The Miss France is a French national beauty pageant, held once per year in December.
The competition that was first held in 1920 under the name La plus belle femme de France ("The most beautiful woman of France"), is where winners get to represent France at either Miss Universe or Miss World.
And on 16 December 2023, Ève Gilles was crowed Miss France 2024.
The woman is unique in many ways, in which she was previously crowned Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais 2023, and is the fourth woman from Nord Pas-de-Calais to win the title.
But what is more unique is that, Ève is cited by the French media as the first woman with short hair to become Miss France.
Born on July 2003, Ève was born in Dunkirk to parents Bruno and Édith Gilles.
The youngest of three daughters, she was already active in a variety of activities from a young age, including dance, athletics, and equitation. She was also a class representative throughout her education, before becoming a student at the University of Lille, studying mathematics with the career aspiration of becoming a statistician.
Before this, she had previously completed one year of medical school, but switched her studies after discovering a fear of blood.
To become a contestant at Miss France, she had to meet a number of eligibility requirements.
And among the long list of requirements, short hair isn't on the list.
This is why she boldly entered the event with her pixie cut, which boasts a short hair cut on the back and sides, with slightly longer hair on the top, with a very short bangs.
In Miss France 2024, which was held at the Zénith de Dijon in Dijon, it wasn't too difficult for the 20-year-old woman to compete through the finals, where she advanced to the top fifteen and later the top five.
At the end, she was declared the winner, being crowned by outgoing titleholder Indira Ampiot of Guadeloupe.
But it's her pixie cut, for what it's worth, is unusual for a pageant.
This made Ève the first woman in the 100-year history of the competition, to win the crown of Miss France pageant with a short hair.
In the aftermath of the competition, Ève becomes the victim of cyberbullying in regards to her appearance.
Not only people are creating negative comments about her hairstyle, but are also making fun of her body type.
Just like ever before, social media can be hostile and unforgiving.
Various people viciously attacked her thin frame, made videos comparing her to other competitors with “more beautiful” long hair and implied she only won to appease “woke” culture.
In short, a lot of people think that Ève does not deserve the La plus belle femme de France title.
"We’re used to seeing beautiful Misses with long hair, but I chose an androgynous look with short hair," she said. "No one should dictate who you are."
"Every woman is different, we’re all unique."
In another occasion, Ève also defended her hairstyle as a choice.
"People criticizing me over my hair doesn’t bother me, because I can change my hair," she said in an interview after her victory. "I chose this hair, but I didn’t choose my body, or my metabolism. I don’t understand how someone can criticize a person over something they cannot change."
"I want to be a strong woman, I want to make people realise that no matter where you start, no matter what path you take, you can achieve your goals,” Gilles said. “I want to show people that women are diverse, that we’re all beautiful, that we’re all different and unique. I’m not unique because of my hair, I’m unique because I’m Ève."
A spokesperson for Miss Universe also issued a statement regarding Ève's looks.
"There is no one way to be Miss Universe or Miss France, and we embrace every look that comes across our stage. We represent the times, and being your confident unique self is the one thing we see being reflected in all of our winners," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also pointed out that at this year’s Miss Universe pageant - which saw Miss Nicaragua take the title - also saw a variety of hairstyles on display amongst the pageants.
"We saw personal styles and hair of all types - and we love it! Short, long, curly," the statement continued, adding that the new Miss Universe, Sheynnis Palacios, “has a shorter cut."
The spokesperson also noted that this year’s Miss Ireland, Aishah Akorede, "made a statement by wearing her hair natural" at this year’s competition which took place last month.
Responding to the international online backlash, she gained a number of supporters, coming from French public figures.
"So, in France, in 2023, we measure the progress of respect for women by the length of their hair?" French politician Sandrine Rousseau wrote on X.
Fellow politician Karima Delli, who is also a member of the European Parliament, shared a post calling Ève "superb" and :intelligent for embracing her diversity" with her haircut.
It's worth noting that this year was the second edition of the Miss France pageant since the rules were changed, to allow for a greater diversity of contestants.
The age limit, previously capped at 24, was removed.
Candidates are also allowed to be married, to have children and visible tattoos.
The competition was previously opened to transgender contestants in 2019.
But despite the changes, the contestants of Miss France 2024 were still fairly homogenous – there were no mothers onstage, the median age remained more or less the same and there were no tattoos to be seen.
And although no weight limit exists for the competition, there wasn’t a single plus-sized contestant.
