Boob Tape, Butt Glue and an Unlikely Bond Oh, I did witness the funny pageant rituals we’ve all heard legend of—the careful taping of busts, self-tanner, hair teasing tricks and “butt glue.” (I had to break my silent dressing room observation to ask for an explanation on that one. Butt glue is a medical fixative used to adhere the girls’ swimsuit bottoms to their butt cheeks, thereby avoiding embarrassing on-stage wedgies.)
Alison Vail, 20, who won the title of Miss West Metro at the pageant, has experienced a lack of support for her pageantry within her friend group, boyfriends and even her own family. Unarguably the most outspoken personality of the group, Vail has competed in eight different pageants and won the Miss Congeniality Award from her fellow contestants in every one of them for being the most friendly, helpful, genuine and outgoing.
When it feels like much of the world is against you (and let’s face it, most of society has only seen “Toddlers & Tiaras” and “Honey Boo Boo”), these women naturally develop strong friendships within the pageant environment. It’s the mutual understanding and appreciation for the surprising amount of hard work that goes into being a pageant contestant. While your school friends make fun, your pageant friends do your makeup.
“Pageants are probably the exact opposite of everything that you think they are,” Vail said. “The girls in the pageant system are some of the sweetest, nicest girls that you will ever meet … The judges in those interviews really get down to the nitty-gritty of who you are as a person, so these girls are really genuine and good-hearted people who want to make the world a better place, and that’s why we want to help each other. I’ve never met a bad seed in this pageant system. If anyone wanted to challenge me on that, I’d just say, ‘Come to a pageant.’”
It’s a level of support among contestants that I learned is common in the Miss America pageant system. While the Miss USA system (owned by Donald Trump) has more of the drama and dress burning the media is so fond of covering, the Miss America system requires a large portion of the competition be based on personality, with each contestant choosing a cause-based platform to support and campaign for throughout their pageant years. “Miss America is all about service,” said 19-year-old contestant Paris Becker, whose pageant service platform was about inspiring education through the arts. “It’s hard to tell people you’re in pageants, but it really is about inner beauty.”
Just before show time, I heard two contestants in the dressing room chat about sharing dance shoes for the talent portion. Not stealing them or pushing a tack into the sole. Sharing. One contestant even offered another girl a push-up “boob pad” for her gown. Kaitie struggled with her hair. “I’m doing a really crappy job curling my hair,” she said, exasperated. And as busy as all the girls were in the final minutes before the show began, Mia stepped over, still in her sweatpants. “I’m actually kind of good at it,” she said, and took the curling iron from Kaitie to get started on some straight pieces in the back.
BEAUTY// MPLSzine
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