The "Layers of Life" gown Miss Uganda wore at the 2026 Miss World Festival in Vietnam is made of multiple layers of colorful tulle, each representing one of the seven anatomical layers surgeons cut through during a C-section. The designer, Mushirah Rabaab Abdallah, built the dress to challenge the belief that mothers who give birth by surgery took the "easy way out."
Abdallah, who is expecting her second child, said the idea came from speaking with mothers who had undergone C-sections. "When you interview a lot of mums around, you learn the sacrifice that goes in the C-section," she said. She has never had a C-section herself, but the conversations opened her eyes to how misunderstood the experience is, especially in Uganda.
"In Uganda, we actually do have a lot of stigma around C-sections, because when you hear a mother has gone through a C-section to have their child, anyone can think, oh, so she chose the easy way out, not knowing that it takes a lot of pain, sacrifice, healing that goes into C-sections," she said.
Abdallah skipped flowers and traditional patterns. She studied the seven layers surgeons pass through during a Caesarean delivery: skin, fat, fascia, muscle, peritoneum, uterus, and the amniotic sac. Her five-member team spent about a month on the gown. Two weeks went into the concept. Another two weeks were spent bringing the design to life.
Miss Uganda, Muhoza Trivia Elle, wore the gown on the international stage in Vietnam. According to Abdallah, Elle was emotional after seeing the finished dress. "When we presented her with the sketch, and the idea and the concept, she was really emotional," she said.
Elle only saw the completed outfit on the day she was traveling to Vietnam. "She took me on the side, on the corner, and she told me, 'You know what, I feel like I love this dress, it's really beautiful, thank you for putting in the time, and I cannot wait to carry this message,'" Abdallah said.
The dress went viral online. Women began sharing their childbirth stories openly. Men learned what C-section mothers actually endure. "This dress has really sparked a lot of conversations," Abdallah said. She admitted she never imagined the message would spread that far. "I knew our story was really meaningful, and I knew that our dress carried a big message to put across, but I completely had no idea that it would go as viral as it did."
She added, "What started as a fashion piece became into a conversation around motherhood, survival, childbirth, and all of those good things."
The project has also reignited conversations around the history of Caesarean sections. Historical records from the U.S. National Library of Medicine note that a British traveler documented a successful C-section performed by a Ugandan healer as far back as 1879. It is one of the earliest detailed accounts of the procedure in Africa.
Maternal health remains a serious issue in Uganda, which made the message behind the dress more urgent. "We chose it because we also wanted people to have this awareness about C-sections, not just being the easy way out, but also knowing that C-sections are a major surgery that different women in Uganda go through," Abdallah said.
With a few months left before welcoming her second child, Abdallah said creating the dress has made her own pregnancy journey more personal. "I can't wait to see how the journey is going to be at the end," she said. "But overall, I'm just so happy."
According to Pulse.ng.
