On July 14th Emma Rose Collingridge took to the stage to represent the United Kingdom, alongside 64 other global ambassadors, at the prestigious Miss Supranational competition, where she made history, putting Europe back into the Top 5 after a 3-year dry spell, and becoming the highest placing British contestant ever in the history of the pageant with her 3rd Runner Up achievement!
Miss Supranational is now ranked as one of the top 3 most prestigious international pageants in the world, with the live final show being televised to 140 countries, achieving tremendous viewing figures around the world.
Crystal Parade sponsored the non hotfix rhinestones in sizes ss12 and ss16 (3.2mm – 4mm) for a key outfit for the live finals that was made by Emma and her Mum, showcased during the global fashion show parade and Top 24 semi-finalist announcement. On a personal note, Emma had a large input in the design and stoning of this dress as it was created by her mother Kim, reflecting Emma’s passion for Ballroom and Latin dancing while she was a teenager, and is a celebration of her academic achievements with the main two colours also being that of her university graduation hood. 
Inspired by the colours of the British landscape, the dress included sapphire blue crystals from Preciosa to represent our island nation surrounded by seas; lush green spaces take up vast amounts of our landscape so the Zodiac emerald stones were the perfect fit, and deep tanzanite purple represented the heathers that grow in all four nations.
Green and purple also have strong connections to the Women’s Suffragette movement, the first Union of which was formed 120 years ago. The suffragettes were instrumental in successfully campaigning for women’s rights, notably the right vote in the United Kingdom, paving the way for female support and empowerment movements that are still so relevant, and reflective of Emma’s personal message, today.
To bring depth to this design they also attached rhinestones in a lighter version of these colours – peridot, light sapphire and tanzanite.
When gluing rhinestones to fabric, it is important to use the correct glue to maintain durability, especially if the fabric needs to be flexible in movement. If you are using the non hotfix and glue method, we recommend Gem Tac, or if you are heat fixing crystals there is no need for glue.