Miss Singapore to wear dress honoring Trump-Kim handshake at Miss Universe pageant
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It had a very serene and calming effect," said Miss Singapore Zahra Khanum. (The New Paper/YouTube)
President Trump’s historic handshake with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, during their summit in Singapore is being immortalized.
A beauty queen from Singapore will wear a dress bearing a giant digital image of the two world leaders clasping hands over the Singapore skyline at next month’s 2018 Miss Universe pageant, a contest that was incidentally owned by Trump between 1996 and 2015.
“My first impression of the costume was that it looked absolutely angelic and it truly did embody the essence of world peace,” Miss Singapore Zahra Khanum told Singapore’s The New Paper.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It had a very serene and calming effect.”
The royal blue gown — a play on the beauty queen trope of wanting world peace — took about three months to make, said Moe Kasim, who designed the costume.
“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,” he told the paper.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“And as the summit was about making peace, it was only natural to go with the world peace theme.”
Though the June summit took place in Singapore, some residents weren’t sure how a dress featuring the flags of North Korea and the United States represented their country — and posted disapproving comments on Twitter.
But the 24-year-old pageant contestant, a sociology graduate from the National University of Singapore, said the dress “represents something we all need, which is to promote a sense of unity and friendship, rather than hatred and anger.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The contest will take place Dec. 17 in Bangkok, Thailand.