The Transformative Power of Fashion within Beauty Pageants: The Case of “Ghana’s Most Beautiful”

Abstract

Pageants can be competitions for ladies with qualities of beauty determined by societal values and norms. In pageants’ orientation toward continuous change, they tend to achieve results through the engagement of fashion; the most visible medium of change found in aesthetics, culture and social events. Ghana's Most Beautiful Pageant’s engagement in traditional fashion has chalked up many successes. However, since its inception 15 years ago, little has been assessed on its transformative power. An exploratory sequential design was employed with a population comprised of viewers, fashion designers, organizers, judges, traditional rulers and contestants. Purposive sampling was used in selecting categories of respondents followed by simple random sampling. Sample size was 904, comprising 509 females and 395 males. Data from interviews, observation of videos and pictures were developed into questionnaire items, pre-tested with Cronbach alpha of 0.85. Findings revealed fashion played a transformative role on beauty pageants, it enabled contestants to act with a cultural sense, express egos and feel confident. The study recommends that pageant organizers and fashion designers engage more effectively the fashion concept in all activities for best results.