Happy Day After Thanksgiving! And Seasons Greetings from PAGEANT DESIGN!

Miss Earth Bahamas Makes Pageant History

Source: Tribune 42

MISS Earth Bahamas Vandia Sands has made pageant history, becoming the first Bahamian to win best national costume at one of the four major world pageants. There are 94 contestants in this year’s Miss Earth pageant, currently being held in the Philippines.

The costume segment is divided into the four continents, with one contestant emerging as the overall winner per continent. The Bahamas falls under The Americas and Miss Sands’ costume was the overall winning costume for the continent. Miss Bahamas Beauty Organisation president Gaynell Rolle said: “This does my heart well. I am so proud of Vandia and especially proud of this accomplishment for local designer Patrice Lockhart, who has sent many of her designs, whether by evening gowns or national costume, to these international pageants. “It’s truly an historic day in the Bahamas on many fronts.

“I am sure Mr Greenslade, president of ICS Bahamas, is equally as proud as he is the official sponsor for her national costume,” Ms Rolle said. “The design was one inspired through innovation by Ms Lockhart. She took one look at Vandia and said ‘Are you flexible? If you are I have the right design in mind’.”

The remaining events in this year’s Miss Earth competition include the swimsuit, talent and evening gown categories. Voting is still open for Miss Photogenic and Best Eco-Video.

Ms Rolle encouraged Bahamians to show their support for Vandia by voting online at www.missearth.tv.

The final is on December 7.

Miss World Pageant Brews Culture Clash Behind the Scenes

Vietnamese beauty criticized for typo on pageant ribbon

source: TUOITRENEWS

Miss Sports Vietnam 2007 Tran Thi Quynh, representative of Vietnam at Mrs. World 2013 held in Guangzhou, China, has been criticized for wearing a ribbon with a typo in her country’s name.

At the final night of the pageant last weekend, Quynh wore a ribbon with the words “Mrs. Vietnem” in the swimsuit and evening gown rounds. After that, photos capturing Quynh with the misspelled ribbon were spread on the Internet, inciting outrage from Vietnamese citizens who expressed shock with Quynh’s carelessness. The error was made worse by the fact that during the finale, Quynh accidentally held a Vietnamese flag upside down. “It’s unacceptable! Can’t she read? That’s embarassing!” readerPhuong stressed.

In response, CIAT, the company that sent Quynh to the contest, explained that the incident is the fault of the pageant’s organizers. According to CIAT, contestants were given two ribbons, one for sideline events and one for the rehearsal and the finale. The ribbon with the typo was given to Quynh just minutes before the rehearsal so she didn’t have time to notice the mistake. Other contestants also wore ribbons with embarassing misspellings, including the women representing Dominica and Ireland.

CIAT’s chairman Kim Hong, also a member of the contest’s jury, informed the public that Mrs. World chairman David Marmel gave his apology to the Vietnamese delegation.

On November 24, the Mrs. World 2013’s organizing board in China sent a letter of apology to the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, saying the misspelling was unexpected and they didn’t mean to insult anyone.

For her part, Tran Thi Quynh also sent a letter of apology to the culture ministry and the public, asking for forgiveness on her mistake. “As a Vietnamese, I admitted that this was because of my carelessness. This is a lesson that will be with me for the rest of my life, a mistake that I will never make again,” Quynh wrote, expressing she was careless due to the dense schedule of the contest.

According to Vu Xuan Thanh, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the contestant will not go unexamined, as it was she who was ultimately responsible for presenting a positive image of Vietnam to the world. Accidental or intentional, she made a mistake. Nguyen Thanh Nhan, head of the Performing Art Department said that the department will consider the letters of apology from Tran Thi Quynh and Mrs. World 2013’s organizers to make final decision.

This year Mrs. World gathered 30 contestants from all over the globe. Vietnamese representative Tran Thi Quynh finished in the top 6 but didn’t win any prizes.