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Asian beauty takes centre stage
30/05/2005 08:28 - (SA)
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| Chananporn Rosjan, Miss Thailand 2005, rehearses for the 2005 Miss Universe competition at the Impact Arena, Exhibition Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. (Miss Universe LP, LLLP, AP) |
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Bangkok - As 81 beautiful women take the stage here on Tuesday in the hopes of being crowned Miss Universe, Asian contestants are in the spotlight more than ever, pushing the region's feminine mystique and beauty on a welcoming world.
Parading in Bangkok in front of the judges, as well as a global viewing audience of several hundred million people, will be just 11 Asians vying for the most coveted tiara.
Participants include women from Thailand, the Philippines and India - countries that have each won the title twice.
They also include China and Vietnam, whose communist governments until recently derided beauty pageants as decadent western pursuits, and the world's most populous Muslim nation Indonesia, which is sending a representative for the first time since then-dictator Suharto banned pageants in 1996.
Yet even before the winner is announced and the tears of joy flow, several regional hopefuls are claiming a victory for Asia as the world's largest continent begins taking its rightful place in the beauty stakes.
Not only is the West beginning to appreciate oriental looks but Asian women are also increasingly able to parade their beauty to a more welcome Asian audience, they say.
Miss Thailand, Chananporn Rosjan, may have put it most succinctly.
"It used to be taboo, but I guess we're getting more westernised," she said. "It used to be we stuck to our traditional dress codes, but I guess now people are more open-minded about how we dress or how we hold ourselves."
Her comments were echoed by Miss Japan, Yukari Kuzuya.
Women 'no longer inferior'
"Asian ideas are changing." Kuzuya said. "In Asia, the woman was considered the inferior gender, but now that is changing."
The beauty business in Asia is also booming as women in developing nations earn more disposable income, Chananporn said. Locally produced cosmetics are flying off the shelves, and Asian fashion houses are also doing well.
Recent years have seen a steady erosion of the Western-dominated beauty ideal, with leading modelling agencies, fashion houses, and women's and style publications embracing more Asian faces and fashion.
Oriental beauty ''starting to be accepted'
"We share the same values, even though the beauty of Caucasians and Asians is different," Kuzuya said. "As Orientals, we love our look, and I think western people are starting to accept Oriental beauty too."
It is not surprising then that Miss Netherlands, Sharita Sopacua, is half-Indonesian, while Miss Norway, Helene Traasavik, is half-Thai.
Globalisation is largely responsible for the changes in attitudes towards beauty, both in Asia and in the West, and for authoritarian governments softening their stance towards beauty pageants, according to Miss Vietnam, Pham Thu Hang, who is only the second Vietnamese to participate in Miss Universe.
"Before, Vietnamese culture was very traditional and women's roles were secondary and submissive," she said. "But now, with the modernisation of Vietnam, as it strives to be more open and fair in its gender roles, they are trying to promote beauty and health and intelligence as model characteristics for all Vietnamese people."
- AFP
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