Did you know that International Beauty Day is celebrated on 9 September?
Belgium, where beauty pageants have been held since 1888, is considered the birthplace of beauty competitions. A young lady from Croatia, Štefica Vidačić, was crowned Miss Yugoslavia in 1927 in Vienna and was also named the most beautiful woman in Europe!
Beauty insurance, which, according to the media, is still used by some modern celebrities, is not a new trend. This is evidenced by an article titled Insuring Beauty, published in Ilustrovani list in June 1914:
In one of our past issues, we mentioned how various artists, singers, and musicians insure parts of their bodies or their expensive musical instruments. Now this insurance is being extended. Ladies, who would suffer financially if they lost their physical beauty, which is their only source of income as actresses, artists in variety shows, cabarets, or circuses, feel a great need to protect their precious asset – their beauty. They have come up with an idea to insure their beauty!
Indeed, this was more than just an idea! An insurance company was founded in the USA for insurance of “female beauty”. The company’s prospectus allowed for insurance on a specific part of the body, such as the face, nose, or forehead, etc.
One singer insured her eyes for 125,000 marks, while a French actress insured her hair for 190,000 marks. The company is very accommodating to their female clients, offering insurance for anything they wish. This is undoubtedly a unique phenomenon in the commercial, social, and female life, purely American, and likely to spread to Europe soon!
(A. T.)
Štefica Vidačić, Miss Yugoslavia, photograph by Gjuro Reputin, 1927