Beauty that escaped from behind the iron curtain: 20 behind-the-scenes photos from the 90s (20 photos)

The fallen "iron curtain" brought with it a wave of everything foreign - music, food, fashion, magazines, newspapers, programs and of course beauties of the former Soviet Union hurried to present themselves at fashion contests beauty. And show yourself and look at people, and maybe even a millionaire meet.





The first beauty contest "Moscow beauty" was held in 1988



From the point of view of the new ideology, the competition was supposed to show that our country is moving towards democracy.



The idea of the competition and its promotion was submitted and supported by party, i.e. state level. Crowd of applicants in Gorky Park stretched for 2 kilometers, and the jury did not even know who exactly they needed choose. The girls came with their whole families - with their husbands and children. Eventually selected 36 applicants



By the way, the author of the script for this event was Leonid Yakubovich (Field of Miracles)



Many participants in that action remember him with warmth - competitions like in a pioneer camp, assorted, often sewn hand-made dresses, strange swimsuits - whoever is in what much, flowered tights and trendy bouffant hairstyles.



This competition was held with a large full house - more than 10 thousand spectators, a bunch of journalists, everything is cordoned off by the police, millions of people TVs. The jury of the competition was very afraid of its failure and it should be noted The competition went surprisingly well.






An interesting moment - they forgot to check the girls' passports



The competition began, the jury began to look for winners, but it turned out that there were few Muscovites among them. For example, the jury liked Oksana Fandera (yes, the same famous actress), but she was from Odessa and her the nomination was withdrawn. They also removed the candidacy of a girl with the surname Durneva - where in the same name on the front pages of newspapers.



By the way, in this case, they chose not the most beautiful, but the most acceptable for the party line - a simple, pretty, folk girl. AND she turned out to be Masha Kalinina, and not the most beautiful of the contenders.



And some facts about beauty pageants



The first official competition was held in Europe, in Belgium, in the autumn of 1888.



Today, the Big Four beauty pageants include "Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth. More often The winners are girls from Venezuela



The first beauty contest, in which girls went on stage in bikinis, was held in the States in 1926.



In 1951, Pope Pius XII condemned the coronation of the Miss World winner, calling the ceremony sinful.



Finnish Armi Kuusela was the only winner to receive a real royal crown.



She, as the winner, was presented with the real crown of the Romanovs - with diamonds, gold and worth 500,000 dollars.