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In a bizarre controversy, the Miss France 2024 beauty pageant has drawn backlash for crowning 20-year-old Eve Gilles, dubbed an "androgynous" winner with a pixie cut on social media. Gilles was crowned Miss France 2024 on Saturday, December 16, 2023, witnessed by a live audience of 5,000 people in Dijon, with 9.1 million watching on TV.
Representing Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the northernmost region of France, she became the first contestant with a short hairstyle to win Miss France in its 103-year history.
Following her victory, Gilles made the following statement:
“No one should dictate who you are. We’re used to seeing beautiful Misses with long hair, but I chose an androgynous look with short hair,” she said after her victory, adding that every “woman is different, we’re all unique”.
A victory for "diversity": Eve Gilles speaks up for diversity in beauty standards
According to The Telegraph, Gilles has been outspoken about the need to "diversify" beauty standards to modernise pageants and make them less sexist. She made the following comment on stage after being crowned:
"I would like to show that the competition is evolving and society too, that the representation of women is diverse, in my opinion beauty is not limited to a haircut or shapes that we have... or not.”
Born on July 9, 2003, to parents Bruno and Édith, Eve Gilles hails from Dunkirk, France. She has two older sisters. Before becoming Miss France, Gilles studied mathematics at the University of Lille, aspiring to become a statistician.
She began her career in pageantry by competing in the local Miss Hersin-Coupigny 2023 pageant. Winning this pageant qualified her to compete in Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais 2023.
She won Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais in 2023, which allowed her to represent her region in Miss France 2024. Gilles is the fourth woman from Nord-Pas-de-Calais to win Miss France.
As the winner of Miss France, she was gifted a year-long residence in a luxury Paris apartment and an undisclosed monthly salary the equivalent of a senior executive in France.
As per The Telegraph, the winner of Miss France is chosen half by public vote and half by a panel of seven female judges. Gilles was third in the public vote but came first in the panel.
Netizens accuse Miss France of going woke after Eve Gilles is crowned as its winner:
The people of X (formerly Twitter) voiced their opinions on Miss France crowning a winner with a short hairstyle. The hashtag #MissFrance2024 trended on X the whole weekend.
While some praised the beauty pageant for its choice, others took to trolling the decision.
For years, pageants have been criticized for adhering to unrealistic beauty standards and being a beacon of sexism. According to Le Monde, Alexia Laroche-Joubert, chief executive of Banijay France, which owns the Miss France brand, defended the pageant, stating that the criteria have become "modernized", meaning there is no age limit for participants, who can now also be married or transgender.
