Geneviève de Fontenay has died at the age of 90

Geneviève de Fontenay has died - Geneviève de Fontenay has died at the age of 90. The former leader of the Miss France Committee, "Miss Elegance 1957" de Fontenay took over as head of the Miss France Committee in 1981. Known for her black hats, Fontenay created the beauty pageant Miss Prestige Nationale in 2010, and served as its president until her retirement in 2016. The eldest of ten children Geneviève was born in Lorraine, her father was a mining engineer. She moved to Paris to train as a beautician at the age of 17. In the 1950s, she began to work as a fashion designer and model.

Fontenay has been outspoken about her political beliefs throughout her time as a public figure supporting Arlette Laguiller of Lutte Ouvrière in the 2002 French presidential election, Ségolène Royal of the Socialist Party  (PS) in the 2007 presidential election, and François Hollandeof PS in the 2012 presidential election. She supported Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 presidential election , although she later became a critic of his.