Queen of Olanchito

A couple of weeks ago my sewing teacher, Dario, asked me and my friend Courtney if we would come with him to Olanchito (a small town an hour away from Ceiba). He was dressing about six girls that were competing to be the Carnaval Queen of said town and needed assistants to help with the sewing and the backstage stuff.

We arrived early for the fittings and turned out that pretty much all the girls were C-cups so seams had to be ripped and re-sewn…and fast! Tulle and satin was EVERYWHERE and an incident with a lit candle made us burst into nervous laughter for about 15 minutes! The event was at the “hottest” club in Olanchito. The crowds cheered while the girls posed under a disco ball.

Left: The ladies in casual wear. Right: Posing with the winner!

Check out those bathrooms! 

For the event I ended up wearing the muslin I made for last post’s pink dress. All I did was add a lining,a random a polka dotted ruffle on the front and then hemmed it on the bus to Olanchito. Not what I would’ve liked to wear, but it did for the night. Our favorite girl of the night turned out to be the winner and after a game of pool and the witnessing of a cat fight we called it a night and headed back to our cute little hotel.

To be honest with you, I have always considered Honduran beauty pageants (maybe even in general) to be quite…ehh…funny? With the demanding mothers, cheesy stage decorations, poofy dresses and all…it’s quite difficult to take them seriously! However, after I saw how much effort Dario put into the dresses and how excited and grateful all the girls were I must admit I’m now officially a hardcore pageant fan! It’s a part of our culture that I’ve learned to see the brighter side of.