The contest was organized by an initiative group of "creators of beauty" - photographers, stylists, makeup artists, led by Bonivur Ishemkulov, a specialist in organizing beauty contests in the republic. The idea was to identify talented, active, and positive girls capable of representing themselves and their university with dignity.
- All the girls are equally talented – neither their faculty nor their profession influenced the results of the contest, only their age and parameters, - Bonivur told News-Asia. - All of them have creative inclinations, interesting hobbies, and passions. But we decided not to include competitions in this area in the program. First of all, not all the girls are professionals in their hobbies, and secondly, if they get too nervous and something doesn’t go well on stage, the audience might boo them, which could extinguish their creative impulses forever! Therefore, we removed the creative tasks: we focused on developing the girls' skills for performance. For example, we spent a long time teaching them how to walk in heels, how to walk on stage, and how to create a composition on stage – things that all beauty contest participants are taught. There were participants from the "Miss Healthy Nation" project and "Miss Bishkek Park," which made it easier, but most of the girls had no modeling experience. Just like the "Miss KRSU" participants. And we included questions to test wit and sparkling humor, which helped reveal the girls' intelligence and erudition.
The selection criteria for the contestants were standard: age up to 23 years, height from 167 centimeters, and proportions close to ideal. Despite the fact that there are many students who would meet these parameters, their faith in beauty contests was shattered by numerous revelations from the world of Kyrgyz modeling, and many doubted whether it was worth even trying out for the casting, or if everything had already been bought in advance.
About how the event went "from the inside," News-Asia spoke with Olga Yugankina, one of the participants who believed in herself and dared to try her luck at the casting.
- I decided at the very last moment that I wanted to participate, literally 2 hours before the casting, and I took my friend along for company. About 50 girls showed up, and we were all asked to fill out questionnaires with personal information, as well as go on stage, briefly introduce ourselves, and answer questions that interested the organizers. One of them, for example, was "How do you plan to eliminate your competitors?" Among the answers were options like: "I'll poke them in the eye with a curling iron," "I'll rip their dress"! In general, the competition at the casting was quite serious, - laughs the holder of the title "Miss Friendship." - The next day we were informed of the results: only 20 out of 50 girls made it through. And rehearsals for the catwalk began: they took place 3 times a week for 2 hours! At first, it was very difficult to walk in high heels for a whole 2 hours! But gradually we began to get used to it. The catwalk was easier for some than others: some had experience in the modeling field, while others did not! We also had a master class on photo posing from professional models: the next stage of the contest was a photo shoot, where we needed to choose a look. We were photographed by Nail Nasritdinov, who, by the way, was also one of the jury members! Everyone was thrilled with the photos! These photos were, so to speak, our business cards for the contest. During the contest, we also participated in a show from "Yummi brand"! And then the girls really felt like models! Of course, for the sake of the contest, some of us, like me, had to skip classes, but there were no particular problems with the teachers; everyone was understanding! Moreover, the organizers taught us that "Miss KRSU must do it all!" - so we tried our best.
To avoid squabbles, the organizers kept the number of contest nominations and selection criteria secret until the last moment, only hinting at them. Thus, at one of the rehearsals, the girls were asked to vote for the friendliest among them. That’s how Olga became one of the winners.
- It’s incredibly pleasant! After all, you know what a female collective means! - she states. - But all the sponsors’ gifts were received by everyone - we didn’t expect there to be so many! We were running out of hands, and the gifts just kept coming! And you know, there’s usually a stereotype that if a beauty contest is held, you have to pay a huge amount of money to participate! We didn’t pay anything, no fees, nothing! So I want to tell those girls who didn’t participate this year that if they have the opportunity to participate next year, they shouldn’t even think about it - grab their friends and run to the casting! Personally, for me, it was an invaluable experience in the modeling field, in photo posing, in the ability to combine all tasks when it seems that it’s just impossible, new acquaintances, and a sea of new emotions!
The culmination was the solemn ceremony, where the girls appeared in evening gowns, and at the end, the winners were announced. The title of "Miss KRSU 2015" was unanimously awarded to Ramina Myrzataeva, the titles of 1st and 2nd Vice-Miss KRSU went to Evelina Rudenko and Ella Abdyssatarova, "Miss Friendship" became Olga Yugankina, Ainura Ryspekova was named "Miss Audience Sympathy," "Miss Fitness" went to Aydana Begalieva, "Miss Podium" was awarded to Aysuluu Kanatbekova, and "Miss Intelligence" went to Marina Smagina. In addition to the crown and title, and title sashes, the girls received many gifts from sponsors: from certificates for dinner at a trendy restaurant and sets of cosmetics to bank cards with a certain amount in the account.