Miss Clare crown for Alice

THE newly crowned Miss Clare, 19-year-old Alice Carroll from Parteen, has two weeks to prepare for the Miss Ireland pageant in Dublin.

Alice was chosen from 20 stunning girls as the new Miss Clare at an event held in the Woodstock Hotel in Ennis last Thursday night.
She said she can’t believe she won the title. “Until recently I hadn’t even considering entering but some friends of mine entered Miss Limerick and I went to see what I thought and was very impressed with the competition. I had previously thought it would be all about image but a big emphasis is put on personality and friendliness too, so that’s what made me enter the competition in the end,” she said.
Alice is a past pupil of Laurel Hill College in Limerick and this week starts her third-level studies in business and French at the University of Limerick.
“It’s a busy time for me but I’m loving the whole buzz. This week I am going to the launch of Miss Ireland and will meet all of the other contestants and the event itself will come around very quickly,” she remarked.
One of the organisers of this year’s Miss Clare competition was Orla Sexton. She said Alice is “a stunning girl”, with a lovely personality and a lot of confidence.
“She carried herself very well and was a clear winner,” she commented. “We feel Alice stands a great chance in Miss Ireland. She has a lot to offer as a contestant. She should do very well,” she added.
Alice has modelled for a few years with the Celia Holman Lee Agency, based in Limerick and has been involved with a number of fashion shows.
“That experience did help me on the night and gave me a bit of confidence. I honestly had no idea I’d win. I was delighted to make it to the top five and I was really shocked to make it any further than that. The other girls on the night were stunning and there were a few who I saw winning it,” she said.
On the night, Alice wore an elegant full-length predominantly green silk dress, with a halter neck, courtesy of Breda’s Boutique in Ennis. Earlier in the evening, she wore a short sleeved cotton navy knee-length cocktail dress, both of which Orla said suited Alice perfectly. Alice said in particular she loved the evening dress.
“I sometimes find it hard to get a full-length evening dress because I’m so tall and with my heels this was ever so slightly short but nothing noticeable. I loved the colour, which was multi-coloured, with green as the dominant colour. I am going to get something quite similar for the Miss Ireland competition and am really leaning towards green again, as I got so many compliments on it and know it really suits me,” she added.
For the Miss Ireland show, she will also need a cocktail dress and a swimsuit.
“I am very nervous about the swimwear category. I had thought about wearing an all-in-one swimsuit but I’ve spoken to last year’s Miss Limerick and she has advised me against it. She told me that she wore a full swimsuit last year and regretted it because all of the other girls wore bikinis. So now I feel I should wear a bikini. With that in mind, I’m going to pilates for a few sessions between now and Miss Ireland,” Alice explained.
At the Miss Clare pageant, almost all of the contestants opted for full-length gowns for the evening wear section.
Orla said, “The difference this year was that a lot of the dresses were more vibrant colours and softer materials. With the cocktail dresses, the girls opted for classic numbers, simple, sophisticated and very figure flattering.
“All of the girls wore their hair down, which is important at a beauty pageant. The judges want to see what length and style the girls’ hair is.”
She added that fake tans were toned down and much more natural, as was make-up.
“All of the make-up of the contestants was subtle and natural looking, with an emphasis on eyes and a number still going for the smouldering, smoky look,” she remarked.
Orla said the judges and presenter Leanne Moore were also very elegant. “Leanne always looks stunning. She wore a full-length deep red silk dress with crossover straps at the back. She wore her hair up and she looked beautiful. Louise Brooks and Tara King, both judges on the night, wore stylish black knee-length cocktail dress and looked gorgeous,” she added.
She said the audience on the night were also dressed to impress.
“Most ladies who attended the event really dressed up too. Maxi dresses were the preferred option of many, again in vibrant fun colours and worn with a variety of shoes, from sandals to heels. There were also some cocktail dresses, mainly in darker, classy tones, with killer heels,” Orla commented.
This year’s gala final takes place on September 18 in the Berkeley Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin.