Coaching – The Pageant Consultancy

YOU! Your Best Hair and Make-up Artist for an International Beauty Pageant

The last few years, the hair and make-up artists at Miss Universe have left quite a lot to be desired. Davina Bennett, Miss Jamaica and Second Runner-up in 2017, complained that she had wanted to change her do for the evening wear round but that there had been no time. We do believe that a change of hairdo, showing the versatility of Miss Bennett’s afro, would have worked to her advantage.

Other contestants at Miss Universe in the past couple of years have also been less than impressed with the way they had to look as a result of using the hair and make-up services provided.

Our most important recommendation to contestants on a national, and definitely on an international, level is to learn how to do your own hair and make-up. It is the best investment you can make in your pageant career.

The ideal hair and make-up situation is for every contestant to have her own. As this will never happen, you will probably have to get up really early in the morning to make it to the hair and make-up room, stand in line to wait your turn and deal with issues that may arise with the person working with you. That person may not like you, for whatever reason, or they may believe you are a serious threat to their favourite contestant. Do you sincerely believe that in those cases professionalism will prevail and you will get to look the very best you can? If you do, I have a used car from the Seventies to sell to you.

Another issue is when you have a hairstyle that is uncommon to the stylist assigned to you. That stylist make not have the required experience and skill level to style your hair properly in the allotted time.

Doing your own hair and make-up may seem like a daunting task, but is that not what you do every day of your life?

The first step is to find a hairstylist and a make-up artist that you trust and whose work you are satisfied with.

With your hairstylist develop around 5 hair styles that you like and learn how to do them on your own. After you have mastered each style, by practising one of them each day, start changing from one style to another and vice versa. Time yourself and see which changes are the quickest to execute. This is so you may have one style for daytime and then quickly change to another for evening activities.

For the actual competition, make sure you start out with at least one style, then change to another for evening wear. It is important to pick two styles where the change is easy and fast to make.

With make-up it is in fact much easier. You need to develop one style, in neutral colours, for daytime, one that will highlight your best features and draw attention away from anything you are unhappy with.

From fashionmagazine.com, a subtle change from daytime to nighttime

Once you have you your daytime look, your nighttime look is simply an intensification of the colours. Your stage look is just making the nighttime look stronger to withstand stage lights. The only major change would be lip colour.

From fashionmagazine.com, a more intense change from daytime to nighttime

Once you have defined your looks, have your make-up artist teach you how to do it yourself and then perfection at your local or international pageant is simply a matter of practice, practice, practice.

The “New” Miss Venezuela Organisation: Misfiring, All Guns Ablaze

Following the abrupt departure of Osmel Sousa from his position as President the Miss Venezuela Organisation, the organisation appears to have lost its course.

A scandal, involving former contestants and winners and their sexual favours erupted.

Then it was announced that a committee, rather than a person, would be placed in charge of the most renowned, and maligned, national pageant organisation in the world. Before that committee could even hold its first press conference, it was fired.

After that came the news that a new Executive Committee for the Miss Venezuela Organisation had been appointed consisting of three former international titleholders, one for each of the three major international beauty pageants. Former Miss International, Nina Sicilia, former Miss World, Jacqueline Aguilera, and former Miss Universe, Gabriela Isler, would take the reigns, each with a specific area of responsibility.

In the mean time there had been radio silence about and from the three winners of 2017, all supposedly preparing to compete in 2018.

This all changed with the appearance of some very nice photos of Sthefany Gutierrez, Miss Venezuela at Miss Universe 2018. Image Director Jacqueline Aguilera was quick to point out that those were not official pictures and were made without the permission of the organisation. The Image Director may have been well in her right to admonish the beauty queen, but that should have taken place behind close doors and not as the first social media interaction between the organisation and its wards.

Furthermore, those were the last great pictures of Sthefany. Subsequent “official” pictures, sanctioned most probably by the Image Director, have not been up to the usual Miss Venezuela standards and not even of the same quality as the unauthorised images. Truth be told, lifestyle images on Instagram are of better quality that anything sanctioned by the Three Divas Executive Committee (“TDEC”).

