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Miss Cayman Universe’s dress designer shares creative process

Miss Cayman Universe Caitlin Tyson has been sight-seeing in Bangkok this week, as she gears up to compete in the Miss Universe finals on 16 December.

But back in Cayman, the designer who created her national costume revealed the inspiration behind the dress.

Constructing a dress for Miss Cayman Islands Universe is a lot of pressure on a young designer.

“There’s over 400 yards of tulle in her skirt, there’s 200 feet of led lighting in her skirt, that glows to make it look bio-luminescent and there are tens of thousands of sequins, Austrian Swarowski crystals and acrylic gems,” Kenzie Rose of recounted.

But when that young designer has a full time job as a gymnastics coach and her studio also doubles as her kitchen table… the task looms even bigger.

After 100 hours of work, pro bono, Kenzie delivered.

“[Caitlin Tyson was] was very, very happy, she said it looked like she thought, she dreamed,” she said.

Part of the national costume contest, Miss Cayman Universe knew exactly how she wanted to depict her verdant isle:

“She was thinking a goddess, a queen, a princess, something very large, ethereal that embodied a lot of our national symbols, as well as a line in our national song, referencing the sea of palest emerald merging to darkest blue, so that’s where we went with all the different blues and green hues,” Kenzie explained.

And the biggest selling point? The dress travels well too. Handy, as Caitlin Tyson prepares to compete in Thailand.

“It actually fits in to one suitcase about standard size and its under 50 pounds. We managed to fit it in, vacuum sealed. The skirt’s pretty fluffy so it’s like its own protection,” Kenzie smiled.

Kenzie Rose is currently working on carnival costumes ahead of Batabano. Her .

 

Tags@krosecayman batabano Miss Cayman Universe

About the author

Caroline James

Caroline joined Cayman 27 in September 2018 after seven years working for Sky News in London, both as a Producer on the World News programme and, latterly, as News Editor on the Foreign Desk, where she led coverage on the ground of stories as diverse as the 2016 US Election, corruption allegations surrounding FIFA and The Oscars. Before this, she worked as a Producer for Associated Press Television News (APTN) for two years, based in their London headquarters. Caroline graduated with a BA Hons degree in Arabic, French and German from Durham University, before gaining an MA in Television Journalism with distinction at City University, London. When not hunting down stories in Cayman, she can be found playing tennis, practicing Bikram yoga or enjoying a beer on Seven Mile Beach. You can reach Caroline at or .

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