Owner Of Miss World Julia Morley On Beauty With A Purpose
Lifestyle Asia Logo
Style
Travel
Pursuits
Wine & Dine
Beauty & Wellness
People & Events
The Lists
Most Trending
Owner Of Miss World Julia Morley On Beauty With A Purpose
Most Recent
Owner Of Miss World Julia Morley On Beauty With A Purpose
Most Trending
New watches added to Harry Winston Emerald collection
Most Recent
Christmas gift ideas for her 2019
  • Fashion
  • Jewellery
  • Watches
Most Trending
Guide to Guangzhou, the cradle of Cantonese culture
Most Recent
Where to try the many facets of Cantonese cuisine around Guangzhou
  • Destinations
  • Hotels & Resorts
Most Trending
Events to look forward to this December
Most Recent
An exclusive look at Dior’s first home decor boutique in Paris
  • Art & Culture
  • Design & Property
  • Motors
  • Luxe Living Asia
Most Trending
Take your night to new heights at AVENUE Lounge, Marina Bay Sands’ sophisticated secret
Most Recent
End the year with these delicious festive treats
  • Dining
  • Drinks
Most Trending
December beauty favourites: Holiday collections we’re keeping for ourselves
Most Recent
Be a charismatic Man of Today with these BOSS Bottled colognes
  • Beauty
  • Wellness
Most Trending
Charlotte Tilbury: “In life you can have it all”
Most Recent
Cover story: Power couple Kevin and Iroshini Chua tell us why they make a dream team
  • People
  • Events
Most Trending
40 Under 40 2018 — The Vanguards
Most Recent
Prestige 40 Under 40:
Meet the Vanguards of 2019
  • sg
    • HK
    • ID
    • MY
    • SG
    • TW
    • TH
  • Search
Owner Of Miss World Julia Morley On Beauty With A Purpose
Sort & Filter
Close Filter
Sort By
Date
Relevance
Filter By Category
All Categories
All
Style
Travel
Pursuits
Wine & Dine
Beauty & Wellness
People & Events
The Lists
Apply
Filter By Location
singapore
All Countries
People & Events
Cover story: Power couple Kevin and Iroshini Chua tell us why they make a dream team
People & Events
Charlotte Tilbury: “In life you can have it all”
People & Events
Event photo gallery: Prestige X Montblanc Christmas cocktail
Prestige Online Logo
sg
Owner Of Miss World Julia Morley On Beauty With A Purpose
Back
Style
  • Fashion
  • Jewellery
  • Watches
Back
Travel
  • Destinations
  • Hotels & Resorts
Back
Pursuits
  • Art & Culture
  • Design & Property
  • Motors
  • Luxe Living Asia
Back
Wine & Dine
  • Dining
  • Drinks
Back
Beauty & Wellness
  • Beauty
  • Wellness
Back
People & Events
  • People
  • Events
Back
The Lists
  • Hong Kong
  • Indonesia
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Sort & Filter
Close Filter
Sort By
Date
Relevance
Filter By Category
All Categories
All
Style
Travel
Pursuits
Wine & Dine
Beauty & Wellness
People & Events
The Lists
Apply
Filter By Location
singapore
All Countries
People & Events
31 Oct 2018

Owner Of Miss World Julia Morley On Beauty With A Purpose

Created with Sketch.
Mei Anne Foo
Article Hero Image
Trending Now
Wine & Dine
End the year with these delicious festive treats
Style
Christmas gift ideas for her 2019
People & Events
Cover story: Power couple Kevin and Iroshini Chua tell us why they make a dream team
People & Events
Charlotte Tilbury: “In life you can have it all”
Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest on the city's top personalities and coverage at exclusive events.

Julia Morley doesn’t want to change the world. “I’d be crazy to think I could,” she says. But she is changing Miss World.

Sitting next to her during Grand Hyatt Singapore’s buzzy mezza9 dinner service on a Friday night, and leaning in to better hear her gentle but eloquent voice, it’s hard to see that Julia Morley is actually approaching 80. Her skin radiates from within; she’s dressed in a green polka-dot dress, matching the colour of her eyes, and often beams a megawatt smile in between sentences.

The First Lady of the Miss World organisation took over the reins as CEO in 2000, after the passing of her husband Eric Morley, who created the pageant. Since then, she’s flipped the format of the show on its head. Now, besides girls in bikinis, there is a talent show, sports competition, Beauty With A Purpose contest, and Dances Of The World segment.

Miss World Julia Morley

And don’t try classifying Miss World as a beauty pageant in front of Julia Morley. She’d have none of it. “Miss World is not just a beauty pageant,” Julia Morley asserts. “When you watch our show, you must identify it as something different: There’s fashion, fitness, awareness programmes. It has a purpose — our idea is to make women comfortable.”

It is clear Morley’s true passion lies in philanthropy and humanitarian work. She actually started Beauty With A Purpose long before she was crowned head of Miss World. Founded in 1972, the project has empowered contestants to use their abilities to make real and lasting contributions to the lives of the sick and disadvantaged. Eight countries participated in its inaugural year and now, every Miss World entrant, from about 120 nations, is involved. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been raised and donated to making tangible changes the world over.

