Miss Ukraine Viktoria Apanasenko and Miss Russia Anna Linnikova take the "battle" to the next level as they compete at the 71st Miss Universe Pageant in New Orleans, Louisiana on Jan. 14 (Jan. 15, Manila time).
Victoria will represent her war-torn country in the prestigious competition while Anna hails from the transcontinental nation that launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine since February.
Recently, both contestants have unveiled their national costumes for Miss Universe.
On Facebook, Anna called her national costume the "Crown of the Russian Empire."
"It was created from a new collection called the Hermitage. This collection is now being created in cooperation with the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The dress is based on the historical outfits of Russian empresse," she said.
On Instagram, Lesya Patoka, author of the idea, the founder of the Patoka studio, described Viktoria's national costume as "Warrior of Light". The full post:
"The "Warrior of Light" costume symbolizes our nation's struggle against darkness and protects, as if the militant Archangel Michael, who defends Ukraine with a sword. Victoria has a weapon in her hands, her body is in armor, at the same time she carries light through the darkness that came to our lands with the aggressor.
"The image uses five main materials and elements that together create a mix of fashion and Ukrainian ethnicity, modern trends and historical memory. The monolithic jumpsuit symbolizes armor and wraps Victoria like a second skin.
"A white dress, which consists of a stylization of a vyshyvanka with puffy sleeves, a skirt for which more than 10 meters of fabric was used in total, and a border created in a modern way, that is, a belt.
"The costume is decorated with a headdress with ears of corn traditional for Ukraine. Symbolic wings burned in battle are unbreakable. They are encased in blue and gold armor in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, opened for a decisive battle and decorated with various mirror ornaments.
"The costume was created in Ukraine for four months in extreme conditions, to the sound of sirens, without electricity and by candlelight. The Warrior of Light costume was designed and created by the famous Ukrainian costume designer Lesia Patoka @lesiapatoka, who previously designed images for Onuka, Jamala, Boombox, Pianoboy, Serhiy Babkin, Ola Polyakova and others.
"It was so important for us to create the image of a girl who is not just beautiful, but also strong-spirited, personifying the whole of Ukraine - indomitable, brave, free. Despite all the difficulties and challenges, we managed to create the image on time, because each of us is a Warrior in our own business."
Viktoria said: "The 'Warrior of Light' costume is a personification of the inner strength of Ukrainians, our courage, determination and love of freedom flowing in our veins. In this costume, I wanted to embed the idea that war cannot break our strength and discolor our hearts. Even on a fire, like a phoenix, Ukraine will blossom and shine with bright rays of kindness and faith."
Eighty-five lovely women will vie for the title of 2022 Miss Universe.
READ MORE: https://mb.com.ph/2023/01/02/beauty-queens-arrive-for-71st-miss-universe-competition-in-us/