Miss America 2017: Parade shoes pay homage to Prince, Starbucks, Atlantic City
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on September 06, 2016 at 3:16 PM, updated September 06, 2016 at 5:26 PM
Betty Cantrell glowed with praise for her specially designed Miss America shoes — size 9 1/2, with custom bejeweled red, silver and blue detail, and "Miss America" spelled out in the pageant's own font.
The reigning Miss America has been putting on her own light show wherever she goes ever since she won the glittering pageant crown last September in Atlantic City. Her regal headpiece shimmered as photographers crushed around her for a photo with the shoes, which she promised to auction off for charity — if she can part with the peep-toe pumps — after she wears them for the Show Us Your Shoes Parade on Sept. 10. The traditional boardwalk procession is a signature part of the New Jersey Miss America experience, one that returned to Atlantic City with the pageant in 2013.
Miss Minnesota's tribute to Prince. (Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
But at Miss America's annual "shoe reveal" in Atlantic City Tuesday, it was Miss Minnesota's wicked purple stems that immediately commanded attention ahead of the 2017 pageant.
A tribute to Prince emblazoned with a rhinestone rendition of his signature "artist" symbol, the shoes will be worn by Madeline Van Ert at this year's Show Us Your Shoes Parade on the boardwalk Saturday. Van Ert, whose pageant platform advances fine arts for kids, will sing and play piano during preliminary competition Wednesday after she struts the runway Tuesday night in swim and evening wear at Boardwalk Hall.
Other shoe standouts from the Miss America class of 2017 were Miss Mississippi's Miss Piggy and Kermit stems (Piggy, of course, wears her own Miss America crown), a tribute to Mississippi native Jim Henson; Miss Washington's understated, chic take on the Starbucks logo; Miss Missouri's peppy Kansas City Royals sneakers; and Miss Arizona's lace-up, knee-high penny boots, an ode to the state's copper mining tradition.
From Alabama to Wyoming, they're all in Atlantic City vying for the crown
Miss New Jersey, Brenna Weick, stuck with an Atlantic City-strong casino theme. Her shoes, like those worn by last year's state titleholder, are embellished with dice and playing cards, and bear more than a passing resemblance to the celebration of gambling found on Miss Nevada's pair.
In the Show Us Your Shoes Parade, the most visible sign of Miss America week on the boardwalk, contestants ride atop convertible cars with one foot outstretched for the duration of the procession. The origin story for the parade has it that the procession evolved from what had already been the Miss America parade in the 1970s after spectators asked to see contestants' shoes ("Show us your shoes!")
"Please, dear Lord, don't let it rain," said Cantrell, 22, an aspiring country singer, as she recalled how her own shoes' delicate papier-mache butterflies — intended to match her vocal performance from "Madame Butterfly" — quickly wilted in last year's downpour. Even the 2014 parade saw a drenched boardwalk, so organizers are hoping the weather holds this time around.
The 2017 Miss America pageant airs at 9 p.m. Sept. 11 on ABC. See nj.com/entertainment for live updates. The Show Us Your Shoes Parade starts at 5 p.m. at New Jersey Avenue on the boardwalk; missamerica.org.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/09/miss_america_2017_parade_shoes_pay_homage_to_princ.html
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