the opportunity to make a brilliant career in any field. So, for example, Margaret Gardiner, “Miss Universe-78,” became famous as the author of two documentary books and countless articles. Irene Saes, winner of the Miss Universe 81 contest, was elected mayor of one of the richest suburbs of the city of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, in 1992. Lorraine Downs, who won the Miss Universe title in 1983, opened a modeling agency in her homeland in New Zealand and published the book Truth About Fashion, Beauty and Image.
How to get to the contest?
To represent her country at the Miss Universe contest, a girl must go through fierce competition and become the winner of the national qualifying round. Throughout the world, this process takes place according to the already familiar and established pattern – with the help of the jury. However, in 2004 and 2005, Russia decided to put an experiment – the winner of the contest “Miss Universe, Russia” was chosen not by an authoritative jury, but by Internet voting.
To participate, it was only necessary to register on the official website of the contest, fill out a form and post several of your photos there: in an evening dress, in a bathing suit, as well as a close-up portrait. Almost any unmarried girl not younger than 18 years old and not older than 27 years old could take part in the competition.
Alena Pisklova
The interactive contest caused an ambiguous reaction: it turned out to be quite difficult to choose the best girl from photographs. In addition, the use of online voting is fraught with unpredictable consequences. This happened to 2004 participant Alena Pisklova. In just a few days, a Muscovite with “unmodelled” forms became the absolute leader in the hit parade of the qualifying round both in terms of the number of voters and her average score.
An entire social movement, Anti-Barbie, has even appeared on the Internet. It is not known what the organizers would have done if it hadn’t been found out that Alena is only 15 years old and she cannot become a beauty queen, according to the regulation on the competition, because of her age. However, the girl received an audience prize.
In 2006, the organizers of the contest decided not to take risks, and the nominee of Anna Litvinova was selected by an authoritative jury, which included singer Philip Kirkorov, development director for Bosco di Ciliegi Konstantin Andrikopoulos, general director of the Fashion agency Marina Kruglova, director of Fashion TV Ekaterina Vitebskaya and others. The blonde assigned to her hopes did not live up to. In the final of the Miss Universe 2006 contest, brunettes took first and second place.
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