Indira Ampiot, 18 named Miss France 2023 after competitive challenge

After a procession of swimwear, evening dresses, and heels on Saturday night, communications student Indira Ampiot, 18, was named Miss France 2023, capping a contest that aimed to modernise its image with newly widened eligibility standards.

Ampiot, the current Miss Guadeloupe, said after receiving the silver and blue tiara from beauty queen Diane Leyre that she was “living a waking dream.”

The new Miss France 2023 ended her address with “Allez les Bleus” after championing cancer survivors and encouraging France to win the World Cup.

Prior to this year’s competition, admission was limited to childless women between the ages of 18 and 24 who were at least 1.70 metres (5.6 feet) tall. This year’s competition featured fewer qualifying conditions.

Now, any woman over the age of 18 may attend, regardless of her height or ability to carry children. Additionally, it was now legal to get visible tattoos.

Miss France 2023 pageant

Evening dresses and bikinis, which are genre staples, were nonetheless included in the pageant.

According to Alexia Laroche-Joubert, head of the Miss France organisation, transgender people with female civil status documents were also allowed to participate.

Even so, the pageant had the usual parts, such as talent shows, costume changes, beautiful poses, and a lot of taffeta.

Contestants dressed as Wonder Woman in onesies for one performance and danced in blue dresses against a “Titanic” background for another to suit the year’s theme of movies.

In the end, the amendments to pageant eligibility did nothing to appease critics; the French feminist organisation “Osez le feminism” referred to the improvements as “white paint over a mouldy wall.”