Big-contoured women claim limelight

A contestant in the Miss Curvy pageant.

BEAUTY may be in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to beauty pageants, there is always a winner, flanked by two princesses. At the glamorous Miss Zimbabwe 2014 contest recently held in Msasa, an impressive panel of judges concurred that 22 year old Thabiso Phiri, a law student at UZ, should win the title of Miss Zimbabwe and be crowned Queen.

I spoke to one of the judges, the former beauty queen Shirley Chingoka, who was crowned Miss Zimbabwe in 1980, and asked her what made one contestant more beautiful than another. “It’s the whole being, and the inside person that counts’, she replied. ‘We didn’t score the contestants on their physical appearance alone.”

In competitions, aspiring beauties will usually be quizzed on their studies or occupations, on their general knowledge, on what they know about their own country and their awareness of what is going on in the rest of the world. But the deciding factor must surely be whether or not the contestant conforms to a particular concept of beauty.

Although opinions vary from culture to culture, it’s safe to say that a classic beauty who has perfectly symmetrical features, an oval face, almond-shaped eyes, high cheek bones and chiselled lips will cause gasps of admiration wherever she travels. Like the Girl from Ipanema in the 60s bossa nova song, who was ‘tall and tan and young and lovely’ who ‘swings so cool’ that ‘each one she passes goes aaah!’ these exceptional women can turn heads when they’re well into middle age and beyond.

In 1936, the American heiress Wallis Simpson coined the phrase ‘You can never be too rich or too thin’. Almost 80 years on pursuit of this western ideal forces women (and some men) to go on unhealthy crash diets to lose weight.  Not content with slimmer bodies, the same people then pay large sums of money to plastic surgeons for breast enhancements or for the creation of artificial six packs.During the Renaissance period, however, women were considered sexy and beautiful only if they were fat.

A curvaceous body was a sign of health and wealth, and typified the kind of woman every man would like to come home to. Ideas changed in the 1900s, developing into both the cult of the super-thin and the idea of being well-muscled and beautiful, with a sculpted physique. In many parts of Africa, big has always been beautiful. In the North African country of Mauritania, a voluptuous wife is proof of a man’s wealth, and young girls are sent to fat camps in the Sahara desert to prepare them for marriage. A diet of goats milk and oily couscous with copious amounts of pounded millet and water will create the layers of fat that in Mauritanian tradition are the height of feminine beauty.

In Zimbabwe elegantly slender women continue to be admired, but as more and more attention is focused on traditional values, the well-endowed woman is beginning to claim the limelight. Miss Curvy Zimbabwe, a contest being held at the Moth Camp in Kariba on August 9, will be celebrating African beauty and allowing the big-contoured woman her share of fame. Big men are also admired in Africa, their large frames denoting wealth, power and generosity. Interviews I had with discerning younger women, however, revealed that while an attractive man should be tall and dark, he should also have an athletic build.

While interest continues to grow in beauty contests featuring generously-proportioned women, promoters might consider a contest for for men wishing to compete for Zimbabwe’s Hunk of the Month. It’s a fact of life that good looking people get preferential treatment, so if you’re short on classical beauty, maximise on whatever pluses you have, such as good grooming, exquisite manners or a great sense of humour. Hairstyles, clothing, makeup and personality all play a significant role in one’s perception of a beautiful woman or man, but these are topics for further interviews and articles.

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