The lack of careful preparation is among major reasons why Vietnamese women often fail at international beauty pageants, one veteran showbiz sponsor said.

Sponsor, Phuc Nguyen, made this frank remark, adding that he has helped many female and male models, such as Truong Thi May, Hoang My, Ngoc Tinh, Huu Long and Manh Hiep succeed.

According to him, Vietnamese women should be more proud of their natural beauty when competing with foreign rivals.

“Frankly speaking, Vietnamese women possess their own kind of beauty that many women from other countries may not have. However, they have yet to keep up with modern beauty techniques,” he noted.

Miss Vietnam 2006, Mai Phuong Thuy, as well as Miss Vietnam 2008, Thuy Dung, have good appearances but that does not not seem to be enough to determine their success. “In order to win an international beauty pageant they must perfect in their appearance in order to make them stand out through character.”

Miss Vietnam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy

To become outstanding from others, Vietnamese contestants need to master professional make-up skills, should be able to act as a stylist on their own, and have good catwalk performing skills. In fact, just a few contestants possess such capacities.

He said that language is an important factor in self-confidence and a measurement of their education, so it is important for them to be proficient in international languages. It is also necessary for them study native language of the hosting country but many Vietnamese contestants fail to do so.

“I believe that we need a careful plan for any targets. Belief and hope are not enough to gain success at international arena,” he noted.

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In several cases, the failures of Vietnamese contestants was from a lack of careful preparation for the contest due to the lack of time and funding as well.

“It costs a lot for a sponsor to buy copyright before sending a contestant to an international contest. In several cases, those who are enough money are incompetent and the competent don’t have enough money. Many contestants have to struggle to prepare costumes to attend the contest for a short period,” he commented.

He added that the training and management of Vietnamese contestants are still unprompted and unprofessional while contestants themselves don’t try to improve their capacity.