The faux pas’ of the TDEC did not end there though. Now comes the Veruska Debacle. When Veruska Ljubisavljevic was crowned Miss Venezuela World last year, it was a public secret that she had aged out of competing in 2018. Nevertheless she continued with her preparations and was actually the only one of last year’s queens to get a hair and make-up make-over. So it was assumed that the age issue had been dealt with, with Mrs. Julia Morley.

One day before the presentation of the contestants for the 2018 Miss Venezuela pageant, Veruska issued a statement on social media stating that she would be competing in Miss World 2018, odd for someone whose participation had not been formally put in doubt.

The next day the TDEC announced that the new Miss Venezuela, to be selected on September 12, would only be competing in Miss World 2018. Miss Venezuela Universe and Miss Venezuela International 2017 will compete in the 2018 editions of their international pageants, but not Veruska.

The reason? Supposedly, Mrs. Julia Morley who has once again demanded a separately selected winner and also one selected in the year of the international competition. Oddly enough, Venezuela seems to be the only country subjected to these harsh rulings of Mrs. Morley.

Aruba, Bolivia, Panamá and South Africa, are a few of the countries who select their representatives to Miss Universe and Miss World in one national pageant, albeit all in the year of the international competition. France selects its representatives in one contest in December of each to compete internationally the next year.

We still believe that the real reason is Veruska’s age, which the organisation failed to deal with properly. In any case, throwing Veruska to the curb like the TDEX has done is another misstep in what is becoming a long line of missteps.

To top it off, considering that the Miss Venezuela pageant does not take into account the selection criteria of Miss World, we predict another lacklustre run for the new Miss Venezuela 2018 at Miss World 2018.

Discrimination in Beauty Pageants

The trending topic in beauty pageants these days is the issue of allowing the participation of transgender women. Right now it applies specifically to the Miss Universe pageant and this discussion is one that actually started in 2001.

A rumour, started in France and which spread like wildfire at the 2001 Miss Universe contest in Puerto Rico, alleged that Miss France, Elodie Gossuin, was in fact a transgender woman. This turned out to be just that, a rumour, but it led the Miss Universe Organization to change its rules to indicate that only “naturally born women” were allowed to compete. For many years, little else was said about transgender women competing at Miss Universe or any of its national preliminaries.

The rules were changed again in 2012. Jenna Talackova, a transgender woman who had previously competed at the Miss International Queen Pageant, a transgender competition in Thailand, was denied entry into the Miss Universe Canada competition. She filed suit against the Miss Universe Organization, alleging discrimination.

The Miss Universe Pageant announced that Talackova could compete as long as she met “the legal gender recognition requirements of Canada, and the standards established by other international competitions.”

The Organization denied the change was a result of the lawsuit and Paula Shugart, President of the Miss Universe Organization, indicated that “the decision to include transgender women in our beauty competitions is a result of our ongoing discussions with GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and not Jenna’s legal representation”. Shugart stated further that the Miss Universe Organization has “a long history of supporting equality for all women, and this was something we took very seriously.”

Jenna Talackova made the semi-finals at Miss Universe Canada, but did not win the right to compete at Miss Universe. Since then, little else was said about transgender women competing at Miss Universe or any of its national pageants.

All of that changed in 2018. Hot on the tails of Ines Supa becoming the first transgender Playboy Playmate in December 2017, Talleen Abu-Hannah made headlines worldwide as the first transgender woman to compete for the title of Miss Israel.

The gorgeous Talleen was a huge favourite and was expected to become the first transgender woman to compete at Miss Universe. She made Top 4 but did not win the title of Miss Universe Israel.

Then came Angela Ponce, a successful and well-known Spanish model, who in 2015 competed for the title of Miss World Spain (at the concentration she was in fact the roommate of Mireia Lalaguna, who would go on to win the competition and later the Miss World crown).

Angela joined Miss Universe Spain 2018 and this time she did win the major price. We think that Angela made history as the first transgender woman to win the right to compete at Miss Universe (We say think because for all we know, transgender women may have already competed without anyone, or just a few, knowing).

Angela became and continues to be a trending topic worldwide and views on transgender women competing in beauty pageants conceived for cisgender women are very polarised. Various former Miss Universe and national titleholders have expressed their opposition to the opening of their pageants to transgender women (one has to wonder though, why they did not come forward when the rules were changed, or in the six years since, if their opposition is a matter of principle).

