Women Affairs

In a way, Sueanne Winn has already won Saturday night’s Miss America pageant. In fact, she’s all the runnersup — or at least on them. Winn’s custom-swimsuit company, Winnwear Designs at 9242 S. Sheridan Road, is the national swimsuit sponsor for Miss America 2008. And you can see her suits for yourself during “Miss America Live 2008,” which is broadcast from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday on TLC, cable channel 56. Winn has a history with pageants, she told us recently before leaving for Las Vegas, where the new Miss America will be crowned at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. She’s been designing swimsuits for 13 years, she said, but her background in fashion goes back farther than that. While a student at the University of Tulsa, she competed in pageants and, of course, wore the required swimsuits for each one she competed in. For 10 years, she operated her own store, specializing in pageantry attire, prom and special occasions. During that time, she developed her own line of s...

KATHLEEN HENNESSEY She's been dressed up, dressed down, relocated and updated. Now she's being mocked. The latest chapter in Miss America's ever-evolving search for viewers and cultural relevance finds the heroine at the butt of the joke. Her hair is too big, her hairspray totally '80s. Her makeup is clownish. Her gown belongs on an ice skater. This year's 52 Miss America contestants haven't just been getting judged, they've been getting zinged in "Miss America: Reality Check," a four-part reality series leading up to Saturday's 8 p.m. EST crowning on TLC. The series, whose final installment airs Friday, has tracked the transformation of beauty queens from old-fashioned "Pageant Pattys," as some in the pageant world say, to modern "It girls." It's out with the bouffant hair, the canned smile and the parade wave. Time to knock the beauty pageant on its sash, the show's tag line goes. The live crowning also ...