While there are plus-size pageants, to compete for the crown in a traditional pageant, where your body type is outside the narrowly-prescribed pageant “norm,” is practically an anomaly.
Twenty-four-year-old Rachel Froug is a curvy girl who has participated in about 120 Georgia-based pageants in her life. But despite being a talented performer, excellent student, and engaged community volunteer, it was her dress size — a 12 when she was competing — that determined the crowns that she won… and lost.
She talked to me about what it’s really like to be a plus-size pageant queen.
“It’s kind of weird because back then I didn’t think necessarily think that I was curvy or plus-size. But looking back now, and I see a lineup of me with 15 other girls, and everyone else is like a size two, and there I was,” Froug said.
She also received backhanded comments as a curvier pageant girl. “At pageants, people would always say, ‘Oh [you] have such a pretty face,’ but [they thought] there [was] almost something that looked unhealthy if a girl was softer,” she said.
Once again, the definition of “healthy” means “thin” in the pageant world.
“I think a lot of it is because they see girls who are bigger and they think that’s not the ideal. The ideal is to be a perfect BMI and be able to do all of these [volunteer activities],” she said.
“The standards in general are high. The standards for curvier women and people of color are higher,” Froug said.
“Something that would look cute on me, wouldn’t look nearly as cute on someone who’s a perfect size four,” Rachel said. “I had to put a lot of thought into my routines and into my outfits to make them not just flattering on me, but make them look spectacular.”
“I’m like, ‘I have to put a bandana in my hair. I have to bedazzle my jeans. I have to wear cheetah-print heels!’ I have to go so much further to show the judges that, ‘Hey, look how smart and cute and charming I am,’” Froug said.
“I have the ‘pooch’ that makes me look pregnant if I wear something too tight,” Froug said, who was about a size 11 to 12 at the time. “And I would have the fat that rolls over your dress or your bra or something showing. And I had to be very, very careful with my choices.”
Although there were plus-size pageant gowns, she felt like the prices were astronomical compared to the straight-size gowns.
“You can find something flattering,” she said. “Now, are they going to charge more because this dress was made more exclusively on a plus-size line? Yeah, they are. And that’s ridiculous.”
“Every time I’d lose a pageant I’d think, ‘Oh well. My dress wasn’t the right color. My hair wasn’t high enough.’ Like I wasn’t wearing false eyelashes or something like that,” she said.
“I wanted desperately to believe that it [wasn’t] my weight, " she said. “I never wanted to think that it could be anything other than just formulaic, I guess.”
Rachel recalled a curvier pageant girl who developed an eating disorder after winning a major pageant in order to stay successful.
“Since that pageant, she had felt the pressure to be thin was so high, that she had to develop this eating disorder… She [thought she] had to lose weight to continue to win pageants, because she knew she couldn’t sustain the success without it,” she said.
“Sometimes [a contestant’s] main topic is literally, ‘Look, I used to be fat and I’ve realized the joy of eating well.’ And it’s a little patronizing, because it gives girls like me absolutely no inspiration, except for to lose weight,” she said.
When asked if she would compete at her current size — a size 16 — Froug said no.
“And as much as I hate it, if they’re going to put up a girl who’s exactly like me, and exactly as charming, they’re going to choose the girl who looks ‘healthier,’” she said.
title: “12 Frustrating Confessions Of A Plus Size Pageant Queen” ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-04” author: “Alberta Baylor”
While there are plus-size pageants, to compete for the crown in a traditional pageant, where your body type is outside the narrowly-prescribed pageant “norm,” is practically an anomaly.
Twenty-four-year-old Rachel Froug is a curvy girl who has participated in about 120 Georgia-based pageants in her life. But despite being a talented performer, excellent student, and engaged community volunteer, it was her dress size — a 12 when she was competing — that determined the crowns that she won… and lost.
She talked to me about what it’s really like to be a plus-size pageant queen.
“It’s kind of weird because back then I didn’t think necessarily think that I was curvy or plus-size. But looking back now, and I see a lineup of me with 15 other girls, and everyone else is like a size two, and there I was,” Froug said.
She also received backhanded comments as a curvier pageant girl. “At pageants, people would always say, ‘Oh [you] have such a pretty face,’ but [they thought] there [was] almost something that looked unhealthy if a girl was softer,” she said.
Once again, the definition of “healthy” means “thin” in the pageant world.
“I think a lot of it is because they see girls who are bigger and they think that’s not the ideal. The ideal is to be a perfect BMI and be able to do all of these [volunteer activities],” she said.
“The standards in general are high. The standards for curvier women and people of color are higher,” Froug said.
“Something that would look cute on me, wouldn’t look nearly as cute on someone who’s a perfect size four,” Rachel said. “I had to put a lot of thought into my routines and into my outfits to make them not just flattering on me, but make them look spectacular.”
“I’m like, ‘I have to put a bandana in my hair. I have to bedazzle my jeans. I have to wear cheetah-print heels!’ I have to go so much further to show the judges that, ‘Hey, look how smart and cute and charming I am,’” Froug said.
“I have the ‘pooch’ that makes me look pregnant if I wear something too tight,” Froug said, who was about a size 11 to 12 at the time. “And I would have the fat that rolls over your dress or your bra or something showing. And I had to be very, very careful with my choices.”
Although there were plus-size pageant gowns, she felt like the prices were astronomical compared to the straight-size gowns.
“You can find something flattering,” she said. “Now, are they going to charge more because this dress was made more exclusively on a plus-size line? Yeah, they are. And that’s ridiculous.”
“Every time I’d lose a pageant I’d think, ‘Oh well. My dress wasn’t the right color. My hair wasn’t high enough.’ Like I wasn’t wearing false eyelashes or something like that,” she said.
“I wanted desperately to believe that it [wasn’t] my weight, " she said. “I never wanted to think that it could be anything other than just formulaic, I guess.”
Rachel recalled a curvier pageant girl who developed an eating disorder after winning a major pageant in order to stay successful.
“Since that pageant, she had felt the pressure to be thin was so high, that she had to develop this eating disorder… She [thought she] had to lose weight to continue to win pageants, because she knew she couldn’t sustain the success without it,” she said.
“Sometimes [a contestant’s] main topic is literally, ‘Look, I used to be fat and I’ve realized the joy of eating well.’ And it’s a little patronizing, because it gives girls like me absolutely no inspiration, except for to lose weight,” she said.
When asked if she would compete at her current size — a size 16 — Froug said no.
“And as much as I hate it, if they’re going to put up a girl who’s exactly like me, and exactly as charming, they’re going to choose the girl who looks ‘healthier,’” she said.
