in Nièvre, a beauty contest far from the clichés of Miss France – L’Express

Above all, never stop smiling. Despite the screams of the audience, the bright light of the projectors and the suspenseful music played at full volume, Cassandra and Séverine continue to wear a radiant face. Face to face in their blue or red tulle dress, the two young women hold hands firmly, awaiting the final verdict of the jury of the Diva France 2025 election. After more than five hours of show, the organizer of the competition, Taïsse Ludovino Costa finally announces the name of the big winner. “It’s about… Diva Picardie!”, she says to the 200 spectators gathered in the amphitheater of the Agropôle du Marault, in the heart of Nièvre. A cry of relief for the lucky winner, who won, at the age of 30, her 13th Miss title – after having been successively elected Miss Côte Picarde, Miss Péronne and Miss Tourism Worldwide France.

So many alternative scarves that make the mother forget the slight frustration of never having been able to enter the official Miss France competition – with her height of 1 meter 67, Cassandra did not meet the drastic criteria, established by the national committee. At her side, Séverine, Diva Bourgogne 2024, proudly displays her tattoos on her arms or thigh – also banned by the Miss France committee until 2022 -, while Alexia, Diva Center and 2nd runner-up, contains her emotion in winning his first national title. “For me, it’s a personal challenge. I never thought I’d be on stage again one day,” she confided to L’Express a few hours earlier. With her size 38, the young woman says she lost “all self-confidence” when trying her luck for the official Miss Centre-Val de Loire competition, for which the other candidates were “more like 34-36”. “I felt thicker than the others. I put that in my head, and for months, I had a lot of trouble starting fashion shows and photoshoots again,” she breathes.

Manon, a 21-year-old Limousin Diva, can only understand her: with her size 44, the young woman admits “to having always been self-conscious about her weight”, and would never have thought of participating in any beauty contest. “What interested me with Diva France is precisely that there is no box to check to apply, nor to be elected,” she summarizes. It is precisely for this reason that Taïsse Ludovino Costa created this committee in 2021. Standing 1.53 meters tall, this enthusiast of the world of entertainment, herself elected “Miss” in various alternative committees, wanted to give a chance to ” all women”, keeping only one age criterion – 35 years maximum. For the rest, it doesn’t matter if the candidates are size 32 or 46, that they do not exceed 1 meter 50, that they have had cosmetic surgery or that they have a tattoo, a piercing or a shaved head. . It also doesn’t matter their marital status or their number of children – this year, the election even welcomed a Diva Lorraine who was several months pregnant, proud to show the jury her round belly in a swimsuit, a leopard mini-dress or a tight evening wear.

At the Diva France competition, Taïsse Ludovino Costa also banned the term “Miss”: too affiliated, according to her, with other beauty competitions. “If I chose the name Diva, it is to give a nod to the world of entertainment. Here, you can see fashion shows, but also dance, burlesque, sensuality. I push the candidates to become this femme fatale, despite their sizes or shapes,” she pleads. Since the Diva France jury does not judge the physique of the candidates, their ease on stage and their eloquence during the reflection questions asked during the competition are particularly scrutinized, as are their score or their attitude on the general knowledge test or the personal interview organized ahead of the grand finale. Their investment during their year of regional reign is also taken into account. “We immediately see those who are passionate, ready to dedicate themselves completely to this world,” assures Taïsse Ludovino Costa.

“Body affirmation approach”

In this world of sequined dresses, curly hair and smells of hairspray, many “divas” have participated in other alternative competitions. On this last weekend of November, tiaras and sequinned dresses are not uncommon in the amphitheater audience: the winners of Miss Fashion, Miss Harmony or Miss Crystal medium and plus size, as well as a few Mister (Pretty, Crystal Crystal medium and plus size…) made the trip to encourage their counterparts and share dozens of photos from the evening on as many dedicated pages and groups on social networks.

Driven by the success encountered on Instagram or Facebook, dozens of competitions open to all and accessible online seem to have definitively made the rigorous criteria of Miss France obsolete: the pages of Miss Curvy, Miss Petite Universe, Miss Naturelle or Super Mamie are a hit , seducing women and Internet users tired of standardized bodies and the slightly outdated speeches of the candidates. Certain competitions, born on the Internet, even allow their Miss to promote the demands of their sector of activity, like Miss Agricole, who meets ministers, presidential candidates or political party leaders every year at the trade fair. ‘Agriculture or at the Summit of Livestock. For the committee, currently followed by nearly 100,000 people on Facebook, it all started with a competition launched as a joke by a breeder from Cantal in 2014. “Against all expectations, it created a buzz all over the world. managed to show that not all women live in heels, rhinestones and sequins… Which is not insignificant!” says Emilie Marin, president of the committee and elected first Miss Agricole in 2015, with a laugh.

“This trend of alternative competitions, coming straight from the United States, rides a lot on the concept of self-acceptance, of ‘body positivism’, in an approach of affirming the body, in a sometimes almost political way”, deciphers Jean-François Amadieu, author of The Society of Appearance. The beautiful, the young… and the others (Odile Jacob, 2016). “My one and only objective is to highlight curvy women, who are still clearly discriminated against in public spaces and in classic competitions,” underlines Géraud Fargues, president of the Miss Curvy France association.

Its candidates, accepted from size 42, parade every year since 2014 in swimsuits, without hiding their curves or their strong chests. On his own scale, the man is trying to shake up the fashion world on the subject. “Today, 60% of French women are a size 42 and over. With our help, we have succeeded in creating “curvy” partnerships with brands like Kiabi or Afibel, but the work is still long,” explains he.

Because although alternative competitions are multiplying, the vast majority of them still remain confidential. “In France there is a fascination with beauty and a cult of appearance. It is very difficult to break codes and stereotypes, and the slogan “all women are beautiful” does not yet appeal to the majority of French people. Besides, the major television channels, which do not broadcast this type of competition”, underlines Jean-François Amadieu. Last December, the official Miss France competition attracted more than 7.5 million viewers on TF1.