Her smile was real but her braids were not, so the newly crowned queen of a Bolivian pageant celebrating Aymara Indian fashions was stripped of her title.
Mariela Mollinedo was chosen from 14 contestants Friday night for the title of Cholita Pacena 2007, an annual event featuring the elaborate style favored by La Paz's Aymara women, known as "cholitas."
Dancing down the catwalk the contestants wore bowler hats dripping with costume jewelry, shawls fringed and sequined in every color and layered skirts that flared as they spun to the blaring music.
But judges found out after the contest ended and the crowd went home that Mollinedo's long black braids - an essential part of the cholita look - were extensions.
Contestants representing a different market in the Andean capital were required to greet the crowd in Aymara and answer a question about the history of Bolivia.
Mollinedo's halting Aymara drew some whistles from the crowd, but her pretty smile won the hearts of the judges.
The pageant will be repeated on Sunday without Mollinedo and a new winner chosen, city officials announced.
