Miss Universe Peru wears the controversial horn headpiece as part of her "national costume." Image: AP
Now it seems Miss Universe Peru, 25-year-old Karen Schwarz, has a controversy-laden outfit that has neighboring country Bolivia up in arms.
The drama, reported by The Wall Street Journal, stems from the ornate horned headpiece Schwarz is planning on donning (along with a heavily embroidered mini-dress, cape and thigh-high boots) for the "National Costume" portion of the August 23 Miss Universe competition.
This headpiece was inspired by the ritual dance "La Diablada" or "Devil's Dance," but Bolivia's Culture Minister Pablo Groux claims that the dance is a Bolivian custom -- not Peruvian -- and that the beauty queen's use of the horns is something akin to cultural copyright infringement.
Groux says the "La Diablada" originated in Oruro, a Bolivian city, while Peru's foreign minister, José Antonio García Belaúnde, says that Peruvians have been celebrating the same ritual forever. "Culture doesn't have borders," he told WSJ.
Schwarz herself told Bolivian newspaper La Razón: "To say it belongs to only one country is impossible. We are brothers, we practically live together, we have almost the same customs, the same cultures and there are more difficult problems to solve."
Now officials in both countries are taking to the streets. With Peruvian lawmakers performing the dance in front of Peru's Congress, and a Bolivian expatriate group setting up a petition and planning a performance of the dance in front of the Peruvian embassy in Washington as a form of protest.
We'll be watching the 58th Annual Miss Universe competition this Sunday -- it airs live from the Bahamas on NBC and Telemundo at 9 pm ET. Will you be tuning in?