SASHES AND TIARAS.....Miss France 2011: Ball Gowns and DIVA Genevieve de Fontenay

La Plus Jolie...

Miss France 2011 Laurie Thilleman

Last week,the country of France crowned two new beauty queens...First, there was the "official" Miss France 2011, held in Caen, Basse-Normandy and shown live on TF1. The winner was "Miss Bretagne" Laurie Thilleman. As a result of being crowned "Miss France 2011", she will now go on to represent her country in the "Miss Universe 2011" pageant.

She was voted on by the viewers and the ever-so-dashing Alain Delon (seen above with the Winner) as well as the new Pageant Director (more on that below), former Miss France 2002 Sylvie Tellier, were on hand for the crowning moment.

Belle of The Ball: Miss Bretagne and now new Miss France 2011 Laurie Thilleman

During the evening gown portion, all the contestants/finalists wore almost-the-same strapless ball gowns (they do that every year it seems), which is interesting, in that you really do not get a sense of: A) Whether they have tacky taste or not; B) Does not show their individuality; and C) It makes it for a kind of boring and uneventful "Evening Gown" portion, which is surprising coming from the Country of Haute Couture!!

If anyone is going to "bring it on", in terms of the evening gown portion, one would expect it would be the Miss France Pageant! Well, speaking of tacky, at least they got to wear these Cheetah-print get-ups (hot shorts and Booties!) for their "introduction".

Nothing says "Klassy with a K" like Cheetah Print Hot-Pants and a peplum sleeveless trench coat.

The new Miss France 2011 does have an amazing athletic figure so I presume Croissants and Camembert de Normandie cheese are not in her diet plan.

Now onto the Controversy (of course, there is one, IT'S BEAUTY PAGEANTS!!!), and why there is a SECOND Miss France:

78 year old Genevieve de Fontenay (above) has been the Empress of French Beauty for over half a century, being the former President of both Miss France and Miss Europe. She sold Miss France to Endemol--an international TV Distribution and Production Company based in the Netherlands but with subsidiaries in over 23 countries. Endemol is known for producing lots of reality shows, including the French version of Big Brother--"Secret Story". This last year, La Diva de Fontenay--famous for her Haute Couture black and white suits and matching hats--had a big fallout with Endemol.

The New (Second) Miss France: Miss Nationale Genevieve de Fontenay 2011 Barbara Morel

So, Voila! She's OUT of THERE...and decided to stage her own pageant to compete with "Miss France", and called it "Miss Nationale Genevieve de Fontenay 2011". I just LOVE that! It's like "Miss Universe DONALD TRUMP". Such a DIVA, she had to put her name in the pageant's title. The winner--this time picked by jury--was 19 year old Barbara Morel, from Provence. Funny enough, the finalists (in this pageant) once again, also wore very Quinceañera -looking ball gowns. Please tell me this is not a trend. Please. By the way, she'll go on to represent her country in the Miss International Pageant. So there you have it Pageant Kiddies: Two Miss France winners, and a lot of tacky Cinderella Ball gowns...Au Revoir! Click Below for the Crowning of Miss France 2011:

Click Below to watch the Crowning of Miss Nationale Genevieve de Fontenay: