The National Costume Competition for Miss Ecuador 2015 was held on Saturday, 14th February 2015 in the tourist promenade La Bocana, Atacames, Esmeralda’s province. The eighteen finalists sashayed the runway in their respective national costumes. The candidates looked extremely elegant and dazzled the stage with their presence. As the competition reached its conclusion, Maria Elisa Padilla Cardoso from Cuenca, was announced as the winner for best National Costume.
Maria’s costume was designed by a designer from Ecuador, named Francisco Vanegas. The idea behind the costume was inspired by women of Azuay, called "Chola Cuencana", which co-incidentally was worn by the contestant representing Cuenca. Francisco, in an interview talked about his winning garment and shared his motivation behind the silhouette, “I tried to show that you can stylize a garment without losing the idiosyncrasies, the essence to what culture represents, in my design can identify a Cuenca, stylized chola, of course, but reading the character”, said Francisco.
The contestant who was placed second at the National Costume Competition was María Paz Mayorga fromAmbato, and the third place went to María Gloria Davalos from Quito. Let’s take a look at the winneing costumes…
The other national costumes at the event were…
The jury was headed by designer Yolanda Bravo, president of the Design Committee of the Miss Ecuador Organization, who is also director of Dybrain Technical Institute. Among the other members was TV presenter Marián Sabaté. Miss Ecuador 2015 finale is scheduled to be held on March 14' 2015 in Guayaquil, Ecuador.