Miss France

Miss France is a French national beauty pageant, held annually in December. The competition was first held in 1920, and has been organized continuously since 1947. The trademark for the pageant is owned by the company Miss France SAS, and is a subsidiary of Endemol Shine France. The competition is aired on TF1.

For the racehorse, see Miss France (horse).

Miss France
Formation1920 (1920)
TypeBeauty pageant
HeadquartersParis, France
Membership
Official language
French
National director
Sylvie Tellier
Websitetf1.fr/miss-france/

Miss France was first organized in 1920, under the name La plus belle femme de France (English: The most beautiful woman of France), and was held for one additional year before being abandoned until 1927. That year, the competition was rebranded into Miss France, and was held annually until 1940, due to World War II. In 1947, following the end of the war, the competition was revived and has been held annually since. In 1954, Guy Lévy founded the Miss France Committee (French: comité Miss France) to organize the competition. Geneviève de Fontenay took over the Miss France Committee in 1981, until departing in 2007. Since then, Sylvie Tellier has served as the national director of Miss France.

Contestants of Miss France must meet a number of eligibility requirements and first win a regional title which qualifies them for the national competition, representing their region. A number of these regions also organize local competitions corresponding with cities and departments within the region, which must be won first before one can compete in the regional competition. The winner of Miss France resides in Paris during her year of reign in a rent-free apartment, in addition to winning a number of additional prizes and sponsorship deals while receiving a monthly salary. Typically, the winner represents France at either Miss Universe or Miss World, while her first runner-up competes at the other pageant. In some instances, the predecessor of the reigning titleholder would compete at the other pageant or the two would switch years in order to avoid any scheduling conflicts between their assigned international pageant and the next Miss France competition.

The current Miss France is Diane Leyre, who was crowned on 11 December 2021 at Miss France 2022. She had previously been crowned Miss Île-de-France 2021, and is the sixteenth woman from Île-de-France to win the title.

History

Miss France was first organized in 1920, under the name La plus belle femme de France (English: The most beautiful woman of France). The competition was founded by journalist Maurice de Waleffe, who chose to have the winner be decided by French filmgoers.[1] After more than 1,700 women applied for the competition, 49 finalists were chosen. The competition was held over the course of several weeks, with filmgoers being given a ballot with seven women, and asked to select their favorite. Agnès Souret was selected as the inaugural winner. The following year, the competition was held again, with Pauline Pô winning the competition. However, La plus belle femme de France was later abandoned after 1921.[2]

Six years later the competition was revived under the name Miss France, with a new format organized by Robert and Jean Cousin.[2] Miss France continued to be held annually until 1940, when World War II disrupted entertainment events. The competition later resumed in 1947, following the end of the war, and has been held annually since then. In 1986, the competition was aired live on TF1, becoming the first edition of Miss France to be broadcast live on national television.[3]

Osez le féminisme, a French feminist organization, sued Miss France and its parent company, Endemol Production, in 2021 for sexist and discriminatory regulations.[4] The lawsuit argues that the contestants in the pageant should be considered employees of the competition, thereby forbidding Miss France and Endemol from engaging in discrimination.[5]

Contestants

Each year, contestants are chosen through a series of regional pageants held throughout metropolitan and overseas France in the summer and autumn before the national competition. Over time, the regions represented at Miss France have varied slightly. The following 29 regional pageants currently send contestants to Miss France:

The regional competitions are organized by regional committees, and contestants must reside or attend school in the region they choose to represent. Regional committees have their own discretion as to how they wish to field candidates for the regional competitions. Some choose to organize a number of local competitions corresponding to cities or departments within the region, while others use closed casting processes. Public voting is used to select winners of both regional pageants and the national competition.[6][7][8][9][10] The winner of the national competition subsequently receives a number of prizes, including a rent-free apartment in Paris, sponsorship deals, and a monthly salary.[11][12][13]

Rules and eligibility

In order to compete in Miss France, contestants must meet the following eligibility requirements:[6]

Contestants must:

  • Be female and of French nationality through birth or naturalization.
  • Be between ages 18 and 24 on 1 November of the year of the competition.
  • Be at least 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) tall.
  • Have a clean criminal record.

Contestants must not:

  • Have had her image exploited in a manner that could be incompatible or pose an obstacle to the organizers' rights.
  • Have received cosmetic surgery or use appearance-altering products such as wigs or colored contact lenses.
  • Have children.
  • Have been married, divorced, widowed, or involved in a civil union.
  • Have visible tattoos or piercings, not including earrings.
  • Have ever posed partially or completely nude, including after the competition as well.
  • Have associated with political or religious propaganda while a regional titleholder.

