SINGAPORE – It might have taken India 21 years to reclaim the Miss Universe title.
However it has been an excellent longer 34-year wait since a Singaporean made it to the semi-finals of the worldwide magnificence pageant, after Ms Marion Nicole Teo’s feat in 1987 when the annual occasion was held in Singapore.
Reigning Miss Universe Singapore Nandita Banna, 21, made historical past for the nation on the seventieth Miss Universe competitors in Eilat, Israel on Monday morning (Dec 13) by cracking the High 16.
Miss Harnaaz Sandhu of India was topped the winner out of 80 delegates – succeeding her compatriot Lara Dutta in 2000 – adopted by Paraguay and South Africa in first and second runner-up locations respectively.
Ms Valerie Lim, director of Miss Universe Singapore, instructed The Straits Instances: “Nandita simply celebrated her twenty first birthday on Nov 8 so (her achievement) is actually particular. She’s somebody who all the time retains an open thoughts and pushes herself to attempt new issues.”
Miss Nandita attended Raffles Ladies’ Faculty and Raffles Establishment and is at present a third-year double diploma scholar at Singapore Administration College, majoring in enterprise administration and data programs (enterprise analytics).
At 1.76m tall and modelling professionally since 2017, she even chopped off her lengthy tresses after successful the native pageant and took to the world stage sporting a pixie reduce.
In keeping with Ms Lim, the final time Miss Nandita had brief hair was when she was 5 years previous and this present hairdo is her shortest ever.
Ms Lim stated it was a bunch determination, as they felt Miss Nandita was “hiding behind her hair” and a pixie reduce is extra “edgy and fashion-forward” and will convey out her options and showcase her persona higher.
Naturally, there have been preliminary reservations, as she needed to learn to model it properly and rock it with confidence.
However the model gamble paid off.
Proper earlier than the stay telecast of the finals, Miss Nandita wrote on Instagram, slightly prophetically: “I am so excited and hope that every one the trouble I put in to date can get Singapore into the High 16.
“Hold an eye fixed out for me throughout the opening dance, ya woman is up within the entrance displaying off her strikes.”
Miss Nandita additionally appeared in a purple and white nationwide costume designed by homegrown couturier Frederick Lee.
It featured a graphic print by native award-winning artist Lee Xin Li that weaves collectively intricacies starting from acquainted landmarks to notable incidents that make up Singapore’s distinctive tales right into a cohesive map.
