Monday, August 17, 2009
Antigone Costanda was the winner of the Miss World beauty pageant in 1954, representing Egypt. The pageant was held on October 18, 1954 in London, England, 16 contestants participated. In addition to Arabic she speaks Greek, English, Italian and French fluently. Her total points overall in the Miss World event were 7.941, ranked 4th. The Greek-Egyptian beauty was the first Miss Egypt candidate to win the title for Egypt. According to Eric Morley's 1967 book, "The Miss World Story", Costanda was positively beaming as she claimed her victory was also for third runner-up status of Marina Papaelia, 1953's Miss Egypt. The following year, during the 1955 Miss World beauty pageant held in London, Costanda did not attend the event because of political hostilities between Egypt and Britain over the Suez Canal. British actress Eunice Gayson crowned Miss Venezuela as the new Miss World. Prior to winning Miss World, Costanda was gaining experience in the modelling profession, her face appearing in numerous publications. Winning Miss World further helped her to reach the top of her profession, becoming a successful model in the Middle East, France, Italy and Greece. Her career in later years moved into interior design; she ran a company designing the interior of business buildings.
1st Runner-up : USA - Karin Hultman
2nd Runner-up : Greece - Efi Mela
3rd Runner-up : France - Claudine Bleuse
4th Runner-up : Germany - Frauke Walther
5th Runner-up : Denmark - Grete Hoffenblad
Contestants:
Belgium - Nelly Elvire Dehem
Ceylon - Jeannette de Jonk
Denmark - Grete Hoffenblad
Egypt - Antigone Costanda
Finland - Yvonne de Bruyn
France - Claudine Bleuse
Germany - Frauke Walther
Great Britain - Patricia Butler
Greece - Efi Mela
Holland - Yvonne Meijer
Ireland - Connie Rodgers
Italy - Cristina Fantoni
Sweden - Margareta Westling
Switzerland - Claudine Buller
Turkey - Sibel Goksel
United States - Karin Hultman
