Irina Antonenko

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Irina Antonenko

Born 1 September 1991 (1991-09-01)
Yekaterinburg, Russia
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Hair color Dark Brown
Eye color Grey
Title(s) Miss Russia 2010
Major
competition(s) Miss Russia 2010
(Winner)
Miss Universe 2010
Irina Igorevna Antonenko (Russian: Ири́на И́горевна Анто́ненко (born 1 September 1991 in Ekaterinburg) is a Russian beauty queen who currently holds the title of Miss Russia 2010. She also placed in the Top 15 at the Miss Universe 2010 pageant held on August 23, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Irina Antonenko was born on 1 September 1991 in the city of Yekaterinburg located on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains. Her parents, Natalia and Igor Antonenko, were both employees of the police. She completed her high school education in school No. 156. According to the school director, Irina was "a very modest and polite girl." Whilst studying at the school, Antonenko entered her first beauty pageant, in which she failed to make the top three. After finishing high school, she began to study finance at the Ural Finance and Jurisprudence Institute. Around the same time, she also started her modelling career. In 2009, she won the regional Miss Yekaterinburg beauty contest.

On 6 March 2010, Antonenko was crowned Miss Russia 2010 in a contest held in Moscow. The crown was handed over to her by outgoing titleholder Sofia Rudieva. In addition to the crown, she received a cash prize of $100,000, which she plans to spend mostly on charity, to help children who are ill. The jury concluded that there is more to Russia's new beauty than meets the eye, and that she has the brains to match the looks.

After her coronation as Miss Russia, she started modelling for the world famous designer Philipp Plein, and also participated in fashion shows by such designers as Olga Deffi, Alina Assi, Ilya Shiyan and Vyacheslav Zaitsev, one of the most well-known Russian fashion designers.

Antonenko stands 178 centimetres (5.84 ft) tall, and has the measurements 80 centimetres (31 in) (chest), 61 centimetres (24 in) (waist) and 91 centimetres (36 in) (hips). She represented Russia in the Miss Universe 2010 pageant held in the United States. Her final position was in the top 15.

While preparing for the Miss Universe 2010 competition, she stated that she doesn't have a boyfriend yet. "I haven’t got any time for boyfriends. My day begins with English classes and come to a end with fashion parade late in the evening. I rarely think about men now, but, of course, love is inside each of us." She will be accompanied by her mother and grandmother to Las Vegas where the contest is held. Her main dress at the competition was a $60,000 Empire style hand-made evening silk dress by Jacob Schaefer. As the traditional gift required by each participant, she brought hand-painted Matryoshkas. Each of them had a picture of one of the 2005-2009 Miss Universe winners.