Miss France ‘pixie haircut’ winner Eve Gilles reveals she STRETCHED her body to meet the 5ft 7in entry requirements… as pictures emerge of her VERY long hair as a child

The newly crowned Miss France in the middle of a woke row over pixie hair had to stretch her undersized body to compete in the competition.

Revelations about 20-year-old Eve Gilles' struggle to achieve her lifelong ambition to become a beauty queen emerged after she was attacked for looking too boyish.

Critics said the kind of long hair favored by previous winners – and Gallic female icons such as Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve – would have been much more appropriate than a short pixie bob.

Eve hit back and said: 'We're used to seeing beautiful ladies with long hair, but I opted for an androgynous look with short hair.'

After her victory on Saturday night, she said it was a victory for “diversity” and that “no one should dictate who you are.”

A photo first published in Eve's local newspaper, La Voix du Nord (Voice of the North), shows her beaming at the camera as a girl with long locks, while dressed as a beauty queen.

Eve has opened up about dealing with body shaming during her journey to becoming Miss France

Eve Gilles (left) is crowned Miss France 2024 by Miss France 2023 Indira Ampiot (right) during the Miss France 2024 beauty pageant in Dijon

As the debate over acceptable female appearance raged, Eve said she was used to being 'body shamed', even being excluded from Miss France for being too small.

Contestants in the prestigious competitors must be at least 1.7 meters tall, but Eva was only 1.695 meters tall.

The youngster from Quaedypre – a village near Dunkirk – said she has 'gained back the missing millimeters by stretching'.

A photo first published in Eve's local newspaper, La Voix du Nord (Voice of the North), shows her as a girl beaming at the camera while dressed as a beauty queen.

“I dreamed of being a teacher since I was little,” she said, but “as I got older, I didn't really know how to start” and wanted to feel “good in my body, good in my mind.” .

But when photos of her in a swimsuit were published during a location shoot in Guyana, things got worse.

“I was hit with a wave of body shaming,” she said. “I stopped looking at the comments saying I'm skinny, I have no shape, this thing, that thing.

'I don't mind being criticized about my hair, I chose it that way and I can change it.

'But I don't choose my body. I don't choose my shapes. I don't choose the metabolism I have.

The Miss France contestants performed on stage in matching bodysuits with gold tassels

20-year-old Eve Gilles was crowned Miss France on Saturday in front of 7.5 million TV viewers

“These are things we learn to live with, and I don't understand how we can criticize something we can't change.”

Eve was born in Dunkirk and grew up with her surveyor father, Bruno Gilles, her mother, Edith Gilles, and two older sisters – all of whom helped her cope with the pressure.

“My family is really important,” Eve said. 'It's my little cocoon. We are very close. We did everything together.'

After high school in Dunkirk, Eve wanted to become a neurologist, before switching her university studies from medicine to mathematics and computer studies.

She worked in an egg factory for a year and now wants to become a statistician.

“The path doesn't matter, what matters is the finish,” she said in an interview with French media on Monday.

'Two years ago I worked in a factory to earn some money and today I am Miss France. You have to give yourself the tools to succeed and believe in your dreams.”

Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Eve Gilles, was crowned Miss France 2024 on Saturday evening

Eve Gilles is shown here with longer hair

When asked if she thought beauty pageants themselves were dated, Eve replied: “My answer is if it's cheesy, why do so many people continue to watch?

'If it's corny, why do so many girls keep coming? This is a huge opportunity for us. For me, Miss France also embodies part of feminism. These are young women who have decided to participate themselves.'

Complaints flooded social media after Miss France judges overruled a public vote to crown Eve in the pageant, which was watched by seven million viewers.

The public, whose votes counted for 50 percent, put Miss Guyana and Miss Guadeloupe ahead of Eve, but critics claimed the all-female jury was motivated by wokeness.

No short-haired woman had ever reached the final of the 103-year-old pageant before.

Angry comments on Twitter/

Miss France organizers meanwhile hailed the choice as a victory for the kind of diversity the competition has strived for since the 1970s, despite feminist attacks.

Last year it opened the competition to transgender women but kept the 6-foot-5 qualification.

During their 12-month reign as Miss France, the winners are not allowed to gain weight, show tattoos or – crucially – change their hairstyle.

Eve's win comes after a court in Paris ordered broadcasters to compensate two former Miss France finalists for secretly filming them and showing their bare breasts on air.