And this entire do-good arm was inspired by a profound encounter in Singapore. The Londoner first visited the city-state in 1971 and was intrigued by an old lady she’d observe each morning from her hotel room window. Julia Morley recalls, “The old lady would walk out on the streets with two bags in her hands — one had clean towels, the other was filled with food, in which she would pass to people on the streets. This was 1971 and people were still quite poor in Singapore. But I watched her going around, putting her hand on people’s shoulders, helping them cope daily.

“The last day that I was there, I wanted to go talk to her so I got into the lift and out of the hotel to catch her before she did her morning walkabout. I asked her why she did what she did. She looked at me and said: ‘My dear, is it not better to light one candle in the darkness than not to see at all?’ And I realised that was her purpose in life. Looking at that, I felt we must do it too. We’re all women and we’re in this show — we must all have a purpose. Young women cannot just look beautiful and wear bikinis. And it’s not their fault, it’s because people instruct them to do so. But I thought if I had the power, I can change what we do.”

Miss World Julia Morley

Julia Morley talks enthusiastically, like a proud parent, about what some of the young Miss World contestants have done in the past. She describes ‘The Golden Bridge’ Beauty With A Purpose project, thought of and instructed to be built by Miss Indonesia 2014, as a benchmark of what can be achieved through Beauty With A Purpose. Even Stephanie Del Valle, Miss World 2016, who tagged along for this interview, chimes in: “It’s so beautiful. Everyone on the show talks about it and I even have pictures of [the bridge] on my phone.”

The exemplary Indonesian, Maria Rahajeng, took it upon herself to rebuild a dilapidated bridge used by students to get to school, after she’d noticed a young boy with serious injuries sustained from falling from that broken bridge. Rahajeng helped to raise the funds and even convinced villagers to come together for the construction of the “golden pathway to better education and opportunities”, which links two villages in Banten, a province near Jakarta.

Julia Morley is happy that the pageant is able to cultivate a sense of purpose for women. “The projects these ladies have embarked on have given them a new impression on life and the future. Now, they’re not looking inwards, they are looking outwards.”

And in order to continue such drive for helping the needy, Julia Morley is very selective of who she partners with. Just this year, Sean Wong became the official licensee and director for Miss World Singapore. “We had a lovely lady who ran Miss World Singapore for a long time but sadly, she passed away and when it came time to look for a new partner, many nice people approached us but they didn’t have a clear understanding of ‘beauty with a purpose’ so I’m so proud that we have Sean Wong now who has the same passion. He shows it by his projects, including helping the elderly get free healthcare and medication in Singapore.”

One to say “we’re all in it together, it’s not just one person”, Julia Morley is a real social person — though not on social media. “It’s a terrible thing. I mean, it’s good to a certain degree but I’d rather turn my phone off for days to have a conversation. Nobody talks anymore. It’s a library every room you go into. People looking down, and not around.”

The Blackberry user also despises WhatsApp. “I don’t have WhatsApp or whats-about or whats-doing-who — I hate it. I don’t want to know. I don’t care. I’d rather have someone call me and tell me they’re getting married or they’re having a baby or if they screwed up.”

Though for a technophobe, Julia Morley does prefer living in present times than in the past. “People are much more open and ready to learn, and there isn’t the same gender bias anymore — there’s much better things around now than there were in the past. But my only complaint is that phones are overused by us all. Well, except for me. It’s just me and my Blackberry. I’m not paid by Blackberry by the way.”

A bona fide entrepreneur, Julia Morley has well paid her dues in sustaining Miss World through thick and thin. And while son Steve Douglas works as an event director for the Miss World organisation; so far, there isn’t a plan that’s been put into place that sees him succeeding the business. It’ll be a legacy to the world, perhaps. But Julia Morley says she isn’t going anywhere just yet. “My aunt lived ’till she was 103 so I think I have a few more years. But honestly, I’m not afraid to die. I’m only afraid not to have lived.”

philanthropy
beauty
humanitarian
beauty with a purpose
julia morley
miss world
miss world singapore
Mei Anne Foo
Talk to Me About:

Up Next For You

People & Events
People & Events
Event photo gallery: Save Wild Tigers fund raising
Staff Writer
People & Events
People & Events
Event photo gallery: Chan Kok Weng and Elaine Lim-Chan hosted a reception for artist Cyril Kongo
Yanni Tan
People & Events
People & Events
Event photo gallery: The opening of Takumi Artisans
Lionnel Lim
People & Events
People & Events
Event photo gallery: Prestige X Penhaligon's
Lionnel Lim
Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest on the city's top personalities and coverage at exclusive events.
×
Where are you?
Tell us so we can display what you want to see.
  • Hong Kong
  • Indonesia
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
Hong Kong Indonesia Malaysia Singapore Taiwan Thailand
Advertise About Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions
© 2019 Copyright Prestige Online