PETALING JAYA: The historic North Korea-United States summit held in Singapore in June will be the inspiration for Miss Singapore 2018 Zahra Khanum's costume (pic) for the Miss Universe parade of national costumes.
The summit saw US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meeting for the first time.
That meeting became the inspiration for Miss Singapore's national costume for the parade
– a dress with 3m-long white dove wings and a peace symbol incorporated into the bodice.
The outfit will also have an electric blue skirt emblazoned with a digital print of a handshake between the two leaders, featuring their countries’ flags over the Singapore skyline.
The New Paper (TNP) reported that the Singapore national costume was designed by Moe Kasim, 48, who was happy to play on a beauty pageant stereotype – wanting “world peace”.
“The toughest part was bringing out the message tastefully through design.
“I had to consider the political sensitivities and what it all meant to Singapore and to the world community ... without (creating) any misinterpretation.
“And as the summit was about making peace, it was only natural to go with the ‘world peace’ theme,” he told TNP.
Zahra, a 24-year-old sociology graduate from the National University of Singapore, was quoted by the publication as saying that the costume had “a very serene and calming effect”.
“My first impression of the costume was that it looked absolutely angelic, and it truly did embody the essence of world peace,” she said.
Not all Singaporeans agree, with many taking to social media to make fun memes out of the costume.
Zahra and some 90 other contestants will be competing in the Miss Universe finals in Bangkok on Dec 17.
Miss Universe Malaysia 2018 Jane Teoh will be donning the “Bangau Perahu” (boat egret) costume for the event's parade of national costumes.
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