Why Just Skinny: Miss Cicciona Plus-Sized Beauty Pageants

For more than two decades, the groundbreaking Miss Cicciona pageant has turned heads in Italy by celebrating a different kind of beauty. Open only to women who weigh more than 220 pounds, Miss Cicciona gives plus-size women an opportunity to take home a tiara.

This year's Miss Cicciona -- which translates roughly to Miss "Chubby" -- is Ornella Chiapperini, of Naples, who weighed in at 324.7 pounds in Forcoli, near Pisa, on July 23.

"The competition aims to recognize and give light to the beauty and simple and true affection [of] women [who] usually ... are excluded from the spotlight," wrote pageant founder Gianfranco Lazzereschi on the Miss Cicciona website (translated to English).

Lazzereschi said the goal of the beauty contest -- which also includes a field for men weighing more than 330 pounds -- is "not to ridicule fat people." He described the evening of singing, dancing, strutting and preening as "full of fun and friendliness."

After the competitors show their talents and personalities in an exhibition that's more far more boisterous than anything you'll see watching Miss America or Miss Universe, a team of journalists and officials award the participants with sashes and titles like Miss Congeniality, Miss Elegance and Miss Smile.

At the end of the night, in a scene that might remind fans of a bizarro version of TVs "Biggest Loser," the women hit the scales and the heaviest challenger is crowned Miss Cicciona.

The Italian contest gives larger women a unique platform -- but it's not alone.

Plus-sized beauty competitions are actually growing in popularity in America's pageant scene, especially over the past five years, according to pageant coach Rhonda Shappert.

"In Miss America, Miss USA, or Miss Universe, you would never find someone over 200 pounds -- or even over 170 pounds," Shappert, the owner of Winning Through Pageantry, told The Huffington Post. "But when you look demographically, especially in America, at how the average size of the women has been increasing, there are people who really believe that the positive aspects of these pageants can be beneficial."

In the United States, contests for larger women emerged as divisions in some traditional pageants.

That's how Melissa Stamper, the executive director of Miss Plus America, found her calling.

Stamper had participated in beauty contests as a child, but after she started gaining weight around age 13 and realized she wouldn't be Miss America, she cast her pageant dreams aside -- until she heard about a pageant with a plus-sized division.

She entered and won, and in the process realized there were other women like herself who were interested in pageants, but who were wary about competing against more slender challengers.

In 2002, Stamper launched the Miss Plus America circuit. Since then, the pageant has grown to boast 46 delegates competing in four divisions -- not to mention a number of imitators.

"There have been other pageants that are popping up here and there, but mine is the most prestigious," said Stamper. "We give away the big bucks."

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