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Goodbye, prejudice. Hello, Miss Universe Singapore Organisers and contestants are dragging the age-old pageant kicking and screaming into the woke era.

HELMI YUSOFhelmi@sph.com.sg@HeliBT

PLUS-SIZED women. LBTQ women. Women with skin conditions, prosthetic limbs or other physical disadvantages. Muslim women who want to cover their hair with a hijab and wear athleisure instead of a bikini. Athletic women whose bodies are hard and muscular instead of soft and curvy.

All are welcome to compete in the newly revamped Miss Universe Singapore.

Organisers of Miss Universe Singapore are taking the beauty pageant kicking and screaming into the woke era. The competition wants to become much less of a flesh parade than a celebration of inclusivity and empowerment. The vibe will be less James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful and more Christina Aguillera’s Beautiful.

While the pictures you see here of 2021’s finalists suggest little has changed, the organisers and contestants say otherwise.

“We’ve put the word out that the competition is transforming itself for the new era. But it will take time for people to hear about it, and for women of all backgrounds to make the decision to participate,” says the contest’s national director Valerie Lim, who is herself a winner of 2011 contest in Singapore.

“In fact, we were all ready to have a plus-sized girl for this year’s competition – only to discover that she’s not a Singapore citizen. This is a rule that we unfortunately cannot change: The winner will effectively be called Miss Universe Singapore. So she must, at the very least, be a Singapore citizen.”

Ms Lim’s personal reason for advocating change stems from her work with people with autism. She learnt how punishing the world can be to people who are “different”. And so, as a clear indication of the contest’s newfound inclusivity, this year’s application form even asked the aspiring contestants if they were assigned female at birth, and, if not, which year they had their gender reassigned.

“If your NRIC says ‘female’, we affirm your identity as a woman and accept your application,” says Daniel Boey, the contest’s new creative and fashion director.

An industry veteran, Boey says he would not have accepted the role if the competition had not become “more progressive and accepting towards women of all backgrounds… Beauty is not confined to one standard notion of someone who’s slim, long-haired and big-bosomed. There are many meanings of beauty, and many types of empowered, inspiring, attractive women.”

Empowered Gen Z women

Speaking to the contestants, it appears that the competition may have had little choice but to reform itself anyway. Its contestants are all Gen Zs, a generation of digital natives who grew up with unrestricted information on the Internet, which gave them insight into diverse communities and struggles around the world.

In their formative years, they witnessed or felt the repercussions of landmark events such the AWARE saga of 2009, the birth of Pink Dot later that same year, the global #MeToo and Time’s Up movements to assert the rights and dignity of women, the legalisation of gay marriage in various countries, and Black Lives Matter, which made a tremendous impact beyond black communities into other marginalised communities.

One contestant, Lila Tan, is an 18-year-old football player. She says her body is “muscular” and does not conform to the standard bodies of beauty pageant contestants. Like most athletes, she has scars on her legs.

But she says: “I’m passionate about everything that goes on around the world. And I strongly feel that our society must be inclusive for everyone… And that’s one reason why I decided to join the competition, to also show that a beauty pageant can champion different body types.”

Serena Jane McNeill, 21, a recent graduate, has done volunteer work for Pink Dot, SPCA and Babes (a teenage pregnancy support group). She says: “I am conscious of how the older generations think. But I feel it’s unfair to discriminate against single mothers, the LGBTQ community, and other less privileged communities… Your personal beliefs should not mean that others get the short end of the stick.”

Nandita Banna, 21, is studying business and analytics at a university. She helped organise a campus discussion on what she describes as “the rise of racist incidents” towards minority races during the pandemic.

She says: “Sometimes we tell our parents about these racist incidents. And our parents might brush it off and say: ‘It’s normal, just accept it and move on.’ But we think differently from our parents. We want to address the issues, have difficult conversations, and change the culture.”

These young women hope they never have to compromise on their demands for equality, inclusivity and social justice.

Global changes

Of course, changes have simultaneously been taking place in the global fashion and beauty industry.

Musician Rihanna is a newly-minted billionaire this year, thanks to the success of her cosmetics company Fenty Beauty that caters to women of all skin tones. She is now the second richest female entertainer after Oprah Winfrey, who also made her fortune from being accepting, compassionate and inclusive.

Lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret – long criticised for pandering to the male gaze instead of real women’s needs – is rebranding itself this year with a campaign that features an openly-gay woman (Megan Rapinoe), a plus-sized woman (Paloma Elsesser) and two sportswomen (Rapinoe and Eileen Gu). The New York Times calls it “the most extreme brand turnaround in recent memory”.

British Vogue abandoned the magazine’s former emphasis on young white women. It has put on its covers black models, older women and non-celebrities, such as essential workers of the pandemic.

British Vogue has seen its print circulation rise while most print titles are in decline.

But perhaps the most relevant change in this case is taking place within the Miss Universe organisation. Since talent agency WME/IMG bought over the franchise in 2015, it has stated its intention of becoming a platform for ‘positive change”. But unlike other organisations mouthing these words, it is putting its money where its mouth is.

Miss Universe New Zealand 2018 finalist Nurul Shamsul wore a hijab at the contest. Miss Universe Great Britain 2017 contestant Muna Jama, a Muslim, wore a kaftan instead of a bikini. Miss Universe Myanmar 2019 winner Swe Zin Htet is the pageant’s first openly-gay contestant.

Singapore pride

While the contest becomes more inclusive and diverse, the organisers are simultaneously pushing for other causes too, such as sustainability and pride in local products.

This year, the creative and fashion director Boey wanted the women to be dressed in only Singapore-designed clothes – which hasn’t always been the case in previous contests: “We have wonderful designers here: Why have we not rigorously promoted them?”

The photo above was shot in The Intan, a Peranakan heritage home-museum in Joo Chiat. The young women wore clothes by Singapore designers at Design Orchard. (The organisers stressed that the group shot was executed individually, in accordance with prevailing safety measures, and then put together digitally.)

The new Miss Universe Singapore crown is designed by local designer Marilyn Tan, who found inspiration in Peranakan jewellery. It is made with 677 diamonds supplied by local start-up and presenting sponsor The Better Diamond, which produces lab-grown diamonds as an ethical and sustainable alternative to natural diamonds. The crown took over 3 months to create and is valued at nearly S$100,000.

Contestant Nur Kalynskye Mohd Adrian, 21, says: “Growing up and watching the contest, I always thought it prioritised certain things like Caucasian features and blonde hair…Thankfully, society is becoming more progressive and inclusive. And this competition affirms that.”

• Miss Universe Singapore 2021 will be livestreamed on Sept 17 at 9pm on The Front Row website: www.frontrow.style