In the Paris colony of emigrants there were so many Russian mannequins and photomodels that in 1926 an idea arose to hold under the aegis of the magazine "Illustrated Russia" a beauty contest on which the most beautiful girl was elected from the group of contenders. Since 1928, the contest was called "Miss Russia". The winners ascended to the skies: their. Portraits were printed on the cover of the magazine "Illustrated Russia" and reproduced on postcards issued by Parisian publishers. The jury of such reviews of beauty included the most famous figures in the art of Russian emigration. So, in 1928 the Contest was judged by the writer Teffi, the ballerina Preobrazhenskaya, the writer Kuprin, the writer Makovsky and others.