Lipstick Streaks on Beauty Queen Gown

Can beauty pageant contestants really be so mean? On Saturday night in West Palm Beach, smack in the middle of the Miss South Florida Fair pageant, someone ruined a $3,400 dress belonging to Jessica Wittenbrink, 21, with red lipstick. The red streaks on Jessica Wittenbrink’s gown were discovered backstage during the Miss South Florida Fair pageant on Saturday night. Pageant organizers and Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies met with the 13 contestants, but deputies say there’s not enough “conclusive evidence” to name a suspect. It wasn’t clear if the lipstick was sabotage or random vandalism by someone unrelated to the pageant.

The lipstick streaks failed to hold Wittenbrink back, however. The contestant not only wore the marred dress during the pageant, but also ultimately scored the Miss South Florida Fair crown.
Ultimately, the sheriff’s office found there was not enough “conclusive evidence” to name a saboteur suspect, ABC News’ Palm Beach affiliate, WPBF, reported. That determination was not made until Wittenbrink’s 13 opponents answered questions from authorities and pageant producers.

Efforts were made to steam-clean the gown, to no avail. By evening’s end, the 13 contestants were instructed to gather backstage, where they were met by deputies and pageant producer Kelly Wagner-Fason, according to those who were present.
Some connected to the pageant felt the situation could have been handled better. “They were all corralled together and not given the benefit of the doubt,” said Shannon Stein, Shadoe’s mother.
Others noted that the backstage dressing area – essentially a converted restroom – could have been kept more secure, especially from bathroom-seeking fair patrons. That left the possibility that the damage to the dress may have not been sabotage but simply a random act of vandalism.

Wittenbrink, a 21-year-old business major at Northwood University, whose career ambition includes becoming a CEO of a stock brokerage firm, claimed a $4,000 scholarship for her win, which included a performance of “Someone Like You” from the Broadway musical “Jekyll and Hyde.” Reached by ABC News, Gayla Wittenbrink, Jessica’s mother, declined an interview, but said her daughter was thrilled by the victory, despite the lipstick smearing.
“It’s very prestigious to wear the crown in our area,” said John Picano, a spokesman for the South Florida Fair, who added that the organizers had no additional comment on the pageant controversy. “The sheriff’s office, they’ve essentially closed the case, pending new information,” he said.

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Posted by Women Diary on Jan 22 2008. Filed under Make Up, Women Beauty, Women Career, Women Fashion, Women Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry