As if to bring an end to one of London’s longest heatwaves, the good earth at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre was invigorated by much-needed rain. This was also a forceful addition to Gaia the great mother of life, as the theme of the latest instalment of The Alternative Miss World on Sunday 13 Sept 2026.

This much-loved queer trans sex event first started off at a party held in a former jigsaw factory in 1972, where friends of the multi-talented performance artist and sculptor Andrew Logan created an alternative to the ultra-conservative sexism of Miss World competitions. After the 1970 event at the Royal Albert Hall saw compere Bob Hope pelted by flour bombs from feminists, visionary extraordinaire Andrew Logan mocked the event. Despite courting legal troubles, Logan created a divine celebration of all shapes and genders inspired by canine capers on the catwalk of the famous Crufts Dog Show.

Since then, the event’s quadrennial creative energy has continued to celebrate bodies as temples to worship, with the message of love and care for the planet around us never more urgent than in our troubled world. Logan’s message is welcome, and the mediums used by contestants, often involving inventive uses of recycled materials, are never more potent.

This year used a set jutting out of a woodland glade. As the early evening daylight evolved into a moist midsummer’s night, seventeen contestants with glorious names paraded three sets of costumes before spiritual mentor Andrew Logan. Looking extravagant in a trademark He/Her outfit, and co-hosting with Eve Ferret both introduced, commented on outfits and asked questions to reveal more about each contestant’s personality.

THE SEVENTEEN CONTESTANTS

There were notable contributions from

Jamie Burt as Miss Mortal Coil walked gracefully to the raging sound of REM and “the end of the world as we know it.” Miss Iona Plankton celebrated organisms who play a crucial role in maintaining the health of aquatic systems and are responsible for roughly half of the world’s oxygen. These may be invisible to the human eye, but Miss Plankton’s nighttime attire glowed in the dark, confirming how vital they are to ecological systems. Miss Lady GaGaia created by Florent Bidois offered a Fellini-like parody out of La Dolce Vita, mocking the vain excesses of celebrity consumed by paparazzi.

Dai Matthews graced the catwalks of the annual LGBT Loudest Whispers exhibitions and blossomed here as Miss Gaia -daia -oceana -phoenix rising as if a luscious shell to reveal what peril may lie ahead if it is not too late to save our oceans. She wore a beautifully sewn gown of seashells that prompted Andrew Logan to comment that Miss Gaia was known to swim down under with crabs while Eve Ferret was desperate to have her underwater shoes at any cost.

Five naked women collectively known as Neo Naturists have appeared at previous exhibitions and celebrate the naked female body growing fabulous and unashamed as they age, as does The Alternative Miss World.  Emerging from between each other’s thighs they question whether the world may be coming to an end due to the behaviour of men in power and passionately request women of the world take over before it’s all too late.

AND THE WINNERS ARE……

Andrew Logan proclaimed all contestants joint winners, with three taking away the first, second and third prizes of crown, globe and sepulchre. They were presented in a regal ceremony including a couple of half-naked men, suggesting the visual mood of Derek Jarman, one of Logan’s key spiritual mentors from the show’s earliest days.

The winner was Miss Fiontasia with a series of outfits involving elegant capes evolving into magnificent extravagant butterfly wings and celebrations of the ocean.

The runner-up was the Russian experimental performer Andrey Bartenev chomping around the stage as Miss Crocodile and a reminder that after humans have gone, reptiles, including crocodiles, will devour insects and bring about the end of the world. Miss Crocodile wowed the audience with at least three attempts to eat inhabitants in the front row as a mix of Crocodile Dundee merged into Tokyo Shock Boys.  

The third runner-up was Miss Anthropocene with a synchronised six-legged creation born out of the world’s imbalance created by human action exceeding geophysical forces. The result included a tap-dancing routine with three active arse holes resembling a bizarre character inspired by Hieronymus Bosch. A remarkable entry from Sallyann Wood with co-joined companions who previously created another figure made out of discarded socks found on the streets of London for the recent Persona exhibition in the St Pancras Church Crypt.

The evening was traditionally co-hosted by Andrew Logan and, on this occasion, by Eve Ferret at her witty best. The celebrant was Johnny Woo with interval entertainment from Lorraine Bowen. The panel of judges included Zandra Rhodes, Rula Lenska, Jarvis Cocker, Jenny Runacre, Andrew’s sister Janet and Piers Atkinson. Surprise additions to judging panels once included maverick filmmaker Ken Russell, and this year was ably joined by the game-for-it-all former child actress Hayley Mills. DJ Martin Green’s chilled soundtracks provided witty musical comments on each contestant’s entrance.

Previous locations have included The Roundhouse and Shakespeare’s The Globe. The choice of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre was a perfect location for the theme of the earth as an open-air amphitheatre. Open-air spaces have always provided ways to tell us stories about life and Andrew Logan’s sublimely queer Alternative Miss World glorifies this tradition.