112 of the world’s most beautiful women come to South Africa next week as contestants of the Miss World beauty pageant. They will be doing charity work, lighting Christmas trees in time for the festive season and touring the country’s townships. On December the 13th, the pageant will be broadcast live to at least two billion people in over 200 countries and will be aired locally by SABC3.
Local fashion designers and labels will benefit from having the most beautiful women in the world here in South Africa including the likes of Marianne Fassler, Stoned Cherrie, David Tlale, Palesa Mokubung, Tiaan Nagel and Lunar. Pageant fashion director Adam Levin said they “pulled out all the stops” in a very short time to bring to life the organiser’s vision of an Afro-contemporary opening sequence. “There’s never been a more exciting platform for South African Designers – more than two billion viewers,” he said.
Johannesburg was chosen ahead of the UK and last year’s host, China, as the venue for the hastily relocated event. Miss World pageant boss Julia Morley said the city stood out because of its infrastructure. Lindiwe Mahlangu, chief executive of Johannesburg tourism, said the city had jumped at the chance to host Miss World, after organisers decided it was too dangerous to stage it in the Ukraine, when war broke out between Georgia and Russia in July. It is exciting to know that along with the football world cup coming to SA in 2011, that we are also having the most beautiful women in the world now visiting South Africa shores.