Big Size Queen is a non profit contest and organization that supports the collective of overweighted people. They count with numerous sponsors such as a models agency, big sizes clothes companies and shops, hairdressers, hotels and other kind of companies. The contest was first held in 1993. The beginnings were tough but year after year it has consolidated until getting prestige and international acknowledgment as well as attention from the media. The opinion of the participants and normal people’s support have also helped to give a name to the Big Size Queen contest. It is not a place where to defend fatness but where to normalize sizes and support overweighted people. The girls that have taken part as competitors have felt at least queens for one day in their lives. The contest also gives these women the opportunity to get in touch with other girls with similar problems or questions. They get friends, share experiencies and, some of them, start a career as models for big sizes, posing for magazines, advertising or even showing on a catwalk. They feel less discriminated by a minority that yet give more importance to the body than to mind.
Rehearsing on the catwalk right before the fashion show
SEL0061609 © Lourdes Segade
Blanca Wysocka (right), Big Size Queen 2003, and Nuria Nebleza (left), one of the competitors for 2005 contest
SEL0061576 © Lourdes Segade
One of the assistants sets the jewellery on a table before giving it to the competitors
SEL0061604 © Lourdes Segade
Hangers and shoes at the backstage
SEL0061588 © Lourdes Segade
A former competitor as she talks on the cellullar phone, just arrived to the wardrobe
SEL0061592 © Lourdes Segade
The wardrobe is a mess of clothes and shoes for the 16 competitors
SEL0061594 © Lourdes Segade
Clothes and shoes hang as they wait for the girls to wear them on
SEL0061593 © Lourdes Segade
Yolanda helps Maria Jose get her necklace on
SEL0061585 © Lourdes Segade
Mari Carmen shows proudly the necklace she's wearing in the first show
SEL0061586 © Lourdes Segade
The crown, the sceptre and the sash for the future queen
SEL0061590 © Lourdes Segade
Virginia Blas, who would be announced as 2nd queensmaid later on, gets hairdressed
SEL0061578 © Lourdes Segade
Waiting to get made up
SEL0061600 © Lourdes Segade
Laura Grau, who would later be announced as Big Size Queen 2005, waits for the hairdresser to finish the work
SEL0061581 © Lourdes Segade
Marga Estruch, one of the competitors, wore a dress with the sexiest decollete of the show
SEL0061577 © Lourdes Segade
Getting made up before the show
SEL0061583 © Lourdes Segade
Laura Grau, who would later be announced as nes Big Size Queen, gets ready for the second part of the show
SEL0061580 © Lourdes Segade
The assistant of the show host (presenter) gets ready
SEL0061582 © Lourdes Segade
Eva waits for the show to get started
SEL0061591 © Lourdes Segade
Yamila Calderín, who would later be announced as 1st Queensmaid 2005, as she waits for the show to get started Yamila Calder√≠n, who would later be announced as 1st Queensmaid 2005, as she waits for the show to get started
SEL0061589 © Lourdes Segade
One of the competitors as she's interviewed for a TV station
SEL0061574 © Lourdes Segade
Matilde Anglada, Big Size Queen 2001, as she talks on the phone in the wardrobe. She's now become a wellknown model for big sizes
SEL0061573 © Lourdes Segade
Yamila Calderín (right), who will later be announced as 1st Queensmaid 2005, waits nervous for her turn to appear on the catwalk in the very first show Yamila Calder√≠n (right), who will later be announced as 1st Queensmaid 2005, waits nervous for her turn to appear on the catwalk in the very first show
SEL0061569 © Lourdes Segade
The show goes on and the competitors feel like real models
SEL0061567 © Lourdes Segade
Some of the winners
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Laura Grau, Big Size Queen 2005
SEL0061562 © Lourdes Segade
Some of the competitors as they wait for the announcement of the new Queen
SEL0061559 © Lourdes Segade
From left to right: Marta Tejada, Queen of sympathy, Yamila Calderín, 1st Queensmaid, Laura Grau, Big Size Queen 2005, Virginia Blas, 2nd Queensmaid and Ana Belén Valencia, Queen of Elegance From left to right: Marta Tejada, Queen of sympathy, Yamila Calder√≠n, 1st Queensmaid, Laura Grau, Big Size Queen 2005, Virginia Blas, 2nd Queensmaid and Ana Bel√©n Valencia, Queen of Elegance
SEL0061553 © Lourdes Segade
At the end of the show, the new Big Size Queen poses for the numerous media covering the event
SEL0061549 © Lourdes Segade
The show is finished and the new Queen poses for media. The backsatge stays in calm
SEL0061546 © Lourdes Segade