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81-year-old SKorean Falls Short in Bid to Become Oldest Miss Universe Contestant

South Korean Choi Soon-hwa, 81-year-old, performs during the 2024 Miss Universe Korea in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
South Korean Choi Soon-hwa, 81-year-old, performs during the 2024 Miss Universe Korea in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
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81-year-old SKorean Falls Short in Bid to Become Oldest Miss Universe Contestant

South Korean Choi Soon-hwa, 81-year-old, performs during the 2024 Miss Universe Korea in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
South Korean Choi Soon-hwa, 81-year-old, performs during the 2024 Miss Universe Korea in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

An 81-year-old model fell short in her bid to become the oldest Miss Universe contestant after competing in the South Korean pageant against much younger rivals.
Dressed in a beaded white gown, the silver-haired Choi Soon-hwa strutted across the stage and performed in a singing contest at the Miss Universe Korea pageant held Monday at a hotel in South Korea’s capital, Seoul.
She missed out on the crown but did take home the “best dresser” award.
Han Ariel, a 22-year-old fashion school student, won the contest and will head to Mexico City for the Miss Universe pageant in November.
Choi, a former hospital care worker who began her modeling career in her 70s, was announced as a Miss Universe Korea finalist earlier this month along with 31 other contestants.
“Even at this age, I had the courage to grab onto an opportunity and take on a challenge," Choi told The Associated Press hours before Monday's pageant.
“I want people to look at me and realize that you can live healthier and find joy in life when you find things you want to do and challenge yourself to achieve that dream.”
It would have been impossible for Choi to compete in the pageant a year ago as Miss Universe had limited the participation to women between 18 and 28. The age limit, which had long drawn criticism, was lifted this year to make the competition more modern and diverse.
Organizers of the Korean pageant also removed the swimsuit competition and eligibility requirements related to education, height and foreign language abilities to open the contest to more women.

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Varieties

UK Designer’s Long-lost Coat Found after 40 Years

Jean Pallant said she is ‘over the moon’ one of her long-lost designs was found in an Oxfam charity shop (Seb Durocher/Oxfam/PA)
Jean Pallant said she is ‘over the moon’ one of her long-lost designs was found in an Oxfam charity shop (Seb Durocher/Oxfam/PA)
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UK Designer’s Long-lost Coat Found after 40 Years

Jean Pallant said she is ‘over the moon’ one of her long-lost designs was found in an Oxfam charity shop (Seb Durocher/Oxfam/PA)
Jean Pallant said she is ‘over the moon’ one of her long-lost designs was found in an Oxfam charity shop (Seb Durocher/Oxfam/PA)

A British fashion designer has revealed one of her long-lost designs has been found in an Oxfam charity shop - nearly 40 years after it went missing from the designer’s warehouse, The Independent reported.

When designer Jean Pallant was told her one-of-a-kind coat had turned up in a donation bag at the Oxfam shop in Mill Hill, London, she was “very excited,” the newspaper said.

“I was absolutely over the moon, really. It was very sweet of the person who discovered it to believe that it was something important,” she was quoted as saying.

“It’s like seeing a child. It’s lovely. I know every single square inch of it, and I’m absolutely amazed that it looks so new, and it feels new. Everything about it looks exactly as it did when it went missing.”

Oxfam’s Mill Hill shop manager Marina Ikey-Botchway said she could tell the coat was a priceless item when the donation came in.

She made the discovery among a donation of high street fast fashion clothes.

“The very first second I saw the coat I knew this was something special, so I checked the label and after a quick Google found Jean’s email,” she said.

Pallant, who was part of the 1960s cultural revolution and one half of a husband-and-wife team, made the orange coat with large buttons on her kitchen table in 1988 and it featured in a Sunday Telegraph article that year.

When she went to retrieve some pieces from her warehouse nearly four decades ago, she felt “sick” to discover that the coat had gone missing along with five other pieces she had designed with her husband Martin, which still have not been found.

“It doesn’t look as if it’s ever been worn, so I’m thrilled about that as well. It doesn’t look like a rag. It doesn’t even smell of must, which is weird. I don’t know where it’s been for those years, but it’s obviously been well cared for,” said Pallant.