Come April 7 Guyanese are promised a pageant with a difference, which would move away from the event just being a night of competition among young women to the audience being be treated to a fashion show in addition to the delegates modelling fantasy costumes in the form of a swimsuit.
Those in attendance would have to be at the venue in excess of five hours, as it promises to be a long show, but one of the coordinators, Andrew Harris, promises that you would not get bored.
Dubbed, Miss Region Four Fantasy Pageant, it is the first production of Flames Production formed by Harris, former Miss Jamzone, Eletha Stuart and Alisha Fortune.
Speaking to The Scene recently Harris said the plan is to have a “flair” that no other pageant has seen before. He said the fantasy costumes will showcase the creative side of the eight delegates participating in the pageant as they would sit down with their designers and come up with the design of the swimwear.
Harris said that while the girls are changing into the fantasy costume, the segment that would bring the curtains down on the pageant, there would be an hour-long fashion show under the theme ‘Fashion Explosion’. This will feature males modelling a collection of air brushed t-shirts, as well as the launch of Barbadian designer Kathy Ann Inniss’s ‘Peepers Collection.’
Harris himself will be one of the models on the night; he models for Michelle Cole he says.
The plan is to also have local artistes, but they have not yet decided on who would be entertaining nor has a venue been picked.
The opening segment of the pageant would see the ladies stepping out in short pleated skirts and bobby socks, modelling on their toes. That is certainly different from other pageants.
The winner will walk away with $50,000; a trip to Trinidad; beauty products and she would automatically become a delegate for the Miss Guyana World pageant.
The Scene today gives readers a peek at four of the delegates.
Balissa Douglas
This 6’1″ 19-year-old hails from the village of Buxton and is no stranger to pageantry. She was the second runner-up in the 2004 Miss Guyana Talented Teen and also won Miss Photogenic and best gown. She then entered the Miss Bartica Regatta pageant the following year but did not place. Not one to give up, he then entered the supermodel search, which she won. Unfortunately, winning that competition did not help her in achieving her lifelong goal, which is to become a model. As a matter of fact, all she got from winning the competition was some kitchen ingredients and a tiara that broke the same day she got it. Douglas’s tenacity is evident as she is going at it again and hopes to win this pageant. She has the supermodel look, which must be to her advantage but is aware that there will be competition among the other delegates. She said she gets experience and exposure from pageants while noting that she is already a winner so if by some chance she does not win she would still be a winner as she persevered to the end. Apart from modelling Balissa likes listening to music and according to her she is a good cook who enjoys being complimented on her personality and height. Her hope is to one day model for Michelle Cole, who according to her the top designer in the country. She said people always ask her if she models and when she replies in the affirmative, as she did some modelling in the past, the next question is whether she has modelled for Cole and she wants to say yes to this question soon. Other than modelling she did cosmetology and worked as a customer service representative until recently. And she loves her village in spite of everything that has been said about it.
Ruanne Hernandez
This 20-year-old is a pretty young woman who hails from Port Kaituma but has been living in Georgetown for the past four years. She says she is an easy-going, friendly person with a “nice” personality and she loves children. Ruanne is an athlete who runs the 400 and 200 metres races and she sees it as a way of keeping her body “fit and toned”. The “fit” body is one that she is proud of and she would have no qualms of stepping into the bathing suit on pageant night. This is not her first pageant as last year she entered Miss Jamzone but she did not place and she attributes it to her being nervous causing her to “mess up” in the intelligence segment and her creative swim wear was not all that creative she said. Since then she has been modelling and unlike Balissa she has had the opportunity to model for Michelle Cole. One day this beauty hopes to become a midwife, which would see her going back to her home village to work for a while before moving off again. She is currently taking first aid and the fundamental of health courses at Red Cross and has completed five computer courses at Global Technology.
Lydia Prescott
This 20-year-old hails from Meadow Bank and is also no stranger to pageants but she has not had a good track record in pageants and prefers not to list the pageants she has been part of. However, she said she will continue entering pageants until she wins as she knows she can do so one day. She says she is an outgoing spontaneous person who has a “passion for children and a passion for fashion.” She is into ballroom dancing and is a member of the Topernum Ball Room Club and also designs. She has done some designing for her church and designs clothing for herself. Lydia is a very outspoken young woman who seems not to shy away from anything. Interestingly she is a gold medallist in the President Youth Award Programme. One day she hopes to become a paediatrician as she loves children and is now pursuing studies at Institute of Distance and Continuing Education (IDCE). She has modelled for Michelle Cole and she sees pageantry as a way of expressing herself.
Latoni Beaton
Seventeen-year-old Latoni is the youngest of the lot but she is not daunted by that as she feels she has all that it takes to become the queen come April 7. She said she knows she would be able to challenge the other delegates and she entered the pageant because she needed to do something different. She recalled that she entered the pageant after one of the organisers spotted her in the home village, Vryheid’s Lust, and visited her home and asked her mother to allow her to enter the pageant. She is also part of the same ballroom club as Lydia and was also once a member of the youth award programme. She will be writing nine subjects at the upcoming CXC examinations and one day hopes to become a civil lawyer. She wants to practice in the US and will be going to that country after completing studies at the University of Guyana, she says. She does not want to do criminal law as she finds it “scary.” She is currently studying peer education at Red Cross. She said the pageant is helping to groom her and she is becoming more ladylike through the experience. samantha_alleyne2000@yahoo.com
