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.

Needless to say, the public interest and anticipation for the performance were huge: the tickets for the show never came on sale, but were distributed only to the people “in the know”. At the same time the ordinary people could enjoy the show live broadcast on the TV during the six long hours (and that’s the running time, as TV commercials did not exist in the USSR back then). The finalist of the competition was a 16 years old schoolgirl from Moscow Julia Suchanova. Julia was granted theright to participate further in “Miss World”  but her parents refused point-blank to sign the contract on her behalf. When the young beauty came of age she moved to the USA where she started the modelling career and later owned a company specialising on the sport equipment.

Yulia Sukhanova. No, she was not married, it is just a ring.

Yulia — the first Miss USSR, 1989, Gettyimages

The interest for the second beauty pageant was just as huge as to the first one. Contenders for the title “Miss USSR — 1990” were selected from over the country. The winner was the 17 years old Maria Kezha from Belorussia.

Maria Kezha — Miss USSR 1990, photo by Jack Goldenberg

The beauty pageant “Miss USSR” took place only twice as in 1991 the USSR collapsed. Nevertheless, the competition resuscitated under the new name “Miss Russia” in 1993. Sadly, just like Yulia Sukhanova, Maria never pursued the modelling career to the full. She got married shortly after the contest and later emigrated to Germany.

It cannot be helped to note that the first “officially” recognised Soviet beauty by the West was the winner of pageant “Moscow Beauty” Masha Kalinina from Moscow in 1988. Masha was in good graces with the destiny also after the competition -  she continued to work as a model for the well-known Germany Company “Burda-Moden”. Later Masha enrolled into the acting school in Hollywood where all her expenses were paid by an elderly American couple who she met at the reception at the White House, where she was invited by George Bush-Sr.  Visit Masha’s official website.

Masha Kalinina (in the middle) — Moscow Beauty, 1988

Maria Kalinina nowadays

Have a look at this 26 min interview with Masha for Russia Today. What does it take to be one of these girls and how do you obtain a crown, and, most importantly, what happens next.

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Related posts:

1. A Glance at the Soviet Lifestyle, Captured by Marc Riboud.
2. More pictures of Soviet Moscow 1960s by Mark Riboud
3. Photos of Moscow and Surroundings by Marc Riboud, 1960s