Miss USA 2008 Crystle Stewart
I watched most of the Miss USA Pageant and it looked like it went off without a hitch. Donnie and Marie Osmond hosted, and the show was modern and entertaining enough to add some moderate interest to the outdated beauty pageant fare. Controversial divorcee Heather Mills, fierce Project Runway winner Christian Siriano, and celebrity hairstylist Ken Paves were among the judges. They tried to keep it fresh with backstage footage and off the cuff chats with the judges and contestants, and the music and competition segments were good, but there’s only so much you can do to make a beauty pageant entertaining. There weren’t any technical issues or big slip ups by the contestants.

Judge Christian Siriano added some of his trademark flair to the show. During the unprepared question and answer period, a judge was drawn from a hat to ask each of the top 5 contestants a question. Siriano asked Miss Oklahoma which famous person she’d most like to help to better themselves and she predictably answered “Britney Spears.” Siriano smiled wide, and you know that’s the answer he had in mind as he’s said publicly that he wants to help Britney too. This was one of the less articulate answers by a contestant, which makes it more fun to watch:

“As of right now, I’d like to pick Britney Spears. Because I’d really like to help her with her self confidence and help her believe in herself, and get over whatever she’s going through right now so she can strive on going to the next deal.”

The winner was Miss Texas Crystle Stewart, a 26 year-old African American college graduate and entrepreneur who runs a party planning and motivational speaking company. Her answer during the judges questions was the most well spoken:

Question from Judge #9, San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman: “In some countries when you turn 18 you’re required to spend a year in the military. Do you think that should be enforced in our country?”

Miss Texas, Crystle Stewart: “I don’t think it should be enforced. I think you’re talking about the draft in our country. I think it should be a choice. We have people there in Iraq right now fighting for our country and it was their choice and I really appreciate that. It should be a choice.”

Here are clips from the show. There wasn’t a talent competition unfortunately. Only Miss America includes the talent competition.

Swimsuit Competition, Finger 11 plays in the background:

Top 10 contestants are picked from a lineup of women in their swimsuits:

Evening gown competition:

Pre-arranged Q&A with the top five contestants:

Judges questions for the top 5 contestants:

Miss Texas is crowned:

And in the brief instance where Heather Mills had a chat with host Donnie Osmond, she managed to remain calm and surprisingly soft spoken:

I realize that overpriced black nail polish is all the rage now, but Halloween is still a month away, and the corpse makeup is doing nothing for Jessica Simpson’s image. Do you guys like this look? I’m thinking it would be pretty if it wasn’t so overdone - like not so much eyeshadow rimming the eyes and bleeding into the corner, use a darker lip color and don’t extend the lipliner beyond the natural line.

This is the second time Jessica has been out with such spooky makeup. She was seen at her sister Ashlee’s “Chicago” opening looking positively ghostly. In that case, though, she had a bizarre orange shade on ther eyes and cheeks that looked even worse than this.

I caught some probably-deserved heat for criticizing Simpson’s look when she donned big ‘ol boots paired with jeans, a huge matching purse and white polo shirt, so I’m leaving this one up to you guys.

Jessica was seen at her hairdresser Ken Pave’s salon opening in Beverly Hills on 9/29. [via] Eva Longoria and Carmen Electra were also there, and as Mollygood points out, all three of them were involved in high-profile breakups lately. Guess a girl can always turn to her opportunistic hairdresser for a little pampering and a pick-me-up. He makes you feel better even if he doesn’t do you any beauty favors. Jessica’s hair usually looks good, (that orange ‘do being the exception) even if her makeup is a bit off, and it’s not fair to blame Paves for her poor eyeshadow choices.

Ken Pave’s new line of hair extensions are being offered on the Home Shopping Network [via] For about $90, you can get a mountain of fake hair that might look good in a photoshoot, but is sure to be as obvious as the Tony Pony in person.