|
Iceland, Ecuador early favorites for Miss Universe
2009-08-21
MIAMI (AFP) - Ecuador's Sandra Vinces, 19, and Iceland's Ingibjorg Egilsdottir, 24, are early favorites on Facebook and other social networking sites ahead of Sunday's Miss Universe contest. Eighty-four contestants will parade in swimwear for the judges who this year include actors, TV producers, photographers, fashion critics and vintage supermodel Valeria Mazza. In the run-up to the big event at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Panama's Diana Broce won the prize for best national costume. And the contest actually sparked a diplomatic kerfuffle. Bolivia's culture minister was outraged when Miss Peru Karen Schwarz wore a typical costume known as a "Diablada," saying it was a symbol of his country -- and not Peru. The costume is worn during Bolivia's Oruro Carnival, a UNESCO-honored cultural event. The term Diablada also refers to a typical dance of Aymara indigenous people, who live in Peru, Chile and Bolivia. With a worldwide audience and a particularly rapt following in Latin America, the Miss Universe contest airs on NBC television on Sunday.
|  | | | Profile |
News183 | Gallery | Links | |
| |
|
|
|
