The very though of women competing for the title of the most beautiful was a fairly adversarial concept for the Soviet ideology. A woman, first and foremost, was a worker, an achiever, a mother and a wife, and nobody would consider judging one on the physical attractiveness — let alone allow women spend the valuable time and money on pointless fashion, cosmetics and hair styling.

A uniform parade was the closest thing to a beauty pageant in the USSR. It was an honour to participate in one.
That’s why, when across the globe beauty contests became popular and widespread after the Second World War, the USSR had its ban on such events. Until 1989, when the very first beauty contest took place in Moscow — trying to find the prettiest of them all.