Israel’s sports plus size models

All participants must be at least 80 kg.

BEERSHEVA: A group of women primp and preen in front of the mirrors, adjusting their outfits as they prepare for a beauty contest with a difference: Israel’s annual Miss Fat & Beautiful. In a cultural centre in the southern desert city of Beersheva, the contestants tweak their hair and apply makeup, laughing together as they sing in Hebrew, “We are the most beautiful women in the world. We are Miss World!”

A contest held in Israel had a pre applicant qualification criteria, each hopefuls should weigh at least 80 kilogrames, and the 2011 contest includes several who weigh in at around 120 kilogrames.  Unlike your average beauty pageant, which tends to conform to a strict lean-and-lithe standard, the curves become the queens in this domain.

Pre show excitement ran wild with positive energy, “I’m very proud of myself and my body and my beauty, and no one has the right to dictate my weight, so why should I be skinny,” said a model.

Fayman, the Russian-born beauty’s confidence was well-founded and after two rounds in which the 20 contestants strut in ball gowns, and a trouser-and-top ensemble, the plus size model was crowned the winner.

The annual contest has been the brainchild of modeling agent Esterica Nagid, who says she encountered some resistance when she first proposed it in the mid 1990s. “I launched this competition for the first time 15 years ago, and when I raised the idea people called me crazy,” she said. “The idea of this whole competition is to boost the confidence of these women and to let them know that beauty is not only for thin people, “she added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2011.