Mabelle: let’s remain natural

After witnessing how the quest to meet certain standards of beauty has forced many young women to resort to measures such as plastic surgery and other dangerous procedures just to be considered beautiful, Swiss based Ghanaian model and fashion enthusiast, Mabelle Prior has set out to do her part to encourage women to be themselves. 

Born in Ho in the Volta Region, Mabelle had her primary school in Togo, after which she attended the Mawuko Girls Senior High School and then to Ola Girls High School.

After her secondary education, Mabelle pursued her dream of being a reporter and thus ended up at Volta Star radio, the Volta Regional Branch of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. 

At Volta Star, Mabelle was given the accolade of Ghana Radio Queen, thanks to her dexterity and command of her job. 

After leaving Ghana, Mabelle joined the world of fashion, working on various projects such as BIEL International Fashion- which serves as a platform for promoting multicultural inter-nationality within and around Biel and the entire Switzerland, while working towards establishing favourable relations and cultural ties between Biel, it’s surrounding communes residents, Swiss Nationals and foreign Nationals through fashion, and culture.

Mabelle is presently the editorial director of Swiss Glamour Mag and thanks to her background in journalism and fashion she recognised that many young women are struggling to accept themselves as naturally beautiful.  

In line with this, Mabelle Prior introduced the concept of the Swiss Most Beautiful (SMB) Pageant to the country of Switzerland, an idea which has taken the country by storm. 

“It has been a revolution because in the Western world, young girls commit suicide and some of them suffer disorders such as anorexia and others undergo horrible operations just because they think they are not beautiful. 

“This is when they present themselves to beauty pageants and modelling agencies, they are told their bodies are not good enough, they have to be tall, thin etc,” she said.

“The truth is we are all different and beautiful in our own unique way so I observed that pageants and modelling agencies were not promoting diversity in women and as a mother of one daughter, I told myself that something had to be done to address the situation before it gets worse,” she said.

Mabelle Prior observed that this is the first pageant of its kind that celebrates the different beauty standards and diversity in women. “The pageant is open to women of different sizes and height to prove to young girls that it’s not natural to limit the concept of beauty to just a specific criteria. 

She told Showbiz that the SMB pageant is open to Swiss nationals irrespective of their country of origin, the only exemption being young women who are involved in legal disputes. 

“We want ladies who will set good examples for the younger generation instead of just looking at their outer beauty, so we assess the ladies on how they carry themselves, how they respect themselves and others, their contribution to their communities and towns among others,” she added.

She revealed to Showbiz that getting the concept off the ground in Switzerland was challenging at first but with the show entering its third season, they have been receiving overwhelming support and have plans to expand the concept worldwide. 

“Since I am a Ghanaian, I want to project Ghana as much as I can so with the expansion of the project I plan to introduce a lot more Ghanaian entertainment artistes and brands on board,” she added.

Although she has been based in Switzerland for many years now, Mabelle Prior has not forgotten her roots and currently supports many brilliant but needy students with financial support as well as donations to deprived kids and communities.