Lorraine Peters has already won. The oldest contestant in Miss Universe Canada history – a soon-to-be-59-year-old personal trainer and wellness consultant – is soaking in the experience and happy that the global institution, established in 1952, finally lifted the age restriction from 18-28 to 18 and up, showing other women who have “aged out” of perceived beauty standards that they too can vie for a title as iconic as Miss Universe.
Brimming with positivity, Peters, who penned a book in 2015 – Curve Appeal: How to Lose Weight and Feel Great in Your 30s, 40s, 50s, and Beyond – is described in her contestant profile as “wife, mother, grandmother, entrepreneur, author, fitness professional, herbalist, model, stylist, philanthropist, trailblazer…”
“This is the thing,” Peters explains during a recent Zoom call, “the message that I’ve had for four decades … is that we shouldn’t be compared. Young women, old women, we are all just women in different stages of our living. That’s what I’m there to represent. I am the same young girl in my heart, in my mind, as when I was 20. The fact that I’m going into my sixth decade means nothing to me. What matters to me is that I have energy … I have enthusiasm, and I’m still excited about life, and pushing the boundaries of my abilities.”
She adds that “Age never plays a factor in whether I do something or not, and so I think that given the opportunity to be Miss Universe Canada, there is this huge opportunity for me to walk into the world in a way that people are unable to look at me for my age.”
The Miss Universe Organization already removed other outdated and discriminatory barriers – in 2012 allowing transgender women to compete and, for the 2023 pageant, lifting the restrictions that a contestant “must not have ever been married, not had a marriage annulled nor given birth to, or parented a child. The titleholders are also required to remain unmarried throughout their reign.” [In 2019, Bolivia’s Joyce Prado was stripped of her crown for getting pregnant].
Times indeed have changed.
The new “rules” go into effect globally for 2024 and Peters, who hails from Rothesay, New Brunswick, will join 71 other contestants in Miss Universe Canada 2024, competing for the right to represent Canada at the Miss Universe Pageant this November in Mexico. The contest takes place at The Capitol Theatre in Windsor, Ontario, on July 25 at 8 pm (preliminary show) and the finals on July 27 at 8 p.m.
Peters, who has entered seven pageants since age 15 and has five titles, runs L Models & Personal Development Academy, which offers workshops and classes focused on personal development and growth – the latter focused on soft skills for newcomers. She also started the Atlantic chapter of the global charity Menopause Café, an in-person support group described as a place where “people gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss menopause.”
Peters spoke with Zoomer to discuss what she loves about competitions like Miss Universe and what they mean to women in 2024.
KAREN BLISS: You put on your own beauty pageant when you were just 12. What do you remember about that?
LORRAINE PETERS: Age two, I remember being very aware of my style, wanting to have some say over what I wore. I just remember loving everything about fashion and style, and so pageantry goes hand in hand with that passion. The summer that I was 12 – it’s one of my most vivid memories – brought up in a very small town in New Brunswick, and I just decided one day, ‘We’re going to have a pageant.’ I got my best friend to help me canvas the whole street. Every girl signed up. I don’t know why we all had dresses, but we did, and then the two cutest boys on the street were the judges. I fashioned the crown out of tinfoil and had prizes. Just from watching Miss America and Miss Universe, I seemed to really grasp onto what was required to put together a pageant, and it was born out of my love of style, fashion, self-expression, and pageantry.
KB: At 15, you entered your first pageant. What did you like about it that made you continue?
LP: It’s one of those things that you get into it for one reason, and then you find out as you go along that there’s a lot more to it than there appears. And so I just kept doing them. I like the process. I like the self-awareness. You learn something different about yourself every time. I love the camaraderie of the other women. They really inspire you to be better because every direction you look is very accomplished women, especially now with the age requirements being done away with. You’re having very mature women who have done a tremendous amount of things in their lifetime, and that’s on full display.
KB: These institutions are trying to change the view of pageantry. We think of the young woman in her sash, saying she wants world peace. It’s viewed as a competition based solely on beauty and the talent portion just filler. How does a pageant fit into your view of female empowerment?
LP: That’s a loaded question. Many years ago, the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, the optics of pageants were very much about the aesthetic, the physical beauty of the woman. But the reality of pageantry is that it always has had this very heavy philanthropic community service aspect of ‘Yes, you’re beautiful. Yes, you have poise, grace, and elegance.’ But the undercurrent is ‘what do you do to make the world a little bit of a better place?’ That is the foundation, and that is something that the general public really does not know about pageantry, and that feeds into giving it a bit of a bad rap – especially in the modern 21st century. So, that’s something that is important to me.
If I were to win Miss Universe Canada, I want to change the narrative around pageantry because I actually think that it’s needed more today than ever. We need to exploit the aspects of pageantry and the good that they do because those aren’t very well known. And pageantry is breeding new generations of girls, and now women of any age, who are community-minded and will take on some of these social issues that we desperately need help with these days.
KB: Does it worry you that, in the judging of Miss Universe Canada, there might still be the optics that outer beauty synonymous with youth is most important?
LP: My experience, so far, has been that not only are they complying with these new changes, but they seem to be embracing them. They seem to welcome me to be there … I think the age limit coming down is the most significant change that we’re going to see. I mean, that’s a big one, almost three-quarters of a century, and the image through the eyes of pageantry of the ideal woman was that woman who was between 18 and 28. So this age change is hugely progressive in the world of pageantry. I think I’m the best one to be the face of these progressive changes and help move pageantry forward in a way that is seen in a different light.
KB: In recent years, we’ve had the Time’s Up movement, the #MeToo movement, equality, equity and diversity movements for women, including in advertising, and yet when we look at young women on social media, some are getting Botox and fillers in their 20s. That will feed insecurity. What is your perspective?
LP: The girls using the filters and having the Botox, in one vein I say that is an extension of them expressing themselves and them finding themselves. Now, the cautionary tale in that is ‘Why am I doing it?’ If I’m taking measures to remain in the youthful, less–than–authentic optics of who I am, then that’s something that age takes care of. If you get on a path of improving yourself and asking yourself who am I really, what do I really stand for, then hopefully they progress out of that.
That’s the other interesting aspect that I’m going to bring to this competition is that I will be 59 hours after the final crowning, and I can tell you with 100 per cent certainty that once I arrive there for this competition, I am sloughing off any attachments to the outcomes. I have in my heart the best wishes for all of the other girls and myself. I’m going to enjoy the other women. I am so freed up to be myself. I don’t have any ego about being outdone, and so it’s such a raw, vulnerable position for me at this age, and I’m so excited to see it unfold.
Visit the Miss Universe Canada website for more information about the contest or to purchase tickets to the event.
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