 |
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
VIRGINIE LIEVE GERALDINE CLAES
MISS WORLD BELGIUM 2006
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”
John Keats
Virginie Lieve Geraldine Claes, 1.70m, age 23, was crowned Miss Belgium World
2006 on December 18. She will represent Belgium in the Miss World Pageant in Warsaw, Poland, on September 30, 2006.
Virginie graduated as a Commercial Engineer from the University of Hasselt in September 2005 and
is currently completing her reign as Miss Belgium World 2006.
Interview by: Héctor J. Colón González
What was your biggest reason to compete in Miss Belgium World?
After graduating as a Commercial Engineer I took the opportunity to compete in Miss Belgium World to meet a lot of people and to build up a large network in different areas like business and media.
How are you preparing for the Miss World pageant and what is a normal day in the life of Miss Belgium World?
My
busy life as Miss Belgium World is the best preparation for the Miss World pageant. Every day is a new experience. I work
seven days a week as Miss
As Miss Belgium World, which charities do you support?
As Miss Belgium World I support a lot of charities:
Handing over a check for Unicef.
Buying a foal which I am raising for the next three years (the turnover of the auction will be used for charity).
The sale by auction during a garden party for the “Fight Against Cancer”, doing the same thing in the French speaking part of my country by participating in a television program.
Visiting and entertaining children with leukemia a whole day long.
A television quiz against a famous tennis player of which the profit is devoted to a school for disabled children.
Taking disabled children in side cars and cars to drive them around and give them a pleasant
day.
What do you think are the most important qualities to win the Miss World crown?
The most important qualities for me are social commitment (cross-border), attractive appearance so that you make a good impression on people, knowledge of languages, independent acting, social skills, intelligence, the ability to sympathise, honesty, punctuality and correctness.
If you had the chance to promote
We are a small country with only 10 million habitants who put Belgium on the World because of their flexibility, knowledge of languages and intellectual capacity of the population, some of the best universities of the world with result in a high level of medical and scientific abilities, a lot of sport facilities resulting in famous sports people (Henin, Clijsters), creativity and fashion.
There are also a lot of accommodations like a bicycle
road network, racings circuits (Francorchamps), and so on. Belgian cuisine is known for its chocolate, beers, but also for
its “Haute Cuisine”. Our culture and history makes
How do you define the role of women in your country at this moment?
In my country women don’t have a specific role because we try to have a complete equality between men and women. It is even this way that more women than men are working in the professions of a high intellectual level, for instance medical and legal professions.
Belgian women have mostly an independent way of living. On political scale women have the right to vote since 1948 and since last year half of the candidates on the voting lists for the government must be women. Concerning remunerations, domestic work and religion there is still work to do.
What kind of profession would you like to pursue?
Last year I wanted to do something with my diploma of Commercial
Engineer, but now being Miss
How has your family influenced your life?
I don’t feel like my life is influenced by my family. If there is some influence, than it is the way I am raised by my parents. I think I got the right values and a good education. I had the chance to go to (the) university. I had the freedom to develop myself the way I wanted, to do sports and ballet. I always had an open communication with my family and could count on their support and advise. At the moment I have a relation based on friendship and respect with my family.
Although I live in a
safe and well-organised country, I would like my country to be a place without racism and fear of sexual harassments. At this
moment we are living in a busy, stressful country, with still to many suicides and aggression. I would like a country to live
in with a feeling of safety and happiness for everybody.
In your opinion what is the definition of "Beauty with a Purpose"?
Beauty rises by the purification of superfluities (Michelangelo). It is the balance between the inner and the exterior, purity, authenticity, emotional intelligence and appearance. Beauty is an idea or feeling of charisma of a person, animal, object, landscape or a pleasant sound.
The pronouncement “exterior is not important, it’s
the inner that counts”, is well meant and sounds great, but it doesn’t work in daily life. In former days the
purpose of external beauty was to attract the other gender to reproduce descendants. To me, beauty is a subjective term and
a sense of well-being. As John Keats said “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”.
Special thanks to Darline Devos, president of Miss Belgique
Organization ad Emilie Kino.
Photos coutesy of Eric Demeyer, Daniel Dedave and Miss Belgique
Organization.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
