Saturday May 15, 2010 www.thestar.com.my
By Louisa Lim
louisa@thestar.com.my
men a shot at fame, you know the outcome will be sensational.
Imagine a seven-year-old girl seated in front of a television watching the Miss Universe pageant. As the new queen takes her first few steps as the most beautiful woman in the world, the young girl sits motionless and starry-eyed. She fantasises about being on that stage herself and thinks: “I wonder if . . .”
These are the opening lines to former beauty queen Datuk Anna Lim’s autobiography Beauty & Beyond, but it could very well be that of any girl’s.
Since last year, Lim, together with Alice Lee, 58, have been helping women young and old to relive their girlhood dreams through Pageant Coach, a grooming company said to be inspired by the “beauty factories of Venezuela”,
Alice Lee of Pageant Coach, a grooming company.Lee knows what the judges look for and what they reject. She has, after all, been the organiser of Miss Malaysia Universe and Mrs Malaysia World for more than two decades.
“My husband was the original franchisee, but I took over the business in 1989 after he passed away,” she says.
Lee, who cuts a fine figure in a black skirt-and-blouse combo, is now nearing retirement. She waved away any talk of ever wanting to partake in a beauty contest herself, saying: “Why do I need to be a beauty queen when I am already the queen of all beauty queens?”
These days, however, she has handed over most of her pageant work to the younger committee members.
“I thought it would be a great time to start something new, so I started Pageant Coach,” she says.
This transition seems natural enough seeing as to how Lee has always pledged her allegiance to inner and outer beauty.
“I always believe in wearing a little makeup, even if you’re stepping outside of the house for a short while. First impressions count, and the Japanese and Koreans know that well. That’s why they make themselves up before they take out the trash.”
While Lee’s statement may not please everyone, much less feminist Gloria Steinam — who would probably recoil in horror if she heard this — a number of women in the room silently nod their agreement.
The youngest workshop participant, Chelsea Sik, 13.They are the participants of Pageant Coach’s second workshop, which promises to teach women everything they need to know to “have a better chance of being chosen as winners”, not just in beauty contests, apparently, but also in life.
For the next two days, these 30 ordinary women will undergo a comprehensive programme, ranging from how to strike a cover-girl pose to the art of wine-pairing.
“I’m hoping to compete in Miss Chinese Astro this year and this is my stepping stone,” announces one of the girls during an ice-breaking session, while another chirps: “I came from Sabah to be a model but haven’t had much luck in auditions yet.”
Not everyone present has star quality or big ambitions, of course. There are girls who are painfully shy, girls who are overweight and girls with less-than-perfect teeth. For them, a boost in self-esteem is all that matters. But if Lee’s motto — there are no ugly women, only lazy ones — is true, they’d be a small step closer to being a beauty queen at the end of it all.
Confidence is queen
“Here, take this,” says UK-based trainer Bill Lewis as he hurls a brick into the audience, prompting a collective gasp and several shrieks.
But the brick bounces off the lap of Bill’s intended target, who heaves a sigh of relief that it is made of sponge. The point of this exercise?
“Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet that there is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so,” explains Lewis, as he retrieves the gag item. “In this case, your perception becomes a handicap. You see what you want to see, and you hear what you want to hear.”
This is the Building Self-Confidence through Motivation and Stress Management class. Lewis has in the past 25 years been using a creative and comical approach in motivating people across the globe to release their inhibitions.
His class is arguably one of the most important. Winning, after all, takes confidence, and some of the girls sorely lack it. Even Lim openly admits in her book that “there will be days when you feel like your entire life is falling apart”. Having competed in a number of pageants, she is no stranger to the mind-numbing, ego-shattering effects of stress.
“A contestant is given just one chance to make that first great impression. This leaves no room for blunders,” says Lim, remembering her own stagefright while speaking publicly in a Miss Teen Princess Contest.
According to Lewis, pressure always exists in our daily life, but how you react to it is a choice — “In other words, stress is a choice,” he says.
Amber Chia teaching workshop participants how to “glide”.While the contestants in a pageant may look like the best of friends on TV, Lee says this isn’t always so. The tension is especially evident one week before the crowning, when the girls are put in a hotel together.
“Many have not actually lived alone or shared personal space with someone else before,” she says. “Unlike contestants from other countries, they’re like overgrown babies because their parents have been coddling them. So, when they’re in this completely new environment, some get temperamental and quarrelsome.”
Surprisingly, petty arguments and relentless backstabbing are not limited to young adults.
In her book, Lim describes what happens when “competitiveness explodes into jealousy and viciousness” at the 2004 Mrs Malaysia World pageant (which was full of 40- and 50-something hot mamas).
Datuk Anna Lim speaking to workshop participants. — RICKY LAI & RAYMOND OOI/The Star“Jealousy is a very real thing in beauty pageants and becomes uncomfortably apparent when contestants stop playing by the silent rules of common civility and decorum. The most common way for jealousy to raise its ugly head during pageants is through theft. I have had my shoes go missing and another contestant’s evening gown mysteriously vanished,” she writes.
Other participants, when all else fails, will even go as far as to bribe the judges.
“Sometimes, their parents or friends will approach me bearing gifts or money,” says Lee. “I’ve never entertained them. I have my principles.”
