Glimpse the obsession of the country with beauty pageants and see how the craze has been influencing another continent.
Beauty plays a central role in the culture of the Philippines. Its major metropolis is only half the size of New York City, but has earned the title of the “selfie capital of the world.” It’s a mindset that is influenced by hundreds of billboards lit up with beauty products along the highways and, fittingly, beauty pageants become something similar to a national sport.
Fortunately enough, Filipinos do quite well in the aspect of beauty. From beauty queens to the teams behind the scenes, the Philippines presents some of the top faces and talents the world has seen.
(L-R) Margie Moran-Floirendo, Miss Universe 1973, is regal on the cover of Philippine Tatler in 1998. Gemma Cruz-Araneta
looks as radiant as she was as Miss International 1964 on Philippine Tatler in 2014.
Across the Pacific, another Filipino shares the accolades of international beauty pageant title-holders. While many an audience would love to take claim of Peter Sereno’s ethnicity, however, the professional pageant coach and consultant brings national pride as a top influencer of a different continent altogether – and what an influence he has been.
“Pageants were a non-event in Australia despite the talent that we have,” says Sereno, who has been living in the Land Down Under for over 25 years now. “I have sought to fill that hole and make it my niche.” His brainchild, Dear Pageant Girl, serves as his platform for coaching and consultations to earn a pageant title. Sereno played a major role in the crowning of Jennifer Hawkins as Miss Universe 2004 and is regarded as pageant royalty in Australia.
Over the past 11 years, Sereno and his team at Dear Pageant Girl have been growing a community of pageant afficionados and making instrumental contributions to the young industry in Australia. But the journey has not been without its challenges. "It wasn't until Jesinta Campbell competed [in Miss Universe 2010] that the next generation of beauty queens and social media enthusiasts started to bring Dear Pageant Girl to the fore and general consciousness," Sereno says.
Sereno is currently working with the directors of Miss World Australia, Miss Supranational Australia, and Miss Grand Australia to create a pageant academy called Trade Secrets. The anticipated project will launch at the end of January.