Miss France vs Silvio Berlusconi...

She has ruled the Miss France contest with a rod of iron for the past half-century, dismissing beauty queens who flouted her strict morals and struggling to keep them dressed.

Now Geneviève de Fontenay is facing a decisive battle in her efforts to stop the media empire of Silvio Berlusconi — the Italian Prime Minister — from turning the pageant into what she describes as Miss Trash.

The 77-year-old lady in the hat, as she is known because of her trademark chapeau, has broad support in provincial France where families continue to gather around the television in their millions for the final of an annual competition that has scarcely changed since the 1950s. In their eyes she is an iconic figure resisting the spread of feminism, prime-time sex and other components of a modern, alien culture. More...

Don't miss:

1. The sleazy world of the Miss France beauty contest...
2. The French are all weird, aren't they?
3. Liberté, fraternité and ... mini-skirts???
4. Topless in France: going, going, gone?
5. Berlusconi turns Italian politics into sexy show...
6. Berlusconi, shapely women and entertaining the emperor...
7. Meet Mara Carfagna, Italy's new Equal Oppurtunities Minister...