A Woman We Love
Andrea Fonseka
Every month, we feature a Woman We Love. In our September Fashion Issue, we take Andrea Fonseka out for drinks, and see all sides of the ex-Miss Universe Malaysia. With Deborah Henry getting all kinds of hype at the 2011 Miss Universe pageant in Sao Paolo (she's regarded as one of the favourites to win the crown), here's an excerpt from our time with the woman who trained Henry, as we ask her about beauty and the relevance of pageants nowadays:
Here she comes. A twenty-seven-year-old statuesque Amazonian striding across the jungle of a high-end shopping mall. A tall Aphrodite anointed the centre of a universe orbited by mid-forty aunties shopping and white-collared wolves with heads on a swivel while they eat pasta for lunch. She’s decked in a leopard monoprint outfit from neck to toe, hair-band parting the black drapes to reveal a porcelain visage. She doesn’t just walk. She progresses. This, padawans of the tiara, is how you draw attention.
But before we talk, Andrea does some house-cleaning. “Apa tu?” She stares at her personal assistant Marky, pointing out some numbers, an examination of pedantic proportions. In the next one minute, she’ll sign cheques, vet through receipts, and confirm appointments with her P.A.
“I’m so sorry, I’m very bad, I always mix stuff together,” she turns back to me as Marky scoots off. She has postponed her gym session from this morning, and hasn’t bothered much with the cosmetics. This is the business side of Andrea, one others are more accustomed to seeing after she was appointed national director of the Miss Universe Malaysia Organisation in January last year. Her job now is two-pronged. First: whip the next generation of beauty queens into shape. Aside from assuming the unspoken role of mentor to this year’s contestants, Andrea has helped import some fresh ideas, including a Miss Universe Malaysia reality show on Astro hitz called BeautyCamp that will chart the journey of all participants in the competition right up to the Gala Night in November.
The second task is to take Miss Universe Malaysia into a twenty-first century filled with scepticism about the relevance of such pageantry. Beauty contests have their roots way back in the nineteenth century, when lasses were chosen in Europe to symbolise a nation’s virtues and ideas. It was American circus tycoon P.T. Barnum that founded the modern day pageant in 1854, inviting women to flaunt their wares in front of judges. While the concept has grown to include prison beauty pageants in Columbia and the Miss Landmine competition for victims of landmine explosions, the question remains: Are pageants outdated in 2011? I put forth the question to Andrea.
“Just because you think something is superficial like beauty, that doesn’t make it any less reason to be proud of it. It’s not any less a blessing from God,” she says as she sips her skinny latte.
“Maybe it’s because being beautiful looks like something you’re born with, not something you work hard for,” I say.
“Look at me.” She carefully places her drink down, and puts herself in the firing line. “Maybe I was blessed with height, yes. But I had to f***ing work my ass off to get where I am today. It’s a lot easier to be a model than to be a beauty queen.” She lets that statement wash over my head for a moment. I ask why. “All beauty queens can be models, but not all models can be beauty queens. I know these are quite controversial words, but it’s true. You need to be able to convey a message, more than just someone who doesn’t say anything on a catwalk.”
These sentences flow from a coiffured package; she sits with her back straight, begins our chat with hands clasped, exudes an easy poise, eyes dead set on you. But for all of Andrea’s obvious attractions, her greatest gift would be her tongue. It trims excuses like fat off a loin, cuts through your two-inch thick veneer. When she has to, she’s a ball-buster. A trained lawyer, she’s not afraid to sit contestants down, and lay out the cold, hard facts. Go ahead; ask her about her biggest pet peeve. “When girls want to join Miss Malaysia to find a rich man. Urgh!” she exclaims with a disgust reserved for lizards and queue-cutters. “Don’t give me the bulls*** crap about sharing Malaysia with the world. I can smell it,” she says, lowering her voice, imitating Cruella as she corners a Dalmatian, an accusing finger crawling forward. “I know the type who wants to join and find a rich husband. Urgh. That’s a huge pet peeve of mine.”
Plastic surgery? “I’ve not done it. But…sorry.” Not for the lack of a boob job, but for accidentally knocking into my leg as she shifts her posture. “If my Miss Malaysia comes to me and says, “I want to get a boob job”, I’ll say okay, let’s go. Let’s find you the best doctor. I’m not against that, you do what you need to do. Of course, I’ll speak to the parents and say, “Uncle, aunty, your daughter wants to do this…”
To those who say beauty pageants are all style and no substance? “It’s true; some of them [contestants] are empty airheads. Some priests are paedophiles. And some priests are lovely people. Your judgements on beauty can be as superficial as the beauty you think you are judging.”
So Andrea is clearly passionate about the cause. Clearly doesn’t mince her words. Because back in 2004, as a nineteen-year-old teenager just stepping into adulthood, she was cut down to size by brutal judgments. Because, back then, no one dared to be as honest.
Read more about Andrea - why she wants people to be brutally honest, and our drinks session with her - in our September Fashion Issue, out in newsstands now. Words by Jon Chew. Photographs by Eric Chow, and produced by Blink Studios. Hair and makeup by Khir Khalid and Chot. Location: Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur. Models: Miss Universe Malaysia. Clothes: Versace.
September 12th, 2011