Forget Cannes’ famed Croisette and the lavender fields of Grasse – the Côte d'Azur will soon be home to another unique attraction: the first ever Miss France Museum.
ADVERTISEMENTMayor Frédéric Masquelier and the Miss France Society announced that they had signed a partnership agreement, setting out their plans to open the Miss France Museum in the seaside town of Saint-Raphaël in 2025.
According to the announcement, the beauty pageant-themed museum will be set within an elegant Belle Epoque villa.
Once inside, visitors will be taken on a journey through the history of the Miss France competition, complete with an impressive collection of over a hundred unique costumes worn by Miss France hopefuls through the years, winners’ crowns, paintings and video extracts of must-see moments.
“One day, opening the doors to the store of Miss France costumes, we said to ourselves …it was sad that all these sublime outfits had stayed for so many years in a dark room,” Frédéric Gilbert, President of the Miss France Society, explained. “The idea came to create an exhibition revealing…the incredible work done on these costumes which highlights French know-how.”
According to local newspaper Var Matin, developing the site will cost an estimated €1.5 million.
Miss France is a national beauty pageant held in France each December, first launched in 1920 and running annually since 1947. Typically, the winner represents France at either Miss Universe or Miss World, with the first runner-up competing at the other pageant.
The current titleholder is model Eve Gilles (b. 2003) – famed as the first woman with short hair to win the competition – who went on to win the tiara after a regional victory in the Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais pageant.
