Puerto Rican designer Harbbel La Santa, a Carolina native who has lived for 11 years in the Île-de-France region around Paris, was selected by the Miss France organization for the team of couturiers making the regional costumes for the pageant’s final night. He will dress the representative of Normandy, and his proposal, provisionally titled "La pomme de Normandie" (The Apple of Normandy), was chosen after a rigorous national call.
"I confess I still can't believe it. I'm still on a cloud... because I wasn't expecting it, because the competition is so high,"
"I confess I still can’t believe it. I’m still on a cloud... because I wasn’t expecting it, because the competition is so high," he told Primera Hora, noting he was elected among the 31 designers who will take part in the final night. The organization opened a call for designers to submit concept portfolios for various regions of France, and La Santa was drawn to Normandy’s agricultural and gastronomic profile, known for its apple production.
He has begun coordinating fittings with the pageant’s regional direction, but the visual design remains strictly confidential; the contestant will discover it when they first meet. Unlike pageants where the fantasy-costume segment centers on the queen alone, Miss France’s parade is a direct competition among designers: during the coronation gala, scheduled for December 12, a specialized jury will evaluate the 31 regional creations and award the winning designer a cash prize and the official title.
La Santa, who already works on the piece, previously presented a capsule collection at a Champagne-Ardenne creators’ gathering and made custom outfits for Miss Supranational Portugal 2022, Élodie Lopes. After a tourism bachelor’s degree at the University of Puerto Rico at Carolina, he earned a second degree in fashion design with a specialization in men’s tailoring at a Paris academy and worked six years at a Paris atelier focused on bridal and ready-to-wear.