Beauty with a purpose

If there was any implicit theme in the Miss Thailand World promotion event yesterday, it was the effort to disassociate beauty from its more common, superficial trappings.

Julia Morley, chairperson and CEO of the Miss World Organisation, certainly made this clear in her talk with the press.

"Our slogan is 'Beauty with a purpose'," Morley emphasised several times. "We're not about bringing together a bunch of empty-headed women who are only beautiful. This crown is a symbol of the quest to make a real, tangible difference in the world through real, tangible actions."

Morley was present at the event organised by BEC-Tero yesterday at the Maleenont Building. Standing next to her was the radiant reigning Miss World Yu Wenxia from China.

Yu too agreed that beauty pageants are generally misconstrued as being simply about physical perfection. "It's more to do with character," she says.

For Yu, wearing the crown for the last few months has been something she'll never forget.

The two beauties have been in Thailand since Wednesday, touring Chiang Mai and meeting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra there before coming to Bangkok.

At the BEC-Tero event, Yu and Morley were accompanied by four former Miss Thailand World beauty queens from the years 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 - Kanokkron Jaichean, Phongchanok Kungub, Sirirat Ruengsri, and Phatchalida Rodkongka - in promoting the upcoming Miss Thailand World pageant.

The competition will be held in April, and applications are currently being accepted. The former Miss Thailand World winners will be playing mentor to the new batch of participants.

Yu and Morley will be leaving for Jakarta on Monday. This year's Miss World pageant, the 63rd, will be held in Indonesia on September 28.