We have to ask though, what is the principle at hand? That depends on how you view beauty pageants. Are they a competition or a, rather elaborate, job application process?

As a competition, a beauty pageant is an inherently discriminatory activity because it is not open to everyone. Furthermore, it is a discriminatory activity that we have accepted for many decades. On top of that, groups that were excluded adapted by creating their own, exclusive competitions.

Opening up a competition to one of those excluded groups, does not make it less discriminatory, just more inclusive. The door is still open for another excluded group to challenge its right to participate. Unless you open that competition to everyone, it will always remain discriminatory.

The Miss Universe Pageant started because one Miss America refused to model Catalina swimwear. Catalina then decided to create another process through which to select a spokesmodel and hence Miss Universe was born. This makes the contest in fact a job application process. Like in every job application, rules were set by the organisation creating that job.

We know that all of us do not fill the requirements to apply for the job of CEO of a multinational corporation and we would not feel discriminated by this fact.

We also know that we do not all meet the conditions to apply for the job of Miss Universe. Are we justified in feeling discriminated by that fact?

What do you think? How do you see beauty pageants?

The real question is how do beauty pageants see themselves. Beauty pageants have become apologetic about their own nature when what they should do is define what it is they really are and what it is they want to be and act accordingly. Otherwise, the issue of discrimination in beauty pageants will continue to be a mountain with no top.

NOTEWORTHY: This Is How You Do Pageant Photography

It is that time of year again when the most successful national pageant in the world, Miss Venezuela, gets underway. The unveiling of the official photos of this year’s contestants reveals the reason for the success of Osmel Sousa’s enterprise. Venezuela always manages to take the contest to new heights, this year through photography.

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Miss Venezuela photographer Alejandro Lee captures the imagination which images that look made right on the (IMG) Miss Universe stage.

Everything is on point, the styling, the shoes and the retro swimsuits, which highlight the hourglass figures.

It shows the care and attention to detail that goes into the planning of the Miss Venezuela pageant and the performance of their winners internationally.

Regretfully, most national pageants chose to hate rather than emulate the Miss Venezuela Organization. Yet, nothing succeeds like success!

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In a time when designers try to outbling each other in over-the-top messes, this beautiful creation by Venezuelan designer Douglas Tapia hits all the right notes.

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Which Pageant System Is Most Suitable To You?

One of the most important factors to consider when making the decision to enter a pageant is which pageant system to compete in. Most systems are similar in the competition format they use, but pageants tend to have differing goals and expectations for and from their winners. So the first question you have to ask yourself is “which system would I be most comfortable becoming and being the winner in?”

As is well-known, all the major beauty pageants, except Miss World, include a swimsuit round. It means that being physically fit is important. Miss Universe used to expect a lot from its contestants in this round, whereas there is evidence that in other systems you can get away with less effort. It used to be that if you were fit enough for Miss Universe, you are ready for the other contests, yet being fit enough for another competition did not mean you were Miss Universe-ready. Therefore one primordial question to consider is “how much effort am I willing to put forth in getting fit?” In pondering this question, please take into account that Miss World also has a fitness round, albeit centred on sport performance rather than physical appearance.

Closely related is the issue of being willing to compete in a swimsuit round. If you are not, then the only real option available to you is the Miss World system. Miss Universe has allowed a Muslim contestant to compete in a burkini and some national pageants, preliminary to an international contest which includes a swimsuit round, have allowed contestants to compete in the swimsuit portion in a different kind of garment, to cover their bodies. Many have applauded this move as empowering to the young women involved. We believe this just allows one individual to impose their will on the organisation and the other participants, therefore disempowering them. Each pageant’s rules are known in advance and if a contestant has any objection to any of the requirements of the contest, she should simply not compete.

Another consideration is whether the competition includes a talent round. Do you have a pageant-worthy talent or do you have time to actually fake one?

Another issue to ponder is the length of the international competition. This can vary from a few days to close to a month. The longer the contest, the more activities there will be and the greater the amount of money you will have to invest in an appropriate wardrobe and the more it will cost you to transport all that wardrobe to the pageant’s venue. It also means you will have to take more time off work or studies. Are you willing to invest all that time and money?

