Miss Polonia 2017: The pageant that reopened old wounds

The Miss Polonia 2017 gala will not go down in history for its elegance, but for the rawness of the reactions it continues to provoke. A recent conversation brought the pageant back to compare the profile of its contestants with that of today's competitions. The contrast is so stark that the controversy has been reignited: the contestants of that era represented a classic aesthetic, with no tattoos or trans participants, and that stirs up both nostalgia and contempt.

A beauty ideal that refuses to die

Much of the commentary held up that gala as an example of a "traditional" beauty model that can no longer be found. The absence of diversity, far from being seen as a flaw by some, was celebrated. There are those who defend it as a bastion of classic femininity, while others consider it proof that the pageant remained stuck in the past. The contestant from Gdansk, described as "overrated", drew much of the aesthetic criticism.

Poland, nationalism and a boycott as the backdrop

The political element soon appeared. Poland was accused of being a "very fascist" country, with an economic proposal to force supposed tolerance through a trade blockade. That mix of aesthetic elitism and geopolitical tensions turned a simple gala into an ideological battleground. Ten years later, the contestants are no longer the same; time turned the girls of then into women, but it did not change the conversation surrounding them.

The pageant still provokes disproportionate reactions, and not exactly because of the quality of the dresses. One contestant took the crown, but the real prize went to those who used the gala to show the worst of themselves.