Strictly star Lauren Oakley defended “unconventional beauty standards” amid the row surrounding the winner of Miss France, who has short hair.
The 32-year-old – who will appear on Pointless Celebrities on Saturday (January 6), came out in support of Eve Gilles, 20, who was crowned Miss France in December 2023. However, her hairstyle has caused much debate in some circles.
Lauren Oakley expressed her thoughts on Eve Gilles’ pixie cut
In December, the Miss France 2024 pageant ended in bizarre controversry as a woman with short hair won the competition for the first time.
Eve Gillies, 20, rocked a pixie cut – however, some people complained that the pageant had now become “woke”…for some reason.
Soon after, Strictly star Lauren, who herself has short hair, waded into the debate.
Taking to her Instagram in late December, Lauren confessed she felt like she had to “defend” Eve. She uploaded a number of stunning snaps showcasing her short hair.
“The subject has surfaced this week, and people have reached out to me about it. I’m generally not inclined to comment. But I feel quite strongly about it, and the bigger picture,” she wrote.
She added that she’s “happy and comfortable” with her appearance, while she expressed that she chose to have short hair. “I think it looks nice on me and I have days where I compare myself. I don’t feel so pretty (don’t we all). But I feel lucky that I’m confident with my image.”
She then continued, saying: “I like the difference. I like representing what is unfortunately classed as ‘unconventional’ beauty. I think it’s important.”
Only being feminine if you have long hair is a social construct, when actually, beauty is in choice.
Lauren explained: “Comments on social media and otherwise don’t upset me. What upsets me is that people feel the need to have an opinion on somebody else’s appearance. I’m grateful that I’ve learnt how not to take it personally. At first, it was difficult. Especially when related to my career because ‘dancers don’t have short hair.'”
She wants to be a source of encouragement
Later in the post, Lauren admitted that she wanted to “encourage people to think twice” about passing commenting on someone’s appearance. She added: “It has nothing to do with you. You don’t know what someone else is going through, you don’t know how they feel.”
She continued: “The most important thing is that they’re happy in their skin, and if they’re not quite there yet, let’s help them by building them up.”
Earlier in 2023, Lauren was forced to defend having a pixie cut. Some viewers told her she “should” have long hair permanently, the professional dancer replied by saying she’s “good” with her short hair.
Taking to Twitter she wrote: “All the comments on my long hair last week saying I ‘should’ have long hair. I’m good thanks girls don’t have to have long hair to feel pretty.”
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