100 years Miss Amsterdam, 1975

HISTORICAL, 100 YEARS MISS AMSTERDAM

In 1926 the first Miss Amsterdam was crowned. We will dive into the history of this pagean

Miss Amsterdam 1975 and the Illusion of Beauty

When you sit down to talk with Miss Amsterdam, you might expect something untouchable: glamour, distance, an unattainable ideal of beauty. But anyone who meets Norma Riesenbeck sees something else. She is seventeen, fresh, open, and strikingly ordinary. She smiles easily, speaks without affectation, and seems barely aware of the image others project onto her.

Norma is not an exception in the world of beauty contests, but rather an example of how arbitrary that world can be. At mannequin school she was asked to submit a photograph. She did so without high expectations. When it turned out to be for a competition, she even doubted whether she wanted to take part. Still, she entered—and to her own surprise, she was chosen.

The reactions followed quickly. Teachers, classmates, passers-by in the Kalverstraat—everyone suddenly had an opinion. Because beauty, it turns out, provokes rejection just as often as admiration. Especially among young girls, a title like “Miss” can expose insecurity, spark jealousy, or reinforce the feeling of not measuring up.

Norma herself remains down-to-earth. She knows a title is temporary and that appearance says little about one’s future or character. She finishes school, thinks about what she wants to do next, and cautiously dreams of the ballet academy of Scapino—well aware that hundreds of girls apply and only a few are accepted.

Beauty contests promise fairy tales but rarely deliver more than a snapshot in time. They show how eager we are to capture, rank, and judge beauty, even though it is so personal and so changeable. Norma fits into that picture, yet also rises above it—not because she is Miss Amsterdam, but because she refuses to be reduced to that title.

Perhaps that is the most important lesson: behind every crown there is an ordinary girl, and behind every competition a world that makes beauty more important than it truly is.

bottom picture: Top 3: from left to right: Yvonne Hes (1st ru), Norma and Nanny Nielen (2nd ru)