Beauty contests in Italy: the importance of being... Miss

The more organized, with a solid base and professional staff, on the other hand have long lives and have never been affected by the crisis that has periodically crossed this sector for various reasons. It's a big business, the one behind the beauty contests; It is estimated that the turnover of the "Miss" and "Mister" sector is around 100 million per year: a real industry, with a lot of induced hardly quantifiable.

The more organized, with a solid base and professional staff, on the other hand have long lives and have never been affected by the crisis that has periodically crossed this sector for various reasons. It's a big business, the one behind the beauty contests; It is estimated that the turnover of the "Miss" and "Mister" sector is around 100 million per year: a real industry, with a lot of induced hardly quantifiable. From June to September, but in recent times even in the winter months in closed locations, the rite of the "most beautiful" or the "most beautiful" is celebrated everywhere.

Beaches, bathing establishments, squares, shopping centers, festivals, discos, restaurants are transformed for a few hours into a gigantic walkway! Each place can be suitable for the delivery of the legendary "bands". The beauty contest, as we Italians understand it, holders of the title of nation with the largest number of competitions in the world, is a "competition" based mainly on the judgment by a jury, on the physical beauty of the participants. Often an attempt is made to support criteria relating to particular talents, culture, personality and bearing in the evaluation. However, what matters most is always beauty.

The usual classic question comes naturally: is beauty subjective or objective? I personally believe that beauty is an objective character, albeit with some reservations. First of all, its objectivity is undeniably affected by the socio-cultural period in which you live (the objective beauty of the '700 is certainly different from the current one) and then there are some components that can be considered subjective: the length of the hair, the color of the eyes, more or less fleshy lips etc.

The height, a proportionate physique, a straight nose, a beautiful and perfect dentition, a cut and a light color of the eyes, a thick hair and a symmetrical face are objective characteristics that, if possessed by the competitors, will certainly lead to a positive evaluation by jurors. How much does a competitor's victory or defeat affect her future career in show business? Little or much, it depends on the intrinsic characteristics of the subject.

Participation in a competition, especially for the best known and most popular, is always an important moment for girls; today the minimum age of participation has fallen considerably and it is not uncommon to find "almost little girls" aged 13/14 parading with the number on their chests, rigged and dressed often provocatively and certainly not suitable for age. But the desire to "emerge", to show off, to compete with your peers, is strong; almost unthinkable not to try at least once, especially if you believe you are up to it.

Aided by the parents, who too often are much more aggressive than their daughters, the girls seek a local competition; it assesses how important it is, how many possibilities it has to lead, in case of victory, to an outlet in the world of fashion or TV and then ... go! Starting with the local selections, maybe 2/3 per week. Then... provincials. Then, and here we are already at levels for which competing girls are often willing to do "anything" to participate, the regional finals. From there you get to the much-dreamed national final: often on TV, even if only maybe on a regional network, in attractive locations and with show business personalities as guests or presenters. In short, you enter the fantastic world of entertainment!

And then? The game can end there, with a sash, a crown and a scepter to be worn for a whole year or ... this can be a springboard to success! At this point it no longer depends only on physical appearance and attractiveness: much more complex components come into play to make a victory in a beauty contest become the first step towards the most important stages or catwalks. Undoubtedly a beautiful face and a beautiful body help, but they are not enough. If the "queen" has the will, the ability and the requirements to move forward, the roads are open but with great difficulties to overcome and with enormous sacrifices to face.

It is therefore better to stay down to earth immediately: consider these competitions as games, certainly serious, but always games. As a way to have fun, to spend different evenings, to meet other young people with the same aspirations and ... why not? To dream a little. In Italy the most famous beauty contest and even today, after 80 years of life, the most important is certainly Miss Italy. In recent years, due also to the disappearance of its founder, Enzo Mirigliani, Miss Italy has lost some of its appeal and has fallen significantly in the percentage of popularity.

The loss of live RAI (excluding the parenthesis of last year to celebrate the eightieth anniversary), the disappearance of some sponsor brands, the move from the legendary Salsomaggiore to the Venetian Riviera, many controversies generated by the suspicion of piloted voting, changes often incomprehensible to the rules of participation, these are just some of the reasons why Miss Italy no longer attracts the same interest of the past by the public and participants.

All this, of course, for the benefit of other competitions. The panorama is vast, as mentioned, and often sprinkled with curious names and perhaps even ridiculous or extravagant but still worthy of attention, especially in the local area. Thus, browsing the list of registered trademarks, we discover that in Italy and in the world there are: Miss Hitler, Miss Atomic Bomb, Miss Aesthetic Surgery, together with the more "normal" ones: Miss Sweet Eyes and Miss Perfect Posture. The victory, however, in the strangest competition must certainly be assigned to Angola, where "Miss survivors of anti-personnel mines" takes place: the participants are all girls mutilated by these terrible weapons and the winner wins a Norwegian prosthesis.

Returning to the more classic Italian selections, we discover that many international competitions have landed in Italy with considerable success: Miss World Italy, Miss Universe Italy, etc. The winners of each nation meet in splendid exotic locations to compete with colleagues from other states dreaming of the planetary crown. Among the many beauty contests that we have been able to follow in recent years, one in particular has attracted our attention: Miss Blumare. Because? It is a competition whose main feature is to have a national final different from all the others: On a cruise!

I was struck by the simplicity and cleanliness of the participants, the serenity with which the competitors approach the selection evenings and above all the extreme correctness and cleanliness of the organizers and staff. In the next appointment we will talk more in depth about this competition, we will also read a short interview made to the C.E.O., Mr. Luca Dalmaso, and to the Miss currently in charge, Giada Carducci. We will also try to follow, during the season and anti-covid regulations permitting, the various phases of this event, starting from the local selections up to the national final which is scheduled this year on the flagship of the MSC fleet, the Seaside, in the month of November. See you next time!