Finally, you have to consider what is expected of the winner of the competition. Some pageants require you to live in their headquarter city for the duration of your reign and travel extensively. This may sound glamorous, but stop to consider whether you really are willing to put your regular life on hold for a period of time and submit your independence to an organisation.

You should enter into a pageant with open eyes, aware of all that is expected of you. If not you could be in for a rude awakening.

Effortless in 2017, Jakub Kucner, Mister Polski 2017 & Mister World Poland 2018

As we have said before, we consider the Mister Polski contest one of the two best national male competitions in the world (the other is Mister Brasil CNB). It is run over several months, with preliminary competitions to select the final 20 who will compete for the coveted title.

Many themed photoshoots are organised and the social media presence for the contest should be an example for competitions, both male and female, are over the world. The contestants are presented as examples of down-to-earth masculinity, a practice most male competitions would do well to follow.

This year, we pegged the very charismatic Jakub Kucner as the one to beat and he did prove to be unbeatable in a very strong field of finalists.

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Jakub has a strong social media presence, with which he shares his life with us. From cheeky childhood pictures,

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to his experience as a model,

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to his charity work in the Gambia,

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to regular, everyday activities, including his physical transformation.

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Through it all you get to know Jakub as a well-spoken, caring human being, who takes full advantage of life opportunities, without putting on airs or trying to show off.

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The Effortless Mister Poland will be a force to reckon with at the next Mister World competition.

Effortless in 2017: Matheus Song, Mister Brasil CNB 2017 & Mister Brazil Supranational 2017

The third contestant in our Top 3 Mister Brasil CNB 2017 prediction, Matheus Song, is the one who ended up winning the competition.

Besides the obvious qualifications for winning the title, what sets Matheus apart is his down-to-earth-ness and the fact that he is exceptionally photogenic.

In fact, the new Mister Brasil CNB is a chameleon in front of the camera. He can go from the (fourteen year-old) boy next door, to everyone’s best mate, to a suave man of mystery, to the hunk whose pictures make you feel the need to turn on the air conditioner. All this without seemingly trying, truly effortless.

We foresee a great future as a model for Matheus, as well as frontrunner status at Mister Supranational 2017 and anywhere else he is called to represent Brazil.

Effortless in 2017: Leonardo Nobre, Vice-Mister Brasil CNB 2017 & Mister Brazil International 2017

Together with the Mister Polski competition, the Mister Brasil CNB contest is the very best in national male competitions. It has proper preliminary rounds, excellent social media exposure and its contestants are highlighted in an exemplary way.

One young man, we have followed for months in the Mister Brasil CNB competition is Leonardo Nobre, who first won the local leg of the contest competed in his hometown of Natal. After securing the Mister Rio Grande do Norte title he was set to compete at the national level. This was Leonardo first foray into the world of modelling and male contests.

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Leonardo prepared meticulously, a process he shared with the world in his social media account. You could see the earnestness and dedication with which he took on representing his home state.

In this whole process his charisma was clearly evident, he was being himself, not taking on any persona, being effortless and even somewhat shy.

We predicted Leonardo as the one to beat in the national competition and ultimately he was bested by only one other participant.

Leonardo will be representing Brazil at the Mister International competition in December of this year and for us he is a definite front runner in that contest.

Effortless in 2017: Leonardo Menegon, Mister Mato Grosso and Mister Friendship at Mister Brasil CNB 2017

In the lead up to the Mister Brasil CNB 2017 competition, we published on our Facebook Page our list of 10 young men to watch. These were the guys we would describe as having the charisma, being EFFORTLESS, to make it to the top of the competition. One of these was Leonardo Menegon, Mister Mato Grosso. Furthermore, we predicted Leonardo would be one of the Top 3 in the competition.

Leonardo made it to the Top 20 and was also voted Mister Friendship by his fellow contestant. Leonardo’s reaction to winning this title is a vivid illustration of why he is one of the best male contestants we have come across.

You could say that Leonardo is too down to earth to be in the world of modelling and contests. Notwithstanding, he fits in excellently.

You get the impression that he is just being himself, exploring life’s opportunities and being open to all sorts of new experiences. A regular guy living his life outside the box, without compromises.

We are disappointed that Leonardo will not be representing Brazil internationally and it would be great if he were to take another shot at the title of Mister Brasil CNB.