Miss Universe is a Mexican girl with brown hair, then the 44 blonde girls that will take part in the Italian beauty contest read an article published in the newspaper La Stampa, according to which men no longer prefer blondes, and “ they rebel”: “There are more girls with brown hair but this doesn’t mean that men do not like us, we are rare and therefore more precious”.

Amongst the 255 contestants in Salsomaggiore Terme for the national pre-finals, 44 have blonde hair, 156 have brown hair, 25 black, 9 copper-coloured hair and 21 dark brown. According to Julia Piccioli: “The girls with brown hair are neutral, they are common, blonde girls instead have more class. Men only looked at blonde girls, but now things have changed. I hope a blonde girl wins”. Silvia Padano, another blonde girl, said, “the brown headed girls are more than us. We are not a crowd. And that is why our colours are different, peculiar”.

Miss Liabel Lazio, Natascia Coda, thinks that many girls with brown hair dye their hair blonde, like Cristina Chiabotto, “who is still beautiful in both ways”. Out of the 255 girls in Salsomaggiore (nine were born abroad), 99 have brown eyes, 66 green, 40 light brown, 35 blue, 12 black and 3 yellow. The youngest are 17 years old (35), 64 girls are 18, 48 are 19, 35 are 20, 21 are 22 and 21, and 2 are 26 years old. 35 underage girls will take part in the competition and the average age is 19 years old.

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Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute