How to style a beauty queen

In my work as a personal stylist, I get to help people look and feel their best — whether it’s for everyday life or a special occasion. Last month, I had the privilege and opportunity to style Ami Ahuja, a contestant for the Mrs. Wisconsin USA pageant. As her stylist, I was charged with picking out all of her outfits to be worn before and during the pageant. This included an interview suit, a cocktail dress, swimsuit and the pièce de résistance, an evening gown. She also had an orientation and initial pageant event which she, of course, had to look impeccable for.

First things first, we had to decide on a color palette. Though it may seem trivial, the colors you choose can make or break the outfit — whether it’s for a pageant, special event or everyday life. If you don’t wear the correct colors, no matter how expensive or beautiful the clothing, you won’t look your best. Ami looks best in warm colors (think ‘fall’), so we decided on reds, oranges and golds — all perfect for her skin tone.

Next, we started the hunt for her cocktail and evening gowns, looking high and low in Milwaukee, sadly to no avail. There were a few retailers with a small selection of dresses, but none that fit the bill for this particular event. This was my first stab at pageant styling, which calls for a slightly different type of look — contestants need to grab attention without going over the top. Essentially, I was looking for a style that would work best with Ami’s body type (rule number one: if it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t work!); will look great on stage, under lights and on camera; a gown that doesn’t show too much or too little, and most importantly, I wanted to find looks that meshed with Ami’s personality.

I strive for perfection with all of my clients and Ami was no exception. I wasn’t going to put her up on stage in anything less than stunning.

Undeterred, we headed south to Peaches Boutique in Chicago, which sells prom and pageant gowns. We hit the jackpot! They have a stock of over 10,000 dresses and I had spent quite a bit of time on their website researching their inventory.  For the cocktail dress, the rules specified the color had to be black, silver or white. A black dress would have blended in with Ami’s hair and coloring too much, and silver is not her color. I determined that white would pop the most against her coloring, and it did. We decided on a simple white dress, embellished with glimmering paillettes.

For the evening gown, I selected a red floor-length gown, covered in sequins, with a train and very high slit. She looked absolutely radiant in it.

In the dead of winter, though, it was almost impossible to find a swimsuit. We did a lot of searching online and in the stores without much success. Ami finally found one in the style and color we had determined in Chicago at Nordstrom. Whew! That was a load off.

I also picked out an outfit for her orientation, which was a couple of weeks before the pageant — a beaded tunic with leggings and stylish boots. She was told she looked the cutest!

Finding shoes was so much fun. Since Ami’s only 5’1″, I wanted to make her look as tall as possible, which meant towering heels. I found her the perfect pair of black, crushed sequin, 6” peep-toes. I almost bought a pair for myself, they were so hot! I wanted more of a flesh tone for her to wear with her gown and swimsuit so I found a pair of gold, sparkly 6” stilettos which looked absolutely perfect.

Accessories came last. Let me tell you: pageant accessories need to be large, blinged out and eye popping. Though I spent a ton of time looking for the right pieces, we ended up using some of my personal jewelry, Ami’s family jewelry and a few purchased items. A blend of perfection!

After all outfits were chosen, we headed to the tailor, Fig Leaves, who listened carefully and did an awesome job. Three of the outfits needed quite a bit of tailoring and they refined them all to fit like a second skin. Bueno!

The results: Ami won 2 awards and was one of the finalists. This is almost unheard of for a first time contestant. Great job, Ami! And…I’ll also give myself a pat on the back. It was many, many hours of hard work but it definitely paid off. Mrs. World, here we come!