Miss Iraq 2015: First beauty pageant held in 42 years

THIS beauty pageant went ahead despite the dangers of IS and death threats to contestants. And organisers hope it shows Iraq “is still alive, that its heart is still beating”.

THERE were no burqas, but the contestants also didn’t sport bikinis.

This was a beauty pageant with a difference where contestants strutted their stuff in high heels and sleeveless evening dresses which sat below the knee. It was the first Miss Iraq beauty pageant held in Iraq since 1972.

It went ahead despite the dangers of IS and death threats to contestants, and there was certainly plenty of glitz and glamour, as well a few hipsters with beards.

The winner was green-eyed beauty Shaymaa Qasim Abdelrahman. The 20-year-old from Iraq’s multiethnic city of Kirkuk won the jury over with her beauty, grace and hopes for her country.

The decision was popular with those in attendance, especially in the back rows, where young men with hipster beards and tight blazers had been standing on their chairs shouting her name.

“I’m very happy to see Iraq going forward,” the new beauty queen said as she tried to fend off a scrum of admirers hoping to clinch a selfie at the event on Saturday.

“This event was huge and put a smile on the faces of the Iraqis.”

Wearing her sash and holding her bouquet, she was fast learning her new trade, saying all the right things without ever breaking her smile.

She said she would use her fame to forward educational initiatives, especially among the massive population of people who have been displaced by conflict.

Iraq will now be able to put forward a representative for the international Miss Universe contest, The Independent reported.

An event organiser said the pageant gave the region hope.

“Some people out there think we don’t love life,” Humam al-Obeidi said.

The eight finalists embarked on a string of pre-pageant activities, including visiting a camp for displaced people in Baghdad.

During a tree-planting ceremony near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon last week, Suzan Amer, a 22-year-old from the Kurdish town of Sulaimaniyah, argued that a beauty pageant was more than a mere distraction in Iraq.

“It’s my first time doing anything like this but it’s an experience I wanted to be part of,” said the young woman with ash blonde hair, bright fuscia lipstick and a rosebud tucked above her ear.

“I think Iraq needs events like these.”

Iraq is wracked by an ongoing war against the Islamic State, the world’s most brutal jihadist organisation, and plagued by deep sectarian tensions and corruption.

The pageant left participants, organisers and guests feeling that beating the gloom was part of the war effort.

“I think it is wonderful; it makes you feel things can come back to normal,” said veteran human rights activist Hana Edwar.

Senan Kamel, the 2015 pageant’s artistic director, who also organised Iraq’s first fashion show in years last March, said he looked forward to having a good ambassador for the country.

“What we’re hoping to accomplish is to make Iraq’s voice heard, show that it is still alive, that its heart is still beating,” he said.

The fashion designer was carried out to the car park after nearly fainting from exhaustion and stress before the show but he was back on his feet and all smiles in time to vote with the jury and present the winner with her crown.

The last time the Miss Iraq competition was held was in 1972, when the oil-rich country was on an upward track.

Old footage of the contest shows Wijdan Burhan al-Din Suleimank, at a venue in Puerto Rico, introducing herself at the microphone, between India and Ireland in the speaking order.