With the Miss Malta 2013 Competition having come to a very successful end, I am now interviewing the key people involved in the creation and organisation of the competition.
The first interviewee is Marisa Grima, the stylist of the competition. Marisa is not a new face to the world of fashion and styling, she has a vast experience within the industry and she is a founder of one of Malta’s leading modelling agencies, I have interviewed her previously here. I have worked with Marisa before, but throughout Miss Malta, since my role as a blogger was to observe, I really got the chance to observe her at work – she is tough when she needs to be, kind when that is what is needed, always just and always creative. She did a wonderful job of both styling and taking care of these girls and the end result was truly an impressive one.
Here are her thoughts on the competition:
What was your role exactly throughout the course of the Miss Malta Competition?
Making sure that the girls looked good at all times, this included their walk, posture, comportment, and behaviour on TV….
How did you get involved with Miss Malta 2013?
Beauty pageants have a reputation of being cheesy and are generally looked down upon by a lot of people; me being one of them. So, why did I agree to be part of the Miss Malta Competition? I always had my own take on how I would do things if I ever had the opportunity to do so. Unfortunately, Miss Malta in the past was ridiculed, badly organised and presented and Studio 7 and myself had a tough job of turning things around. What used to apply 50 years ago does not apply today and like with everything else, you have to move forward with the times. We initially started with re-branding the logo, and from there we proceeded with the rest. I am very lucky that I was working with such a professional company as Studio 7; the only reason why I agreed to be on board.
Was this your first time venturing into the beauty contest world?
Yes it was. I have only been previously involved with models and model competitions, which are a completely different thing. Being a beauty queen does not necessarily make the girl a model, usually models are not right for beauty pageants. However, I tried to merge a little bit of both to try and find the balance which I think we brought to the new Miss Malta.
In regards to the fashion shows at Miss Malta, there were quite a few changes for this year. Can you highlight these and tell us something about how the ideas came about?
We wanted the spotlight to be shown on the girls and the girls only. By adding the fashion shows which were sponsored by various shops from The Point, we added a different dimension to the competition as usually in these type of pageants the girls are only seen in their evening gown. It was a tough job coming up with a different theme every Monday, but somehow, I managed. The girls also looked forward to it as they could change out of their black dress uniform, which we insisted they wore throughout the 3 month competition. I wanted the girls to all look the same whenever they were out in front of the public. The long black dress made the girls look elegant and in uniform.
How did Miss Malta 2013 differ from other beauty competitions within the country?
Formulas need tweaking like every thing else, and what surprises me about a lot of organizers on the island is how none of them have ever thought of being different. Like I said before what worked 50 years ago does not work now. We are in 2013 not 1963, since then things have changed. 50 years ago we did not have social media, but now we do, and 50 years from now I am sure that we would have evolved into something else. One of the things that I hated was the swimwear section. We have to be realistic and admit that not all the girls will have a figure like Giselle. Making the girls model in swimwear on stage during the final event demeans the girls and their worth and cheapens the Finale. The Miss Malta swimsuit competition was done behind closed doors, the panel of judges were the Beauty Team of Miss Malta 2013. Who else can judge the girls better then us? We had been working with them for the past 3 months.
What do you think identifies “Miss Malta”? Is it more than just beauty?
We worked very hard with the girls so as to show that you can have beauty and brains. I think Jade Cini embodies all the qualities a Beauty Queen requires – social skills, personality, intellect, punctuality, organized, composure etc.. Jade was very determined from the start and took the competition very seriously. She lost weight, was always prepared and never let her personal life interfere. These are very good qualities and what distinguishes one girl from another.
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