The new Miss France Vaimalama Chaves was ovationnée in the streets of Papeete, in Tahiti, the island that saw her birth 24 years ago. The Miss Tahiti 2018, became Miss France 2019 December 15, appeared in a blue and silver dress, standing on the tanks that have made their way among the thousands of Polynesians who came to celebrate.
It was 20 years since Tahiti expected this coronation, since those in the 90's Mareva Georges (1991) and Mareva Galanter (1999). A long wait for Polynesians who, in five years, saw their miss access to the podiums, between 2013 and 2018, without ever winning a diadem.
Miss France 2019 has folded into the game of selfies and walkabouts. AFP photo.
Go back on stage again. The new beauty queen is followed by other floats, covered with auti leaves and flowers of opuhi or birds of paradise, on which are held previous Miss Tahiti, dressed in red and white, Polynesian colors. After half an hour on the main avenue of Papeete, the parade ends on the waterfront, where the young woman goes on stage in front of nearly four thousand Polynesians, according to the organizers.
Musician, Vaimalama Chaves is on stage to play the guitar. Shortly after her election, she played ukelele on a TV set. AFP photo.
Medal of knight of the order of Tahiti Nui. "With 44% of votes, Tahiti is there at the Miss France contest and is not ready to give up her crown!" Says the director of the committee Miss France, Sylvie Tellier. Celebrating his exemplarity for the Polynesian youth, often confronted with weight problems, the President of French Polynesia, Édouard Fritch, gives him the medal of knight of the order of Tahiti Nui. The young woman has indeed reported losing up to 20 kg after weighing 80 kg at 18 years.
Covered with flower necklaces made for the occasion, Miss France 2019 was widely celebrated in Tahiti. AFP photo.
The equivalent of "four world tours". When she arrived in Tahiti two days earlier, her passage had provoked crowd movements that were difficult to control, and security did not want to reproduce them with thousands of fans. Miss France is still two days to respond to the many media requests, before taking a vacation in Polynesia, and leave for the metropolis for a one-year marathon. According to the confessions of Sylvie Tellier, the life of Miss France "in displacement, it is the equivalent of four tours of the world!".