MOSCOW, May 19, Pavel Surkov. Exactly 35 years ago the first all-Union competition “Miss USSR – 89” was held. The organizers assured that the show would be an annual event and our beauties could well compete with fashion models from the covers of scarce foreign magazines. Who won and how it happened – in the material .
Our Masha
Competitions among Russian beauties have been held for quite a long time – however, not in our country, but among the emigrant community in the pre-war years. The Miss Russia jury included Ivan Bunin, Sergei Lifar and Alexander Benois, and even Chaliapin’s daughter Marina was one of the winners.
The first official competition in the Soviet Union took place in 1988 – under the name “Moscow Beauty”. 16-year-old Masha Kalinina won. Her three main competitors did not make it to the finals due to very dubious parameters. Oksana Fandera (now a famous actress) did not have a residence permit in the capital. Irina Suvorova turned out to be married and with a child – she was given the title “Mrs. Moscow.” Well, Elena Durneva did not manage to change her dissonant surname in a short time.
Masha, having won the coveted title, worked as a fashion model for Burda Moden magazine. And then she went to America, where she got married. She tried to act in films, but in the end she focused on a healthy lifestyle and now works as a yoga trainer.
Modest Julia
“Miss USSR – 89” was held at the main show venue of the country – in the Rossiya concert hall. We prepared for a long time: regional and city competitions were held throughout the year. Their winners fought in a fair battle in the capital. The jury invited outstanding representatives of the artistic community, including Muslim Magomayev and Irina Skobtseva.
The news that the Soviet Union was choosing its own beauty was actively discussed in the West, where the competition was compared almost to the first manned flight into space. They say that the USSR is again plunging into the unknown, and one can only guess how this will affect the conservative morals there. And it’s true: some spectators, journalists and party leaders were not ready for the fashion show of beauties in swimsuits.
The winner was Yulia Sukhanova, a girl from a simple family (her mother worked in a theater buffet). She didn’t intend to pursue a modeling career – her older sister brought her to the “Moscow Beauty” competition (the same one where Kalinina won). Yulia did not win, but the organizers liked her, and she was invited to Miss USSR.
Sukhanova did not know how to walk in heels very well, she refused a skimpy bikini, choosing a more modest swimsuit – but, perhaps, it was precisely this spontaneity that won the favor of the judges.
Real Soviet model
The winner got it from her competitors – much more experienced models. When Yulia was presented with a crown with a huge aquamarine, someone quietly picked the stone out of the award and stole it. In addition, after the competition, one of the organizers, producer Yuri Kushnerev, signed an enslaving contract with the girl, according to which she had to give him 90 percent of her own modeling fees. When Sukhanova decided to break the agreement, Kushnerev began to block all offers for her from agencies, leaving the model without work. As a result, three months after the victory, Yulia decided to go abroad.
And there contracts began to pour in for Sukhanova, including because of her exotic origin: in fact, a real Soviet model! Among her fans were Hollywood artists and an oriental prince who even wanted to marry her. But the girl never got married. After finishing her modeling career, she started her own business, which had nothing to do with show business.
Happy chosen ones
Sukhanova’s successor, the winner of the Miss USSR 90 contest, was a little more fortunate in the fashion industry. A native of Belarus, Maria Kezha signed several lucrative contracts with French fashion houses. And then she became a designer of women's bags and accessories, founding her own brand, which continues to develop successfully to this day.
The last of the Soviet Misses, Ilmira Shamsutdinova, who won the title in 1991, decided not to go abroad for permanent residence. She appeared in several more international beauty contests, but in the end she chose a happy family life and sports – she even took part in aquabike competitions.
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