These bad behaviours don’t go unnoticed, claims Lee.
“Contestants are judged the entire duration of the pageant, from the minute they check into the hotel, and not just on the televised day,” she says. “That’s why it’s important for them to behave.”
Says Lim: “I have noticed that the rumour-mongers and troublemakers are usually the ones with low self-esteem. The sophisticated and confident women are those who have positive things to say and who often go out of their way to make others feel good without an ulterior motive. These traits are what set some women apart from the others.”
So next time, if the best-looking woman in the competition fails at her bid for the title, don’t be surprised.
“Sometimes, I look at a particular year’s Miss Universe and wonder how she could’ve won since there are so many other girls who are better looking than her,” says Lee.
“But it goes to show that physical appearances are not always top priority. Elegance, compassion and charisma can make even the plainest-looking girl outstanding.”
Becoming Barbie
According to The New York Times, Venezuelan women have held crowns in 10 international pageants in the last few decades, a record unmatched anywhere. Six of the last 30 Miss Universes title-holders were from Venezuela. Twice, women from that nation won Miss Universe and Miss World simultaneously, in 1996 and 1981.
“It’s not that women here are more beautiful,” explains Gisselle Reyes (a former beauty queen who runs a modelling agency that trains future Misses for competition) in the New York Times, “it’s that we prepare harder for it.”
The article reveals that, “The regimen strains even the most eager contestants. It usually includes two hours a day answering pageant questions like, ‘Who is the person in the world you most admire?’
“Three hours are devoted to perfecting the glide down the runway, three to working out at a gym. The women learn how to apply makeup and style their hair, and most need to lose at least 10 pounds to look good on camera. Teeth are straightened, noses are narrowed, hair is grown past shoulder length and the silicone flows.”
After reading all of this, one can’t help but question how similar Pageant Coach is to a Venezuelan beauty factory?
In one class, social etiquette trainer Bernard Louis teaches the participants the correct way to air kiss. As the women make big smooching sounds with each other, Lee looks on and says: “Our classes are pretty basic. It covers everything that a beauty queen already knows prior to joining a competition.”
As for going under the knife, Lee says she does not condone it — “But I won’t stop them if they insist lah,” she says.
“There are always rumours flying around that this or that contestant had something done, but it’s always been rumours. I don’t care to verify them.”
But cosmetic enhancements are just another aspect of any beauty queen’s regime, Lim’s book points out.
“The treatments range from minor to major. Minor treatments would consist of cosmetic dentistry, facials, manicures and highlights. Major treatments comprise plastic surgery, botox and laser treatments,” she writes.
“Breast augmentation has become one of the most sought after surgeries. But trends constantly change. Whatever looks good today will be passé tomorrow. As such, new beauty treatments are being introduced all the time,” she adds.
One chatty participant, Pearlyn Sin, a 20-something graduate, comments that she’d only go so far as to attain physical perfection — for now.
“All I want is a skin laser. But who knows what the future might bring?” she says. “Plastic surgery has become a common phenomenon among women. It’s not a big deal if beauty queens wish to enhance their looks with surgery. It’s individual preference, anyway,” she adds.
According to Lee, the beauty factories in Venezuela begin prepping girls as young as nine for the pageant till they’re 18. But with all that controversy surrounding child pageants (some liken it to child abuse), there is one important question that needs to be answered: Just how young is too young?
“There’s no such thing as being too young,” Lee says.
“But over here, people can’t accept that. But you see, it’s not always about applying makeup or being sexy; it’s about learning how to carry themselves from a tender age, on how to grow up into a fine, young lady.”
Student Chelsea Sik happens to be Lee’s youngest participant, at 13.
“I want to be a model and an actress when I grow up so my mum took me here,” says the lanky, fresh-faced teen, who says the classes have done her a world of good.
“I plan to go for an audition in Hollywood but she (Mrs Sik) tells me it’s very competitive since my pronunciation and confidence is not up to par. She advised me to start off with beauty pageants first, and use that as a springboard.”
As for Lim, she says she will give her full backing to her eight-year-old daughter Dorothea if she decides to be a beauty queen one day.
“But I’ll have to see if she’s cut out for it,” she says. “If she’s not, I’ll tell her not to get her hopes up. But by all means, join the competition because it’s a great experience. Just don’t expect to win. Also, surround yourself with positive people and avoid all the nastiness because it will get your self-esteem down.”
This idealism is, of course, contagious. But has this pageant mania reached an unhealthy level?
“I don’t think Malaysian society puts much pressure on girls to look perfect, compared to other societies. Just look presentable, take care of your hygiene and basic skin care regime,” says Sik.
However, she admits she has several friends who worry about their looks 24/7. She blames this problem on the need to conform more than anything else.
“A girlfriend of mine, when she goes out with girls who always dress well and wear branded clothes and bags, will dress like them. But when she goes out with another group of girls who don’t dress expensively, will just wear regular tops and skirts.
“So I think this pressure makes it difficult for a person to be herself. You can’t be original anymore,” she concludes.
Datuk Anna Lim has since left Pageant Coach to form Beauty & Fashion Studio with Amber Chia. For more info on Pageant Coach, visitwww.pageantcoach.com.my or contact Alice Lee atalice5276@yahoo.com. The next workshop will be on July 24 and 25 at the Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur.
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