Miss France beauty pageant becomes embroiled in bizarre row after judges are accused of going ‘woke’ by crowning contestant with pixie cut hairstyle as winner for first time in history… with even French MPs weighing in to defend victorious maths student

A bizarre woke row has erupted after a Miss France contestant with a pixie cut hairstyle won for the first time in the pageant’s history.

Eve Gilles, 20, from Nord-Pas-de-Calais in northern part of the country was crowned by previous winner Indira Ampiot – who wore her hair in long waves – in front of 7.5 million TV viewers last night. 

The beauty pageant has now been accused of being ‘woke’ after the jury chose ‘androgynous’ Ms Gilles as Miss France 2024 after all previous winners featured more ‘traditional’ hairstyles.

The maths student said after her win: ‘We’re used to seeing beautiful Misses with long hair, but I chose an androgynous look with short hair.’

Ms Gilles praised her win as a win for ‘diversity’ and said: ‘No one should dictate who you are,’ she said after her victory Saturday night, adding that every ‘woman is different, we’re all unique.’

Eve Gilles (pictured), 20, from Nord-Pas-de-Calais in northern part of the country was crowned Miss France last night in front of 7.5 million TV viewers

Eve Gilles (left), is crowned Miss France 2024 by Miss France 2023 Indira Ampiot (right), at the Miss France 2024 beauty pageant in Dijon

The Miss France contestants performed on stage wearing matching bodysuits with golden tassels

The pageant winner is chosen half by a public vote and half by a jury. While Ms Gilles only came third in the public vote, the panel of judges pushed her into first place. 

But she is the first winner who doesn’t have a long mane of hair – much to the dismay of some viewers.

READ MORE: Three failed Miss France hopefuls SUE the pageant for selecting beauty queen contestants based on their appearance

‘Miss France is no longer a beauty contest but a woke contest which is based on inclusiveness,’ one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This was echoed by some others on Twitter, with one accusing Ms Gilles of ‘instilling wokist values into society’.

However, the critical voices were soon drowned out by a wave of support for the newly crowned Miss France. 

One fan wrote: ‘Maybe the new #MissFrance isn’t gorgeous in your eyes, but seeing wokeism in her because she has short hair…. It’s just ridiculous.’

Another added: ‘Eve Gilles is the new Miss France 2024, your malicious and useless criticisms won’t change that, she’s sublime.’ 

‘Eve Gilles isn’t even trans, has never claimed to be trans, but half of the comments about her are transphobic because she has short hair,’ a third said.

MP Sandrinne Rousseau also came to Ms Gilles’ defence and said: ‘So, in France, in 2023, we measure the progress of respect for women by the length of their hair?

Ms Rousseau also wears her hair in a pixie cut, which has become an important symbol as part of France’s MeToo movement. 

Newly elected Miss France 2024 Eve Gilles reacts on stage after winning the title

She performed in a black costume with red embellishments during the final of the beauty pageant

She was congratulated for her win by Miss France 2023 Indira Ampiot, who compared to her wore her hair in long waves

Ms Giles (third from left) was the only contestant in this year’s competition whose hair was cropped short

Newly elected Miss France 2024 (centre left) poses for a selfie with President of the Jury Sylvie Tellier (centre right)

Another MP, Karima Delli, wrote: ‘Big support for Ève Gilles, #MissFrance2024, in the face of hateful tweets on social networks of incredible violence! 

‘Swallow your venom, she is not only superb, Miss Nord pas de Calais is intelligent in embracing her diversity!’

READ MORE: I’m the first plus-size Miss Universe contestant – trolls labelled me a whale but I got the loudest applause in the competition

Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the communist party, also jumped in and wrote: ‘Support for Eve Gilles, elected Miss France, who is already suffering the violence of a society which does not accept that women define themselves in all their diversity.’

Ms Gilles had campaigned for ‘diversified’ beauty standards in the lead up to the final of the pageant, which has often been seen as sexist. 

‘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,’ the contestant said during the final as the Telegraph reported.

She was also criticised for her ‘lack of shape’ and ‘thinness’ online, which she seemed to allude to in her comment. 

Her victory comes less than a week after a court ordered a French broadcaster and television production house to compensate two previous Miss France finalists for secretly filming them and showing their bare breasts on air.

Both women, the court found, had been filmed in changing rooms ‘without their being informed’.

Ms Gilles had campaigned for ‘diversified’ beauty standards in the lead up to the final of the pageant, which has often been seen as sexist (pictured: Ms Gilles in the final)

The Miss France contestants dazzled in sequinned dresses in the semi-final

Ms Gilles was beaming on stage after she received her crown and a large bouquet of white flowers

Contestants perform on stage during the Miss France 2024 beauty pageant in Dijon

Runner-up and Dauphine, Miss Guyane Audrey Ho-Wen-Tsai (pictured), performs on stage during the Miss France 2024 beauty pageant

Alexia Laroche-Joubert, chief executive of Banijay France which owns the Miss France brand, defended the pageant as a symbol of ‘success’ and a ‘social elevator’ for contestants who have later become ‘businesswomen, doctors or film directors’.

The contest’s criteria have been ‘modernised’, she said, in that there is no longer an age limit for participants, who can now also be married or transgender.

To critics, however, the pageant’s evolution has been insufficient.

Melinda Bizri of the Human Rights League in Dijon, which called for a boycott of the ceremony, called the cosmetic changes ‘feminist-washing.’

‘Women have been abusing themselves all their lives to achieve these phantasmagorical criteria, according to patterns that take a very long time to deconstruct,’ she said.

‘Miss France is still just as sexist in the way it classifies women according to beauty criteria,’ added Violaine de Filippis, spokesperson the for Dare Feminism! association.

Source: Read Full Article