Jill Rowland, owner of Dazzles Photo by Julia Rogers Hook Other photos courtesy of Jill Rowland Walking into Columbia’s Dazzles dress shop is like walking into a life–sized Barbie dress store.

The unassuming store front just off Beltline Blvd. doesn’t prepare one for the elegance, class, and sophistication that meets the eye as you open the door. The two–tiered shop is filled with dresses specifically for proms, pageants, and very special occasions. The dresses are in every style imaginable but made for bodies befitting beauty pageants in sizes starting at 0 and stopping at 6. Owner Jill Rowland is quick to point out that any dress can be ordered in any size, but because beauty pageants are primarily for the beautiful and the fit, the contestants must be in perfect shape.

“There are hundreds of pageants going on all the time,” Rowland said. “There are some plus–size pageants and some ‘Mrs.’ pageants for married women in their late 30s and 40s but mostly it’s tots, teens, and young women.”

Caite Upton with boyfriend Brent Home (also from Columbia) as contestants on The Amazing Race Rowland said she competed in pageants herself and fell in love with the….well…the pageantry of it all. She loved the glitz and glamour and that prompted her to start the store 10 years ago. Since then, she has dressed hundreds of beauty queens of all ages across the nation with dozens of her clients winning crowns including Caite Upton, the former Miss Lexington who gained notoriety after her convoluted answer to a question in the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant. Upton was asked what she thought about the fact that recent polls had shown that a fifth of Americans couldn’t locate the United States on a world map. Her answer stated she personally believed “that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps.” She went on about South Africa and Iraq.

Caite Upton, former Miss Teen SC That answer was of course fodder for late night comedians for weeks and the most viewed clip on YouTube for a month. Rowland was fiercely protective of Upton and she said she attended that pageant personally and that all of the contestants were put on the spot with the questions that night.

“It was a stressful pageant and to be up there on television and hit with hard questions out of the blue couldn’t have been easy,” Rowland said. “Caite has gone on to bigger and better things and was even a contestant on The Amazing Race.”

When Upton was given a second chance on NBC’s Today Show, she told Katie Couric and Matt Lauer she had been “overwhelmed” by the question so they gave her the chance to amend her answer. She stated that she didn’t know anyone who couldn’t find America on the map, but if those stats were correct, geography should be more emphasized in the schools.

Tammy Johns Brown Mrs. United States “Caitlin (who now wishes to be called Caite) was portrayed in a bad light, but she got through it and came out looking like the poised young woman she is,” Rowland said.

That loyalty is probably a big part of the reason people come from other states to shop for her dresses but also for her help and advice. The guestbook on Rowland’s website is filled with thank yous and reports of how the dresses affected the contestant, the judges, and the audience.

“Thank you so much for your excellent advice and kind words each time my mom and I have come to your store,” a Georgia beauty queen writes. “I am so excited about my gown for Miss Georgia... it is not at all what I thought I would wear... it is MUCH better!”

Gariane Gunter, Mrs. United States Rowland said that part of her job is to find a dress for each girl that makes that girl feel special and beautiful, but that is also right for the type of pageant and is age appropriate. Her clients agree as the Miss Georgia contestant goes on to say.

“It (the dress) is so classy and is exactly what I needed, being one of the youngest contestants,” the Georgia client wrote. “It was so nice to come into Dazzles and not have to sift through dozens of ‘ok’ pageant gowns in hopes of finding an amazing one. I wish I had not wasted my time trying on so many other gowns before I came to you.”

While being a pageant contestant is flattering to the ego, contestants take it seriously and to get started isn’t cheap. There are entry fees, hair, make–up, jewelry, and shoes in addition to the dresses that can go into the thousands of dollars. Even the littlest girls’ gowns ring in at almost a thousand dollars. And every Miss USA or Miss America usually starts out winning a high school pageant or a local Miss Watermelon or Miss Teen Peach competition. But whether it’s in a high school auditorium, the middle of a small town orchard, or on a LasVegas stage filled with television cameras, the girls are there for that crown.

Carina Romero, Miss High School “These girls go into the pageants to win,” Rowland said. “They have to feel confidant and know they are wearing a gown that shows them at their best.”

Most would–be beauty queens will need four outfits to start, she said. There’s the opening number dress for the initial appearance, an outfit for the talent section, the evening gown the girls wear at the end of the show and of course, the swim suit.

McKenzie Richardson, Perfect Supermodel “Contestants used to wear only one–piece suits, but these days it’s almost always a bikini.” Rowland said with a smile. “After all, a big part of winning the contest is being physically fit and what better way to show that aspect off to the judges than in a bikini.”

The skimpy suits beautifully displayed in her upstairs room are in an array of colors and styles. If one were to wonder which color would best set off which skin tone, there are no worries. There’s spray tans for that and body make–up for freckles or blotches. Each suit is several hundred dollars and comes with a tag that warns the buyer the suit will not hold up if it is used for actual swimming.

Brittany Capps, Miss Columbia; Reid McLeod, Miss Lake Murray; and Leah Hickman, Miss Lexington With all the hype and jokes that follows beauty pageants, Rowland said the contestants are great role models for young girls and in some of the bigger competitions, scholarships are part of the rewards for looking good in a swim suit.

“These girls are well rounded and in the year they reign as queen they do a lot of charitable work,” Rowland said. “Pageants teach a young lady a lot about herself and a lot about how to become the best young woman she can be.”

And through it all, Rowland is there as a guide, counselor, surrogate mother to some, and wardrobe advisor to all of the contestants that come her way. One beauty summed it up on the website.

“Thank you for everything Ms. Jill,” the contestant wrote. “You make everyone truly feel like a winner (because) it helps when you’re dressed like one!”

To get an idea of the dresses you can go to the web site at shopdazzles.com or stop by Tuesdays through Saturdays.

As Rowland says of her dresses that she personally picks out at market three times a year, “You don’t have to be a beauty queen to dress like one.”