The pageant's code of ethics also requires that contestants not engage in smoking or public alcohol consumption. Failure to comply with pageant rules carries a fine of 5,000 Euro.[14]

Recent titleholders
For full list and details, see List of Miss France titleholders.
Year Miss France Region Age[lower-alpha 1] Hometown Notes
2022 Diane Leyre  Île-de-France 24 Paris
2021 Amandine Petit  Normandy 23 Bourguébus Top 21 at Miss Universe 2020
2020 Clémence Botino  Guadeloupe 22 Le Gosier Top 10 at Miss Universe 2021
2019 Vaimalama Chaves  Tahiti 24 Mahina
2018 Maëva Coucke  Nord-Pas-de-Calais 23 Ferques Top 12 at Miss World 2018 and Top 10 at Miss Universe 2019

Winners by region
Number Region Years
16  Île-de-France
7  Normandy
  • 1958
  • 1967
  • 1981
  • 1984
  • 2005
  • 2010
  • 2021
 Rhône-Alpes
  • 1930
  • 1957
  • 1965
  • 1968
  • 1988
  • 1996
  • 2002
6  Alsace
  • 1940
  • 1969
  • 1985
  • 1987
  • 2004
  • 2012
 Brittany
  • 1928
  • 1937
  • 1960
  • 1961
  • 1962
  • 2011
 Aquitaine
5  Tahiti
Côte d'Azur
  • 1932
  • 1947
  • 1951
  • 1954
  • 1982
4  Picardy
  • 1936
  • 1953
  • 2001
  • 2007
 Languedoc-Roussillon
  • 1929
  • 1938
  • 1971
  • 2006
 Poitou-Charentes
3  Nord-Pas-de-Calais
  • 2015
  • 2016
  • 2018
 Lorraine
  • 1973
  • 1975
  • 1998
 Pays de la Loire
  • 1964
  • 1992
  • 1994
 Guadeloupe
  • 1993
  • 2003
  • 2020
2  Burgundy
  • 2000
  • 2013
 Midi-Pyrénées
  • 1931
  • 2009
 Réunion
  • 1976
  • 2008
 Franche-Comté
1  French Guiana
  • 2017
 Centre-Val de Loire
  • 2014
 Provence
  • 1979
 New Caledonia
 Morocco[lower-alpha 6]
  • 1956
 Saar[lower-alpha 7]
  • 1935
 Corsica
  • 1921

Notes
  1. Ages at the time of Miss France
  2. In 1972, winner Chantal Bouvier de la Motte of Île-de-France resigned the title after suffering serious injuries after falling off of a horse. She was replaced by her first runner-up, Claudine Cassereau of Poitou-Charentes, as Miss France 1972.
  3. In 1978, winner Pascale Taurua of New Caledonia resigned the title shortly after winning due to her wishing to remain in New Caledonia and not move to Paris. She was replaced by her first runner-up, Brigitte Konjovic of Île-de-France, as Miss France 1978.
  4. In 1983, winner Isabelle Turpault of Île-de-France was dethroned after images taken of her in an erotic photoshoot were released, against pageant rules. She was replaced by her first runner-up, Frédérique Marcelle Leroy of Aquitaine, as Miss France 1983.
  5. In 1980, winner Thilda Fuller of Tahiti resigned the title three days after winning due to personal reasons. She was replaced by her first runner-up, Patricia Barzyk of Franche-Comté, as Miss France 1980.
  6. Until 1956, Morocco was under control of France as the French Protectorate in Morocco.
  7. Until 1935, Saarbrücken was part of the Territory of the Saar Basin, a region of Germany that was administered by the United Kingdom and France under the control of the League of Nations.

References
  1. La société Miss France Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
  2. "Historique". Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  3. "Biographie de Geneviève De Fontenay". tf1.fr (in French)..
  4. "Miss France sued for 'no mothers', 'no married women' rule for contestants". Women's Agenda. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  5. "Moms and short people need not apply: Miss France pageant sued over eligibility rules". CBC radio. 20 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. Miss France registration form (in French)
  7. MISS FRANCE SAS sur SOCIETE.COM (in French)
  8. WIPO Domain Name Decision (in French)
  9. L'entreprise "Miss France" Archived 11 December 2012 at archive.today (in French)
  10. Miss France 2010 : Malika Ménard élue avec 34% des votes du public Archived 18 July 2012 at archive.today (in French)
  11. Boquet-Vautor, Lorelei (17 December 2017). "Miss France 2018 : La grande gagnante est Maeva Coucke alias Miss Nord Pas de Calais" (in French). TF1.
  12. "À CHÂTEAUROUX, MAËVA COUCKE, MISS NORD-PAS-DE-CALAIS DEVIENT MISS FRANCE 2018 !" (in French). Wit. 16 December 2017.
  13. "Maëva Coucke, Miss Nord Pas-de-Calais, wins Miss France 2018". Lucire. 17 December 2017.
  14. Leah Dolan. "Miss France pageant faces lawsuit for requiring all contestants to be at least 5-foot-5, unmarried and child-free". CNN. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
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