History was made when 24-year-old Vimbai Chapungu was crowned Miss London 2019. The Zimbabwean-born Masters student is the first black woman to hold the title.
Vimbai recently took part in the Miss England final held in Newcastle where the contestants underwent everything from a Sports Round and Talent Round to an eco-wear round and even a general knowledge quiz.
She qualified as one of the 50 finalists out of other 20,000 women that entered this year’s competition. However, the winner was Bhasha Mukherjee, a 23-year-old junior doctor from Derby. Mukherjee will now go on to compete at Miss World which will take place in London in December.
As the first Black woman to have the Miss London title, Vimbai took advantage of this by wearing her natural hair during the Miss England finals to highlight natural beauty to the audience. She was placed in the top 3 of 55 for the bare faced model title.
Her Masters thesis is about the Natural Hair Movement, which is a social phenomenon that seeks to empower Black women to wear their hair in its natural state, as opposed to chemically processing/relaxing their hair which has adverse health issues.
What does this mean for black women in the diaspora?
Vimbai’s win is a historic event but it begs to question why we still have a lot of black ‘firsts’ in the year 2019. Black people have migrated in waves and lived in the United Kingdom for generations.
The presence and cultural influence of the people of Britain’s former colonies is not a recent occurrence. However, the acceptance of black people and black beauty standards is relatively still a novelty.
Even in Africa, beauty standards tend to shift towards more Eurocentric features. This is what makes Vimbai’s win so monumental; that a Zimbabwean-born black woman who did not conform to the conventional beauty standards snagged the Miss London 2019 title.
Undoubtedly, Vimbai’s impact will be far-reaching. You cannot overstate the importance of representation. African girls in the diaspora can now look to their 4C-haired Miss London. They can see that it is beautiful to wear hair in its most natural form. They get to do this in the midst of people whose beauty standards have been the world standard for so long.
A huge congratulations to Vimbai Chapungu, Miss London 2019; a brown skin girl, a queen and a whole mood!
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