Recently in Beauty Queen Profiles Category

...Speaking of Miss Universe: Ximena Navarrete wasn't the only contestant to don Sherri Hill on the night of the competition; all of the contestants wore versions of her original bandage dress design in the semifinalist lineup -- and Miss Ireland, Miss Albania and Miss Ukraine all wore Sherri Hill in the evening gown portion of the night. 

Earlier this week, Mexico's Jimena Navarrete was crowned Miss Universe 2010. The lovely 22-year-old, who was raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, wowed audiences with her poise, grace, and, of course, her beautiful Sherri Hill gown! Congrats, Ximena!  Check out her Sherri Hill design, below:

Is the Miss USA competition getting more progressive? 

We at Tiza are well-acquainted with American beauty pageants -- but how much do you know about the Colombian pageant circuit? An article in today's New York Times talks about how important beauty pageants are to the culture of this South American country. 

24-year-old Rima Fakih -- the recently-crowned Miss USA, and, incidentally, the pageant's first Muslim to claim the title -- gave an interview recently to Patheos.com, wherein she refuted some pretty ridiculous rumors (such as the one claiming she's a Hezbollah spy), and talked openly about her background. 

Jennifer Hawkins, the now-infamous former Miss Universe who recently posed nude -- and unphotoshopped -- on the cover of Australian Marie Claire recently, apparently to promote positive body image ideals in an otherwise size-0 sort of market. (The cover of the magazine also says that she is doing it for charity, but I didn't read the article, so fill me in if you know the details.) Instead of garnering praise from the feminist community, however, Hawkins was skewered for portraying (what would be considered by most standards to be) her pretty hot body as some sort of pro-feminist statement. NOW, there is all sorts of drama between her and Ricki-Lee Coulter, who I gather is an Australian Idol star?, and the fall-out is that some women's magazine has replaced Hawkins with Coulter as their cover girl. Reason being that Coulter is "respectably" overweight, being a size 14, and thus a better and more realistic role model for women. Oof! This is sort of a complicated issue, but ultimately, both women are both pretty and famous. Perhaps Ricki-Lee is slightly bigger (but she certainly is a petite size 14, from what I can see on google image) and thus it all seems like a series of exploitative publicity stunt. Which, gross. 

Congratulations to Courtney Basara and Haley O'Brien -- the newly-crowned Miss Minnesota USA 2010 and Miss Minnesota Teen USA 2010, respectively. The two ladies, who were awarded their titles this December, were both crowned in lovely Sherri Hill designs. Check out more Sherri Hill styles right here!