Pictures of the First Moscow Beauty Contest in the USSR, 1988

In the times of Mikhail Gorbachev many things started to change in the country. That period might be called a period of imitation. It came to show business too. The first beauty contest in the USSR became a sensation. Abroad the event called “Moscow beauty” was even called as loud as the flight of Gagarin into space.

Perestroika let any woman of the country who considered herself to be beautiful come and show herself. The casting took place in Gorky Park, the line was about two km long! Many women were accompanied by children and husbands, many of them were holding string bags. Those girls who were patient enough to stand in the line for some hours filled in forms.

(via English Russia)