The puffy pink dress was hanging just outside her fitting room but Kalen Bigger knew she couldn’t have it. The 14-year-old beauty pageant contestant gazed at it longingly with big, blue eyes, and reluctantly accepted that it was time for a change.
“I wore pink last year,” Kalen said while shopping last week for a dress at the Jessica McClintock boutique in San Jose’s Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair. “I wanted something more mature.”
Kalen’s desire to show more sophistication runs parallel to beauty pageants’ efforts to evolve. For decades, feminists have been criticizing the way these contests objectify women. Some pageants have responded by adding more categories that focus on intellect and character.
“In the past, the size you were was very important,” said Frankie Simmons, director of Center Stage Productions, which produces many California pageants. “I changed the pageant I was working at because the interview didn’t weigh as much as everything else.”
The difference becomes readily apparent as Kalen’s mother, Robin Bigger, recalls her own time on the pageant stage in the late-1970s and early-1980s.
Back then, winners were basically picked based on who looked more than a pretty face. Judges will pepper her with questions about her ambitions, goals and community involvement — and consider her answers more carefully.
If the slim girls still had the upper hand, Kalen wouldn’t need to worry. She resembles a life-size Barbie with a slim 5-foot-4-inch frame, toned 115-pound body and highlighted blonde hair.
Even when Kalen entered her first pageant at age 9, her looks weren’t enough to win. She bombed the one-on-one interview with the judge and went home empty-handed. At the second pageant, still nothing. The third time was the charm — she took the title of Preteen California Sweetheart in 2002, which gave her the ticket to nationals. At 11, just around the age her mother began to compete, Kalen became the third runner-up in National Miss American Sweetheart.
While Kalen seeks pageant advice from her mother, their different experiences lead them toward distinct strategies.
When Kalen emerged from the dressing room, her mother squealed, “It’s Business Barbie!”
Kalen frowned at what she saw in the mirror — a shocking pink jacket and matching knee-length skirt.
“It’s not serious enough,” she said, thinking about whether it would match the tone of her speech.
Her mother begged to differ — she loved the color. “But hot pink is very fashionably cute,’’ she said.
Kalen stared a while longer. “I don’t know, Mom.”
“I like it.”
“I don’t.”
Although some pageants have added speeches and emphasized character-revealing introductions to shift their focus toward the mind and away from the body, many young women have followed a dangerous path to the stage.
Simmons knows there have been many cases of bulimia and anorexia with the girls he has worked with. He always shares a personal story of becoming a victim to eating disorders with his contestants.
“I have had girls in a size nine or 10 win and girls in a size two lose to them,” Simmons said.
Kalen places no restrictions on food. “I eat whatever I want,” she said. “It’s just going to the gym and working it all off.”
Kalen’s 3.8 grade-point average will also be judged at the upcoming pageant, which gives her the most motivation to get through the school day.
“I don’t want to have bad grades on the report card I’m turning in on the pageant weekend,” she said.
In the past, judges learned little more about contestants other than their names and home cities. Today, introductions make it easier for judges to separate the girls who have well-rounded lives and ambitions from those who are depending on their body to reach the top. The 30-second openings for the pageant Kalen is preparing for requires contestants to reveal their goals and hobbies in addition to biographical information.
Another growing aspect of some pageants is the speech, which is judged on delivery as well as content. Kalen practices her speech in front of friends and family, who don’t hold back when it comes to criticism.
“Sometimes I’ll get kind of nervous that I’m going to mess up on my words so I don’t show any expression,” Kalen said.
Despite all these changes, pageants are facing difficulty ridding themselves of a certain standard for beauty. “I think beauty’s wonderful and admirable. The problem with the pageants is that they only reward one kind of beauty,” said Wendy Shanker, spokesperson for Love Your Body, a program by the National Organization for Women.
While shopping, Kalen focuses on which dresses will bring out her personality rather than the ones that look most beautiful. Wearing tiaras on shopping trips to put her in the mood, Kalen takes her mom’s advice and struts around the store as if it were the big day. Robin Bigger knew by Kalen’s actions how much each dress suited her age and expressed her personality.
“I can tell by how she walks when she wears it,” she said, imitating her daughter slouching and an exasperated expression. After 45 minutes, Kalen decided on a strapless white gown with translucent beadwork.
Each pageant brings Kalen more personal insight and a healthier lifestyle. She knows that it’s important to present this growth on stage, and expresses it by changing her look from year to year.
“You don’t want to be known as the person who always wears the pink dress,” Kalen said. “You want to be known for you, for who you are.”