“Miss France is no longer just a beauty contest”

At 18, Adèle Bonnamour was elected Miss Île-de-France 2022. She is flying to Guadeloupe in a few days for preparation before the election of Miss France on December 17. Evolution of the competition, feminism and representation of the region: interview with a serious competitor to Miss France.

Adèle Bonnamour was elected Miss Île-de-France on Saturday October 22. From the height of her 18 years, she is now preparing for the election of Miss France 2023. France 3 Paris Ile-de-France asked 5 questions to the regional Miss.

Adèle Bonnamour, how are you preparing less than two months before the Miss France election?

It’s already taken me a while to realize what I was going through and I’m only just beginning to realize it. There are many things to do before we leave for Guadeloupe for the Misses’ trip. Because on our return, we will spend three weeks in Châteauroux for the preparation of the contest, and I must, with the Miss Ile-de-France committee, determine all the outfits that I will wear in advance. I also have to prepare my speeches because we will have individual interviews with the preselection jury which will determine the top 15. And I am also working on my visibility, via the media and social networks. I do more stories than before, for example to share my experience and so that people can get to know us and remember me when they go on stage. Because on election night, everything will go very quickly.

In an interview for France Bleu Paris you said “to be like a tourist in Paris”, which is surprising! As an ambassador for the region and for someone who was born in Paris, how is that possible?

[Rires] I have a bad sense of direction in Paris, and I haven’t been there all my childhood. I also lived in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines) and in Boston (United States). Otherwise I rather have places that I like and where I often go like the Marais, the Tuileries or the Parc Monceau.

I am in the second year of business school and my priority is to continue my studies

You are elected at only 18 years old, isn’t it a big pressure on the shoulders at this young age?

No, I don’t put too much pressure on myself because from the beginning, I see it as an adventure. Miss France is not a little girl’s dream for me, even if I watched every year with my sister and my mother. My goal is really to have fun, to meet new people and to show who I am.

This year the competition has been modernized a little with, among your competitors for Miss Ile-de-France, the first transgender candidate and also another candidate who was 29 years old, when the age limit was until then 24 years old . Should we not go further in modernization, for example by putting an end to the parade in swimsuits?

I think the new regulations have already changed a lot of things. The end of the age limit, the fact of being able to be married or to have experienced a physical transformation are all limits that have been eased, and this is already a big step in the history of the competition. On the question of swimsuits, I don’t really know, I think that opinions will always differ on the question.

At 18, you are part of a generation driven by the values ​​of feminism. Is participating in the competition not taking a step back in these struggles by reducing women to being only a body?

I think this is no longer relevant. Today Miss France is no longer just a beauty contest. We go through individual interviews, general knowledge tests, our behavior is also assessed, but these are things you don’t see on election night and that’s perhaps why we still have a backward image of Miss. For my part, I try to defend the idea that you don’t have to be perfect to be Miss, and that there is no need to give yourself an image to shine and be heard.