Beauty Queens and Broken Nations: Lebanon Crowns Miss Lebanon 2025 Amid Unprecedented Crisis
While Lebanon grapples with economic collapse and political paralysis, the glittering coronation of Perla Harb as Miss Lebanon 2025 reveals a nation desperately clinging to normalcy through pageantry.
A Crown in the Ruins
The selection of Perla Harb, a young woman from Al-Maamariya in southern Lebanon, as Miss Lebanon 2025 at the Isol Arena in Zouq Mosbeh represents more than just another beauty pageant. It symbolizes a peculiar form of Lebanese resilience—or perhaps denial—as the country continues to navigate one of the worst economic crises in modern history. The presence of Miss World 2025, Opal Sushata, at the ceremony underscores Lebanon’s enduring desire to maintain its place on the international stage, even as basic services like electricity and banking remain in shambles.
The Geography of Hope
Harb’s origins in southern Lebanon carry particular significance given the region’s proximity to ongoing tensions with Israel and its history as a Hezbollah stronghold. The fact that a woman from this traditionally conservative area can rise to represent modern Lebanon speaks to the complex social dynamics at play in a country that has long prided itself on being the Middle East’s cosmopolitan hub. Meanwhile, runner-up Chloe Khalife from Hadath represents the more urbanized Mount Lebanon region, highlighting the pageant’s attempt to showcase national unity through regional representation.
The timing of this pageant raises uncomfortable questions about priorities in a nation where over 80% of the population now lives below the poverty line. While young women parade in evening gowns at upscale venues, millions of Lebanese struggle to afford basic necessities, with the local currency having lost more than 95% of its value since 2019. The stark contrast between the glamorous ceremony and the daily hardships faced by ordinary citizens reflects a broader pattern in Lebanese society: the maintenance of facade amid fundamental decay.
Soft Power in Hard Times
Beauty pageants have historically served as soft power tools for nations seeking to project an image of stability and modernity. For Lebanon, Miss Lebanon represents one of the few remaining cultural exports that can generate positive international attention. The institution has produced several Miss Universe contestants and winners who have gone on to become cultural ambassadors, most notably Georgina Rizk, who won Miss Universe in 1971. In an era where Lebanon’s traditional strengths—banking, tourism, and regional mediation—have all but collapsed, these symbolic victories take on outsized importance.
Yet the pageant also exposes the deep inequalities that have contributed to Lebanon’s current predicament. The event, held in the affluent coastal area north of Beirut, exists in a bubble far removed from the power outages, fuel shortages, and medical crises affecting most Lebanese. This disconnect between the elite’s ability to maintain pre-crisis lifestyles and the majority’s descent into poverty mirrors the broader governance failures that precipitated the country’s collapse.
As Lebanon enters 2025 with no clear path toward economic recovery or political reform, events like Miss Lebanon serve as both a distraction and a reminder of what the country once was—and still aspires to be. In a nation where the state has effectively ceased to function, private initiatives like beauty pageants become de facto national institutions, carrying the burden of representing Lebanese identity to the world. But can a society sustain itself on symbolism alone when its foundations continue to crumble?
