2024 Miss MHB Shares Story Behind 70-Year-Old Gown

THE DISCOVERY

Since coming to UMHB, Mia has served as a student worker in the Musick Alumni Center and Museum at the Parker House. She and her supervisor, Beth Norvell ‘03, loved going through the various pieces of clothing alumni have donated over the years. One quiet afternoon, they trekked over to the warehouse looking for dresses.

Chosen to represent Student Foundation in the Miss MHB Pageant, Mia originally planned to wear the gorgeous A-line, bubble-gum pink dress she bought for her prom but never got to wear since the event was canceled during the COVID-19 outbreak.

But the second Mia laid eyes on the exquisite red velvet, she was awestruck and knew it was the dress she was supposed to wear.

What neither Beth nor Mia knew at the time was the full story behind the dress, which had been donated to the museum years before. The gown originally belonged to Betty (Bass) Hiles ’56 who passed away earlier last year. According to Betty’s sister, Peggy (Bass) Albin ’58, Betty had worn the dress in the 1955 Miss Bluebonnet Pageant—a beauty pageant that eventually evolved into today’s Miss MHB Pageant.

Beth and Mia opened the 1955 Bluebonnet yearbook and found the photo showing Betty wearing the red gown and placing sixth in that year’s beauty pageant.

“It just seemed like it was fated to be worn again,” Beth said, and Peggy agreed, thinking it was a “lovely use for that dress.”

WINNING THE CROWN

Mia was over the moon when she was crowned Miss MHB 2024, and wearing Mrs. Hiles' dress made it that much more special, she said.

“I just loved it so much,” said Mia, whose dream job is to one day work in museum curation and management at the Met or Smithsonian. “I’ve always been really passionate about history and I love stories and old pieces of clothing and art that have someone’s story. It was so meaningful to me.”

Some of the other pageant contestants thought Mia’s dress was an interesting choice and said it looked “very Shakespearean and old.”

“I was like, ‘YES! Exactly!’” Mia said, pumping her fist. That was precisely what she loved about the dress.

The first thought that came to her when she donned the dress was it looked like Rosemary Clooney’s dress in “White Christmas,” which is her mom’s favorite Christmas movie.

“I’ve seen it a thousand times. It was just so unique and distinct. When I learned the year it was from, it just sparked my imagination wondering what it was for.”

Mia thought about how she could share about the dress in the interview portion of the Miss MHB Pageant, but with only five minutes, she knew her answers would be limited, and opted instead to keep mum about its history.

"I cherish getting to work in Alumni Engagement and representing StuFo. I just have such a heart to interact with alumni, specifically our older alumni. I love their wisdom and the stories they hold.”

Because she wore the dress in the pageant, Mia had the opportunity to have lunch with Peggy and Lorie Hiles, Betty’s daughter. As they chatted during lunch, the trio discovered so many chilling parallels exist between Mia and Betty—like the fact that Betty loved playing piano, and that is what Mia chose as her talent to showcase in the Miss MHB contest.

“It was just another coincidence to learn that and super meaningful to Lorie that I played piano too and got to wear her mom’s dress,” Mia said. Until that lunch, Peggy and Lorie didn’t even know Mia had won the Miss MHB contest, so that made it even more special for them.

“I felt really honored to get to represent Betty,” Mia said. “I know it was not a coincidence that I got to wear this dress. It was totally the Lord.”