Getting back the glamour

With the arrival of the reigning Miss World Ivian Sarcos to Kenya, the once less glamorous local beauty contest is just about to get its shine back, writes STEVENS MUENDO

The beauty world has its eyes fixed on Kenya.

The reigning Miss World, Ivian Sarcos, and her delegation from London flew in on Wednesday for the Miss World Kenya 2012 finals to be held tomorrow.

It is the first time ever a reigning Miss World is attending such a crowning ceremony in the region.

And with the visit blows a new breeze of hope in the continental arena after years of negative perception that the coveted world event has a bias against contestants from the continent.

The timing is unique. It comes barely a year after Alexandria Mills, the Miss World 2010 crown holder, visited the country to crown Miss World Kenya, Natasha Metto, with her continental Beauty with a Purpose Award worth $10,000 (Sh800,000).

Just as it was the case last year, Sarcos arrives as the Kenyan team re-energises its strategy in a fresh bid to win the elusive beauty crown when the world event gets hosted in China late this year.

With top Africa beauties and a host of high profile guests joining the cream of the Kenyan beauty fraternity during the red carpet ceremony to be held at Film Studios tomorrow evening, one can almost sense the great expectation and pressure Kenya is under to produce a world class model this year.

In fact, with most of the African countries yet to pick their Miss World representatives for this year, Kenya’s move is being viewed as the benchmark of what Africa will have to showcase during the August Macau finals.

kenya’s road to china

Those  in the country with the Miss World delegation include the Miss World Limited CEO Julia Morley and Miss World Europe anong other crown holders from across Europe.

The event will be filmed exclusively as the last episode of a TV show in the Kenyan edition of the road to Miss World reality TV show. KTN will be hosting the show.

After years of dismal performance on the international stage, the local modeling industry seems to be reawakening and the Miss World Kenya team is leaving nothing to chance.

Kenyan representatives have emerged African favourites in the last three Miss World outings and hopes are high that even as Kenya sails against old Africa modelling powerhouses, a Miss World crown holder could soon be our own beauty queen.

In its effort to produce a world-class contestant this year, the Miss World team carried a national town-to-town beauty search auditions before the finalists were put in a boot camp for rigorous training.

“The boot camp is an academy where girls undergo training and competition. The finalists in the national preliminaries were locked at Hill Park Kiwi Beach in South Coast where a team of experts has been training them on matters of etiquette and general beauty rules,” Terry Mungai, the Miss World, Kenya, franchise director and Ashley’s CEO, told Pulse.

“We simply conformed to the Miss World ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ format whose month long preliminary galas and balls culminate into a telecast show in which the field is narrowed to a few. Some of the finalists, who could not pass the mark, were evicted during the academy period. We will be having ten girls competing for the crown during the Saturday show,” Ms Mungai noted.

In previous competitions, over 30 girls could compete during a mass attendance gala night, a set-up that largely compromised the splendor associated with the pageant.

How it all went wrong

“Besides beauty, the Miss World pageant is keen on tests on intelligence and personality. That is part of what the experts have been working the girls on and I believe  the girls are seasoned enough for the showdown. 

“We have never had a reigning Miss World visit us for such a grand ceremony. It is a big honour and privilege for us that, out of a busy schedule, the Miss World team has opted to visit Kenya. Our hopes to score on the international platform are high,” Mungai remarked.

Even though Kenya has in the past produced world-class models some of who are making big money in the West right now, recent years has seen watering-down of the modelling standards in the country.

Ironically, the 1990s witnessed an increased interest in the local modelling scene and with it came numerous beauty pageants giving aspiring models endless opportunities to launch their careers.

However, it all turned into a mere fad and an opening for opportunists to cash in on willing sponsors. Apart from the credible and world renowned beauty pageants such as Miss Universe, Miss Tourism and Miss World, the industry was watered down to accommodate the likes of Miss Condom and Miss Lidos among others.

And with the big cash came the scramble for the international beauty pageants as the industry leaders jostled to acquire ownership of international franchises. With the wars, the industry went down to its knees.

The main hitch was the unprofessional way in which beauty pageants were organised. Personal interests on the part of the organisers degenerated into corrupt unfair judging during such competitions.

Negative publicity turned away government support and other potential sponsors. Consequently, contestants who previously formed long queues during auditions were no more.

“I don’t think it is all lost. We can trace our steps back to the days of Yolanda Masinde, Daniella Kimaru and Maryanne Kariuki who made Kenya proud during their days. We still have the potential to produce top African models. The Miss Kenya new arrangement is a step towards that,” says Leakey Odera, the CEO of Pambazuka Entertainment — one of the pioneer fashion and modeling groups in Kenya.

Yolanda Masinde, the Miss Kenya 2000 crown holder, went ahead to win the continental title, a feat that Kenya had achieved in 1984, thanks to Khadija Ismail, and in 1988 through Dianna Naylo.

 Looming breakthrough

Yolanda was the second Kenyan winner in the Miss World stage after Esther Muthee. Since the pageant made a come back in 1999 after a ten-year debacle. 

“I recall Mungai taking Miss Tourism to a new level in 2001 when we had over 5,000 people at the grand ceremony at Carnivore. After that, it’s like people noticed  there was money in the industry and the battles started,” Leakey recalls. 

Just like China and the Western world where beauty pageantry is taken seriously — with schools where models are seriously groomed into professional models, Leakey reasons that Kenya should go the same way if it has to attain the same feat.

In his opinion, corporate organisations are now relying on modelling agencies where they hire beauties to showcase their brands as opposed to what the case was back in the day.

He adds that it is because of these quick money deals that models are opting to work with beauty agencies as opposed to trying international beauty pageants.

Cecilia Mwangi, a former Miss Kenya crown holder says it is not too late for the glamour industry to get its glamour back.

“I am sure we can take it up from where we lost it. Even as other beauty pageants went down, Miss World Kenya remained outstanding and now the organisers seem to be on a new gear to take the beauty pageantry to a new level,” she notes.

“It is a major moral boost for aspiring girls when they see the reigning Miss World visit Kenya. It is a signal that the world believes in is. It is now our duty to pull up our socks and prove that we are a force to reckon with,” she adds.

Cecilia reckons that it is time beauty models, agencies and other players within the industry took the profession seriously.

“Beauty and beauty products are now a major income earner all over the world. China has been using Miss World alone as a major tourist attraction avenue,” remarks Mungai.

And she adds: “ We need to think outside the box and see modelling as a major income earner rather than a one minute catwalk fame moment. The government should also start supporting us.”