In September of 1984, our beloved fashionista, Vanessa Williams, was dealing with the first pornography scandal in People magazine history. She was actually Miss America at the time and was forced to step down in light of some nude (and suggestively lesbian) photos being published in Penthouse. Beauty queens are supposed to be models of female perfection, but Williams fell short of this role.
What's most interesting is that People didn't immediately shun Williams like many tabloids do. Instead, they allowed her to tell her story of naivete, vulnerability, and double consciousness. The second of two stories covers the fall of the first black Miss America who was given a role of signification that was beyond her power, both in being victimized as a young woman in the hands of a shady photographer, and also in the hands of the general public as a symbol of "blackness" gone wrong.
Still People was able to reconstitute William's personage by projecting an entirely better one, one in line with the way the public had already seen her in her crown. She was (and still is) a ravishing beauty who is both stunning and rather quirky and inviting. On the first cover she is more sexually attractive, but the second shows another side of Vanessa. She is smiling and happy and affable. This is what makes a lasting pageant queen.
It may be said that these stories saved Williams, as she is still recognized in register as Miss Universe 1984 despite stepping down and has gone on to have a very successful career in music, television, and movies. This "dirty girl" has even appeared in advertisements for products associated with cleanliness and wholesomenesss like L'Oreal, Crest, and Proactiv. She even did a promo for California highlighting Disneyland in a Visit UK ad.
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