The 32nd Miss Universe pageant, was held at Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri, USA on July 11, 1983. Eighty contestants competed in the pageant.
The majority of the 80 contestants arrived in St. Louis on Sunday, June 19. They were greeted at the airport by a group of little girls in white dresses, each between the ages of 5 and 8. This was the start of the long-running and much-beloved tradition of “Little Sisters”! Between 1983 and 1995, every Miss Universe delegate would be assigned a “Little Sister” - a girl from the host-city who would also wear her country’s sash and serve as unofficial good-luck mascot and friend to her Big Sister. Most importantly, the Little Sisters serenaded the semifinalists in the evening gown competition, during the final night of competition, singing a medley of songs including the all-time favorite “You Are My Star,” which appeared several years after the St. Louis pageant. -The St. Louis Little Sisters sang, “You Are My Universe,” instead.-
The little counterpart of each semifinalist presented the contestant with a flower and escorted her to center-stage. It all started in St. Louis, folks.
A profesional model Lorraine Downes of New Zealand was crowned Miss Universe 1983, the first woman from that country to win the title. She was crowned by her predecessor Karen Baldwin of Canada.
MISS ICELAND UNNUR STEINSSON, she is the mother of Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir who won the Miss Iceland pageant in 2005 and became Miss World 2005.
Steinsson was three months pregnant when she competed in the 1983 contest, which was strictly forbidden and could lead to disqualification. Her daughter, Unnur, as mentioned, won the pageant 22 years later.
SWEDEN
Julie Hayek went on to represent the United States at the 1983 Miss Universe pageant. She had the highest preliminary score and won both the swimsuit and evening gown competitions during the final competition. She became 1st runner-up to eventual winner Lorraine Downes of New Zealand.
USA
Julie Hayek is now a trained actress and has starred in successful shows such as Dallas, Twin Peaks and As the World Turns. In addition, she served as co-host on the 1985 revival of Break the Bank.
NORWAY
ITALY
ENGLAND
ITALY
IRELAND
The St. Louis press, while not as candid and pageant-crazy as the media in Latin America or Asia, were nonetheless generous in their reporting. The Globe-Democrat newspaper’s noted that favorites included Switzerland’s exotic beauty, Lolita Morena (that's Lo-lo-lita on the left); Italy’s sexy Federica Moro (who even wowed the priests at a local Roman Catholic church, who posed with her for a newspaper photo!); Ireland’s Roberta Brown; and local fave Miss USA, Julie Hayek.
SWITZERLAND
The new Miss Universe, New Zealand’s Lorraine Downes, flew first-class from St. Louis to her new home in New York City, accompanied by a reporter from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. In mid-flight, the pilot announced that a new drink, “The Miss Universe,” had been created by the airline, in honor of its most famous passenger. Free samples would be offered to all passengers! Upon tasting the drink, which was like an Orange Julius (a frothy orange milkshake), the new Miss Universe declared, “I prefer Brown Cows.” As the reporter tried to proceed with his interview with the beauty, she revealed, “Karen Baldwin told me the press is not a friend!”