SHE'S BEAUTY & SHE'S GRACE

Miss America Breaks Her State’s 50-Year Losing Streak

The trained ballet dancer gave her state its first win in half a century.

The new Miss America winner made history by becoming the first Miss Texas to win the competition in over 50 years—and the first Black woman ever crowned wearing her natural curl texture.

On Sunday, Sept. 6, Regan Hutsell was crowned Miss America 2027 in West Palm Beach, Florida. She previously won the titles of Miss Houston in September 2025 and Miss Texas in June.

The 25-year-old beauty queen is a trained ballet dancer and became a Radio City Rockette at 18 before traveling through Europe with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She has won multiple gold medals for her talent and also won an award for her jazz dance performance during the pageant competition.

As her award, Hutsell won a $50,000 scholarship.

The first Miss America runner-up was Shelby Bordelon from Louisiana, and the second runner-up was Kate Dimmett of Illinois.

Shirley Cothran was the last Miss Texas titleholder to win the competition in 1975. Before Hutsell, the last two Miss Texas had placed as the first runner-up in the competition.

Hutsell’s win also makes her the first Miss America to wear her natural hair texture. But before her win, she told People it was not always the plan.

“I didn’t know if I was going to straighten it; I didn’t know if I was going to wear it natural. I had straightened my hair a few years ago, and it didn’t bounce back. And coming to this point in my life where I decided, ‘No, I’m going to wear it curly; I’m going to wear it as is,’” she said.

To Hutsell, embracing her hair was also about setting an example.

“I think it’s important now to be able to show little girls who might be watching at home that they can exist as themselves with their own natural hair, with their own natural beauty, whatever that means to them, that feels a little bit different or a little bit outside of what maybe the stereotypical normal is,” she said.

“Knowing that I’m the first woman of color to wear my natural hair as Miss America is something that I feel incredibly privileged to step into and even just be the visibility for women,” Hutsell, who is also only the tenth Black woman to hold the Miss America title, said.

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She also reflected on the 2026 wins of Miss USA Justus Kelley and Miss Grand USA Victoria Oluwakotanmi, both women of color.

“I love when we get to see so much of America represented on national stages and across the beauty pageant world as well,” she said.

“I think the beautiful part about America is its different forms of beauty. And when we get to see those represented on national stages, I think that’s incredibly important.”

The road to victory was not straightforward for Hutsell.

“Last year I remember watching Miss America thinking, ‘Could I ever do this?’ And here we are sitting here,” Hutsell told People after her win.

She continued, “There have been so many moments throughout my life, whether it was the eating disorder I recovered from or the two knee surgeries, or even last year when I was in a really in-between time of life, I didn’t know what tomorrow would look like.”

Hutsell hopes her journey will inspire others to “go after something that might’ve challenged them, to chase the wild dream that they didn’t think they could accomplish, and to know that the sun will rise on the other side of your darkest times.”

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RETHRONED

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Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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