Dress in the colours of Belarus

Eleonora Kachalovskaya became the first Runner-Up of Miss Europe Continental 2023:
we learned about all the secrets of preparing for the competition

The international beauty contest Miss Europe Continental was held in Naples. Girls from 57 countries participated. Miss Belarus 2023 Eleonora Kachalovskaya took second place. She brought the Slutsk belt and a book about Belarus to Italy, as well as her uniqueness and beauty.

Fifteen thousand beads and gems

It’s difficult to express Eleonora’s emotions. She admits that she made every effort to adequately represent her native country. The girl is already home. She says that she has been very tired in recent days, but it was worth it, “I was wondering how I would work in the new realities. I dreamed that everything would go perfectly, I set myself up for good things, and even before the trip I gave myself a directive: to gain experience first. Experience of communicating with people, experience of the European scene.”
Preparing for the competition was not easy. In Naples, for example, the finalists actively rehearsed and talked with journalists. The show began with a ceremony on the red carpet, and after that the girls appeared before the audience in cocktail dresses, swimsuits and evening dresses.
“This is a resounding victory! Eleonora and I were in touch every hour, right up to the final stage. She called at two in the morning with great news. Emotions are running high!” Director of the National Beauty School Bozena Jeremic shared her emotions.
Miss and her team have been preparing for the performance for several weeks. First of all, they worked on the outfits. 
“A Belarusian designer who represents a domestic brand collaborated with us. The main dress for Eleonora is blue, floor-length. With this shade they tried to emphasise the culture of blue-eyed Belarus, its rivers and lakes,” Bozena Jeremic explains.
The final outfit was created especially for the girl. An airy, elegant dress in which they tried to reflect the history of a blue-eyed country. This is completely handmade, designer Yegor Kirichenko noted, 
“We took the Art Deco style of the late 1930s as a basis. Geometric strict lines were complemented with shiny fabric and one and a half thousand beads and gems. We completed it in record time — in just a week.”
Eleonora teaches fashion shows at the National Beauty School. She is fluent in this art, plus she honed her skills at the National Beauty Pageant. But even despite this, I studied with other teachers in order to adopt their experience and style.


Profile
• Eleonora Kachalovskaya is 23 years old. 
• She graduated from Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts and is studying by correspondence to become a psychologist at the Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University, and works as a manager of a modelling agency at the National School of Beauty.
• The beauty is a thoughtful person, she plays sports, 
travels around the country.
• She tries not to rush time and especially not to get ahead of it. Because she is sure it‘s pointless.

Talent school

During her preparation, Miss took master classes on hairstyles and makeup. This was necessary because for several days, when our participant was in Naples, she got ready for rehearsals and various trips on her own. By the way, other world beauty contests have the same practice. Only before the finals do specialists get down to business. In addition, Eleonora studied with English tutors and honed her choreography.
A lot of effort was put into this victory. Second place in an international competition is very pleasing, Bozhena Jeremic explains,
“The contest is objective. We are proud of the success of Eleonora and the entire team from the National Beauty School. By the way, our beauty brought national souvenirs to Naples — the Slutsk belt and a book about Belarus. The whole world will know about our symbols.”
By the way, the last high-profile victory of Belarusian beauties on the world podium was in 2018, when Maria Vasilevich entered the top participants of the Miss World 2018 contest. The girl became the only representative of Europe in the top five. And now another star: Eleonora Kachalovskaya — first Runner-Up of Miss Europe Continental.
The National Beauty School does more than just prepare Miss Belarus participants for prestigious international competitions. There is an excellent workshop of talents in the modelling industry, Bozena Jeremic notes, “We have approximately 360 students and approximately 100 models. We also deal with the aesthetic development and education of children. By these words we mean not only external, but also internal beauty, the correct ideological component, high moral qualities. 
Of our adult pupils, the oldest is 70 years old. She does modelling professionally, goes on the catwalk, and earns money from it. We train our students in hairdressing, fashion shows, choreography, makeup and hairstyles. And professional models also take courses on the basics of law, labour, and etiquette.”
Employees of the National School of Beauty develop original programmes on fashion shows, style, choreography, photo posing and photo plastic surgery, as well as image and self-presentation. More than two thousand children and teenagers have been trained at the school, and over a thousand models have been trained here. A real talent factory!

First place in the Miss Europe Continental competition went to a representative from Hong Kong

 Photos by Aleksei Ivanchenko and provided by the organisers of the international beauty contest