Hooray for Danielle

IN YESTERDAY’S editorial we sang the praises of Trinidad and Tobago’s beautiful women who have won acclaim for our country in international pageants over the years. We were moved to this effort by the achievement of 22-year-old Aqiyla Gomez who captured the Miss Model of the World Title in a competition held in Hangzhou, China, last Friday. Aqiyla won from a field of 59 candidates coming from different parts of the world. Today our delight is multiplied by the success of yet another Trini beauty, Danielle Jones, who placed fifth in the Miss Universe contest held in Quito, Ecuador, on Tuesday night.

Tall, slender and stately, Danielle was clearly a favourite with both the judges and the large audience of Ecuadorians. For thousands of Trini television viewers, the excitement began when it was announced that our “delegate” had been chosen among the final ten. Before that, in a preliminary bathing suit and evening gown appearance last Thursday, fifteen finalists were selected. That group was reduced to ten as the show began. Later, when Danielle was placed in the final five, excitement turned to jubilation;  expectations ran high that TT was on the brink of winning the Miss Universe title for the third time.

The fact is that 26-year-old Danielle of St James, a student of Howard University, emerged one of the stars of the pageant a few days before when she placed third in the national costume competition. Portraying a brilliantly plumaged hummingbird, Danielle danced her costume in vivacious Trini style to win the admiration of the judges and her cheering audience. It seems unfortunate that, because of time constraints, she was not given the opportunity to repeat that performance on Tuesday night for a world television audience estimated at 1.5 billion. The five costume winners were simply limited to a passing appearance on stage.

According to our reports, things did not go as smoothly as planned. Apparently there was some confusion regarding the gown that Danielle was supposed to wear at the pageant. She was originally expected to appear in a Claudia Pegus creation but chose instead a gown designed by Linhurst Cole which had been worn by Daniella Wade at the 2002 local leg of the Miss Universe show. On the website globalbeauties.com, the gown, with revealing thigh-high slits, was described as ill-fitting and having the wrong colour. Still, it seemed to us that she carried it off quite effectively, with her lively personality shining through.

Whatever the problems may have been, Danielle finished in fifth place among 80 contestants, an achievement that deserves our congratulations. As we did with Aqiyla yesterday, we must now add the elegant St James student to the long list of TT beauties who have brought lustre to our country in these international competitions. With regard to the Miss Universe pageant, we recall that Arlene Peterkin, placing fifth, and later Margo Bourgeois, placing third, preceded the victory of Wendy Fitzwilliam. Now with Faye Alibocas, among the ten finalists, and Danielle, in fifth place, may we look forward to producing a third Miss Universe? As far as we are concerned, the odds are definitely in our favour. We have what it takes, so let’s go for it.