(Web Desk) - A bizarre woke row has erupted after a Miss France contestant with a pixie cut hairstyle won for the first time in the pageant's history.
Eve Gilles, 20, from Nord-Pas-de-Calais in northern part of the country was crowned by previous winner Indira Ampiot in front of 7.5 million TV viewers last night.
But the beauty pageant is now facing peculiar backlash that it has gone 'woke' after the judges chose 'androgynous' Ms Gilles as Miss France 2024 after all previous winners featured more supposedly 'traditional' long, flowing hair and curves.
'We're used to seeing beautiful Misses with long hair, but I chose an androgynous look with short hair,' a defiant Ms Gilles said.
She also praised her win as a win for 'diversity' and added: 'No one should dictate who you are,' she said after her victory Saturday night, adding that every 'woman is different, we're all unique.'
The pageant winner is chosen half by a public vote and half by a jury. While Ms Gilles only came third in the public vote, the panel of judges pushed her into first place.
But she is the first winner in the 103-year history of the pageant who doesn't have a long mane of hair - much to the dismay of some viewers.
'Miss France is no longer a beauty contest but a woke contest which is based on inclusiveness,' one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This was echoed by some others on Twitter, with one accusing Ms Gilles of 'instilling wokist values into society'.
Other negative comments included one who said that she 'doesn't look anything like Miss France' and that 'we don't care about her haircut but the androgynous body is obviously there to serve as woke'.
However, the critical voices were soon drowned out by a wave of support for the newly crowned Miss France.
One fan wrote: 'Maybe the new #MissFrance isn't gorgeous in your eyes, but seeing wokeism in her because she has short hair.... It's just ridiculous.'
Another added: 'Eve Gilles is the new Miss France 2024, your malicious and useless criticisms won't change that, she's sublime.'
'Eve Gilles isn't even trans, has never claimed to be trans, but half of the comments about her are transphobic because she has short hair,' a third said.
MP Sandrinne Rousseau also came to Ms Gilles' defence and said: 'So, in France, in 2023, we measure the progress of respect for women by the length of their hair?
Ms Rousseau also wears her hair in a pixie cut, which has become an important symbol as part of France's MeToo movement.
Another MP, Karima Delli, wrote: 'Big support for Ève Gilles, #MissFrance2024, in the face of hateful tweets on social networks of incredible violence!
'Swallow your venom, she is not only superb, Miss Nord pas de Calais is intelligent in embracing her diversity!'
Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the communist party, also jumped in and wrote: 'Support for Eve Gilles, elected Miss France, who is already suffering the violence of a society which does not accept that women define themselves in all their diversity.'