Beauty pageants had their origin in photographic beauty contests that were publicized in newspapers in the 1850s. However, the first true beauty pageant in the modern sense of the word is traceable to 1921 in New Jersey, USA, which is called “Atlantic City’s Inter-City Beauty Contest”. After this time many other national and international beauty pageants were established around the world and turned these competitions into an industry. California is also the state with the most beauty pageants in general.

The pageant Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951 followed by Miss Universe in 1952. 

The first Persian beauty competition, with the name of Spring Girl, was publicised by Zane Ruz magazine in 1965, and Sima Izadju was selected as the winner.  The last series of this competition was performed in Tehran’s Hilton Hotel in 1978, where Tarane Keysar from Tehran was selected as Iran’s Worthy Girls of the year.

After 1979, some Persian women, individually represented Persia or their countries of residence on global stages, as there were no such organizations to run the program yearly. 

But you should remember that this history was not made by those who did nothing! So, check out the most hardworking people in this journey below.