Toddlers & Tiaras may be a US reality TV series, but the pageant fever is closer to home than you think.
More Singapore mums are becoming obsessed with children’s beauty contests – and think nothing of splashing out thousands of dollars on an outfit that their kid will wear only once.
Housewife Katherine Lok, 40, pays between $3,000 and $4,000 for a custom-made outfit, which includes matching shoes and accessories.
All this to win a contest in which the top prize is $1,000.
She admits that her sales director husband “strongly disapproves of these mad splurges”, but insists that it’s not an expensive hobby for their only child, seven- year-old Ursula Chee.
They live in a three-room condominium unit in the East. One room in their home has been converted into a walk-in wardrobe shared bymummyand daughter.
She shows The New Paper the room, but turns down our request to take pictures.
Her reason: “I don’t want people to copy my girl’s designs, and I don’t want people to plaster my face or my daughter’s face all over the Internet and flame us.”
She laughs off her husband’s unhappiness: “Men don’t understand it.
“He doesn’t quite see it, but this is good training for my daughter,who used to be very shy.”
Her daughter has been competing in beauty contests since she was three, shortly after a doctor’s diagnosis that Ursula could be mildly autistic.
“I was like,‘How can this be possible?’
“Then one day, we were at a shopping mall. There was some Disney Princesses’ contest going on, and my girl said,‘Mummy,I want to be there’.
“That was the turning point. Today, I have a confident daughter, who was even voted class monitor.”
Ursula looks up from her MacBook – a reward for doing well –and smiles: “Yes, my friends love me.”
Why a name like Ursula?
Before Madam Lok can respond, the little girl chimes: “My mummy says I don’t have to mind what people say about my name.”
Mummy adds: “No, I named her after Ursula Andress, the Swiss actress.”
Andress is best known for her role as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film.
And the pricey dresses that are worn only once? Madam Lok says: “I’m keeping them. They will become part of Ursula’s trousseau (a type of dowry) when she gets married.”
Ursula has participated in 15 competitions and topped 10 of them.
The biggest prize money she has won is $1,000. Not that it matters to Madam Lok.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about giving her a chance to enjoy herself and build her confidence,” she says.
Madam Erlyna Rahmat, 36, is another beauty contest enthusiast.
While she draws the line at spending more than $200 on pageant gowns, she is keen to see her daughters – Sofea Danial Lee, six, and Sarah, 10 – winning as many pageants as they can.
Says the senior executive: “Personally, I don’t think it’s worth the money because you only get to wear it once.
“And children outgrow these dresses so quickly.” But these dresses are often the source of backstage bitchiness, she claims.
Some parents,who are regulars in the scene, often pass hushed yet scathing comments about their children’s rivals.
Madam Erlyna says that these parents would ask in a judging tone: “Where did you get your outfit from?”
But she doesn’t pay much attention to them.
“I just want my children to have fun and not be involved in the competitiveness of it all,” she says.
Sofea clearly loves being the centre of attention.
The playful girl oozes confidence when she puts on her shimmery white dress, putting her hands on her hips, tilting her head and flashing her sweetest smile for the photographer.
Sofea had her first taste of victory at just nine-months-old – in her first contest.
Although Sofea can’t remember that victory, she does recall her other conquests.
She declares with a toothy grin: “The Cutest Kid Contest was my favourite because I won.”
She was four then.
Sofea has not taken part in any contests this year as “nothing was appealing”, but she used to be a regular on the pageant scene, taking part in about four contests each year.
Most of these contests, which have talent elements, are organised by shopping malls or magazine publishers.
There is also the occasional modelling contest with runway segments.
Interest in such pageants and contests has soared, going by the growing number of competitions each year.
Next month, both Sofea and her sister Sarah, will vie for the Little Miss Singapore Cinderella title at United Square.
Another proud parent, Ms Tanya Tan, sends her nine-year-old daughter Elena to pageants, including past Miss Singapore Cinderella pageants.
Her daughter’s gowns are usually tailor-made by someone who specialises in making pageant gowns for both child and adult pageants.
The gowns cost between $300 and $1,000.
Other than cattiness over costumes, Ms Tan says that some parents “steal dance routines”.
“My daughter had to think of doing different jumps during her routines at the last minute in order to catch the judges’ attention.”
Madam Erlyna makes sure her daughters’ success “doesn’t get to their heads”.
“I don’t give them big rewards for winning. I just give them toys, which they are happy with.”
But she adds that some parents pressure their children into doing well at these contests.
“I see children crying sometimes because their parents are asking them to wear a dress that they don’t want to.”
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