Miss Universe 2007

Riyo Mori, Miss Japan 2007 at the 56th annual Miss Universe competition from the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City on May 28, 2007. Mori, 20, was crowned Miss Universe 2007 at the global beauty contest here, defeating 77 other candidates from around the world. During the evening gown parade, Miss USA, Rachel Smith, slipped on the runway and landed on her bottom, although the slip didn t stop her earning fifth place. This year s contest was marked by controversy, with a handful of Mexicans booing Smith in the run-up to the finals because of what they saw as US unfriendliness toward illegal immigrants. Miss Sweden, Isabel Lestapier Winqvist, unexpectedly pulled out of the event because of complaints in her country that it degrades women. Sweden has won the Miss Universe crown three times in the past. In another hitch, Miss Mexico was made to change her outfit for the regional dress contest after her original dress, decorated with brutal images of rebels in a 1920s religious uprising being hanged or shot, drew accusations of poor taste. The annual Miss Universe pageant which tries to present itself as something more meaningful than a swimwear parade was first held in Long Beach, California, in 1952. The event was taken over in 1996 by US real estate mogul Donald Trump. This year, it attracted protesters wearing white dresses splashed with fake blood and sashes proclaiming "Miss Juarez", "Miss Atenco" and "Miss Michoacan" in reference to places in Mexico made infamous by killings or sexual abuse of women. In another quirk for 2007, the long, twisted dreadlocks of Miss Jamaica, the contest s first ever Rastafarian participant, and the close-shaved head of Miss Tanzania stood out from the lacquered manes of the other contestants.