Entertainment

The ‘before’ and ‘after’ of beauty queens

September 2, 2004 | 12:00am

Undoubtedly, Venezuela is among the, if not the, "winningest" countries in international beauty contests and it’s because that country takes the beauty business very seriously, with experts trained in "re-inventing" the candidates before they set out to compete with beauties from other countries.

Here’s an interesting report by Funfare’s "beauty experts" Felix Manuel, Joey Cezare, Francis Calubaquib and Gery Yumping:

Hello. Just found these interesting pics in my file, the before and after of the retocadas of Venezuela. I watched Born Diva and was shocked how determined these Filipinas are to have surgery done to achieve their goals.

Here’s our report:

The Filipino’s ideal of beauty has changed regularly and dramatically through the decades. The once-conservative view on cosmetic surgery has been replaced with open acceptance and understanding. With more and more celebrities coming out in the open flaunting their "new" bodies and features, which could have been frowned upon in the olden days, beauty surgeons are in for busier days ahead of them.

Perhaps Filipinos now accept the fact that it’s commonplace to correct serious irritating flaws surgically with little stigma.

In our culture’s obsession with beauty in general and pageants in particular, are we ready to accept surgically-transformed beauty queens?

It has been 25 years since we last won a major international pageant (Mimilanie Laurel Marquez-Miss International 1979). Our nation is not wanting in beautiful women but lately, our representatives have been outclassed year in and year out. Are we content with runner-up positions or even just a slot in the semi-finals? Yes, we have been winning minor tilts abroad, but are these accolades enough to claim the Filipinas’ supremacy on the world stage? We believe we have to change our selection process. More stringent height requirements and steadfast training for our beauties are needed for them to compete evenly in the international arena.

Venezuela is a very good example. Their candidates have dominated the international pageant arena in the last 25 years or so. Osmel Sousa, president of the Miss Venezuela Organization leaves nothing to chance. To maintain their dominance in the world scene, he assembled a team of cosmetic and dental surgeons who work together to "create" a perfect Venezuelan woman.

These permanent alterations are for free. More often than not, the girls are willing to go under the knife and eagerly await their "transformation". Sousa then trains these girls four months before the pageant in his beauty school where they are taught posture, movement, public speaking and social decorum. By the time these girls win the national finals, they would have developed the skills, knowledge and attitude of a world-class beauty queen.

With four Misses Universe, five Misses World and four Misses International, this small nation of 25 million has proven that they have found the right formula to maintain their presence and dominance in the international pageant arena which has earned them the accolade "Beauty Queen Machine".

In our pursuit of international prominence, are we ready to do the same?

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