09/02/2026
Pageant gowns are built to dazzle, but the one Miss World Uganda wore to this year's World Designer Award was built to tell a story -- the story of how a child comes into the world. Titled "Layers of Life," the stunning ombré gown worn by Trivia Elle Muhoza on the Miss World stage last week in Vietnam was inspired by the seven anatomical layers a surgeon must cut through during a Caesarean section, translating the journey of childbirth into fabric, color, and light.
It is a strikingly literal inspiration -- and a quietly radical one. A C-section is one of the most common major surgeries in the world -- 1 in 3 children in the U.S. are delivered this way -- yet it's one of the least appreciated for what it actually is. To deliver a baby, a surgeon cuts carefully through seven distinct layers of the body -- skin, fat, fascia, muscle, the abdominal lining, the uterus, and finally the amniotic sac -- and then closes each one again, typically while the mother lies awake, aware, and waiting to hear her baby cry.
It is one of the most demanding things a human body can undergo, and millions of women undergo it to bring their children into the world. The gown makes that journey visible -- not the sanitized version, but the real one, layer by layer: the fear and the endurance and the love folded into every stage of it.
Its mermaid silhouette, layered tulle, pearls, and crystals build the design outward the way a birth builds toward its moment, and its colors -- shifting from soft peach and gold through coral and red to deep maroon and burgundy -- trace the journey from nurture to birth.
The design was deeply personal for its creator, Ugandan designer Keesha Abdallah, who drew on her own experience as a new mother. It was about "womanhood, the human body, and the universal miracle of life that connects us all," she wrote -- her starting point "simply a woman and the incredible layers of the body she carries within her, layers we all share, regardless of where we come from."
More than fashion, it is a tribute to the sacrifice, strength, and love of the mothers who give birth this way -- an experience too often minimized, here rendered as what it is: extraordinary. To every mother who has carried a child and come through those layers to meet them: this one was for you.
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For a stunning picture book that captures the global experience of motherhood, "Mama: A World of Mothers and Motherhood" honors mothers across cultures through 21 luminous portraits and lyrical text -- a tribute to the love, worry, and tenderness that connect mothers everywhere -- at https://bookshop.org/a/8011/9781782507710 (Bookshop) and https://amzn.to/4iIyyps (Amazon)
The "Layers of Life" gown celebrates the bond between a mother and the child she brings into the world. For children's books that honor that love, visit our blog post "A Mother's Love: 30 Books Celebrating Mighty Moms & Daughters" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11469
The gown is a reminder that art can carry meaning far beyond its beauty. To introduce young readers to women who have done the same, we recommend "Women Artists A to Z" for ages 6 to 10 (https://www.amightygirl.com/women-artists-a-to-z) and "Women in Art: 50 Fearless Creatives Who Inspired the World" for ages 9 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/women-in-art)
For more stories of girls and women in the arts, visit our "Creative Arts" book section at https://www.amightygirl.com/books/general-interest/creative-arts
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