MISS WORLD INTERNATIONAL BEAUTY CONTEST PAGEANT

ROLENE STRAUSS - Rolene Strauss was born on the 22nd of April 1992. She is a South African TV Host, model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss South Africa 2014 and in December the same year won Miss World 2014 in London. She is the second South African woman to win the Miss World pageant, but the third to hold the title. She is the second Miss World after Reita Faria who was a medical student during her reign.

The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Alongside its traditional rival, the Miss Universe contest, the Miss World pageant is one of the two most recognized and publicized beauty contests in the world, and also boasts the largest number of participating countries.

In 1951, the first Miss World contest, originally the Festival Bikini Contest, was organized by Eric Morley as a mid-century advertisement for swimwear at the Festival of Britain. The press welcomed the spectacle and referred to it as Miss World, and Morley adopted the name as his trademark. When, the winner Kiki Håkansson from Sweden, was crowned in a bikini, countries with religious traditions threatened to withdraw delegates. The bikinis were outlawed and evening gowns introduced instead. Håkansson remains the only Miss World crowned in a bikini, a crowning that was condemned by the Pope. Bikini was banned from beauty pageants around the world after the controversy. Catholic-majority countries like Belgium, Italy, Spain and Australia also banned the swimsuit that same year

The current Miss World is Rolene Strauss of South Africa who was crowned on 14 December 2014 in London, United Kingdom. Traditionally, Miss World lives in London during her reign.

MISS WORLD COMPETITION BANS THE BIKINI - HUFFINGTON POST DEC 2014

Now this is grace before beauty. The Miss World organization has announced plans to nix the competition's swimsuit round, effectively banning the bikini from the contest.

The group and its annual event abides by the "beauty with a purpose" credo, and will replace the bathing suits with a "beachwear" event instead.

"There didn't seem to be a purpose to have the swimsuit," said Chris Wilmer, national director of Miss World America and Miss United States, to ABC News. "Pageantry is an age old industry and I think with [Miss World chairwoman Julia Morley] getting rid of swimsuit and making it more of a lifestyle competition sends a strong message and I applaud her for it."

But, this isn't the first time the bikini contest has been dropped by the Miss World team. The pageant executives altered that section of the competition in 2013, out of respect for the Muslim modesty observed by the event's host country of Indonesia. Similarly, though the bikini judging and scoring has not been televised since 2001, it remained a controversial issue for critics who dubbed it "sexist" or did not see its connection to the contested goodwill ambassadorship.

Clarifying the Miss World decision, Wilner also told ABC News the beachwear segment will be on-brand, and "more of a fashion competition than a bikini show."

South Africa's Rolene Strauss was crowned the 64th Miss World champion on Dec. 14 in London, and will be the last winner to have competed in the swimsuit round.

THE INQUISITR DEC 2015

When it comes to fashion predictions for 2015, the Miss World bikini competition is most likely going to get the ax yet again. But will the bikini ban be for “beauty with a purpose,” feminist ideals, or Muslim beliefs?

In a related report by the Inquisitr, when the Miss World bikini contest ban was announced by Julia Morley, the chairwoman of Miss World, she explained the decision in these terms.

“I really don’t want — I don’t need to see women just walking up and down in bikinis. It doesn’t do anything for the woman. And it doesn’t do anything for any of us I don’t care if someone has a bottom two inches bigger than someone else’s. We are really not looking at her bottom. We are really listening to her speak.”

Chris Wilmer, national director of Miss World America/Miss United States, explained the Miss World 2015 bikini ban in a slightly different way.

“It’s not just a beauty contest, it’s ‘beauty with a purpose’. There didn’t seem to be a purpose to have the swimsuit. Miss World should be a spokesperson who can help a community,” Wilmer is quoted by the ABC News. “She’s more of an ambassador, not a beauty queen. Pageantry is an age old industry and I think with Julia getting rid of swimsuit and making it more of a lifestyle competition sends a strong message and I applaud her for it.”

This statement is a far cry from how the beauty pageant was first run. Sweden’s Kiki Håkansson, the first ever Miss World, was even crowned on stage in her bikini way back in 1951. It’s also quite a different reason from why Morley had the Miss World bikini contest modified in 2013 to focus on more conservative “beach fashion” when the beauty contest was held in Indonesia, a country with more than 200 million Muslims.

“I don’t want to upset or get anyone in a situation where we are being disrespectful,” she said according to the Daily Mail. “We treasure respect for all the countries that take part in the pageant.”

A report from the Telegraph claims that feminists are the real reason our predictions for 2015 can safely conclude the bikini is gone for good. In addition to Muslim groups wanting the pageant banned entirely, it’s claimed the “organizers are so terrified of it being picketed by feminists,” and all of these “changes mean that it was hard to spot blatant sexism at Miss World’s final” despite the entire premise of the organization being based upon “hugely sexist undertones.”

We say that that is far too politically weak. A woman is a woman. Why hide the fact? When it comes to getting wet, as marine biologists (divers), fishermen and pearl divers must on a daily basis, swim gear is a fact of life. One of the greatest pleasures for humans is swimming in the sea and feeling the sea air on their skin as they absorb sunlight and get a tan. If a religious group don't cotton to the idea of getting quite so in touch with nature, we must respect their views. But by the same token, they must respect the views of others. We are not forcing anyone to join in or watch these events; events that are designed to empower women.

MISS WORLD - Not a bikini in sight, but still dressing practically for the job in hand, Rolene Strauss climbs the mast of the Dongfeng Volvo Ocean racer. In the picture below Rolene is wearing Musto performance sailing gear. Charles Caudrelier skippers the Dongfeng sailing yacht, while giving instruction to Miss Strauss on how to steer the boat.