Chilean model and death metal vocalist Ignacia Fernández, frontwoman of progressive death metal band DECESSUS, is heading to the 75th Miss World pageant in Vietnam this September after winning the Miss World Chile 2025 title — and she's bringing her extreme metal background with her.
The 28-year-old, who has worked professionally as a model since 2013, beat out 19 other finalists to win the crown representing Santiago's Las Condes district. She went viral during the competition's semifinal round when she traded an expected pop performance for a DECESSUS original, singing death metal vocals in a ball gown while guitarist Carlos Palma backed her onstage. The judges, visibly startled, gave her a standing ovation; one later told her he had "never seen anything like it in a beauty pageant."
Fernández founded DECESSUS in 2020 with Palma on guitar, Martín Fénix on drums and Jaime Pepe on bass. The Santiago band has since opened for INSOMNIUM and JINJER, played festival dates in Finland and Germany, and supported EPICA's Santiago show in September 2024.
She traced her path into extreme metal back to age 11 or 12, when SYSTEM OF A DOWN and GUNS N' ROSES first pulled her toward heavier music. Death metal vocals specifically clicked after she heard EPICA's Mark Jansen use them within an otherwise symphonic sound: "That's so cool. But it never came to my mind I could also do it," she said. The turning point came when she watched ARCH ENEMY perform "Nemesis" live and saw then-vocalist Angela Gossow commanding the stage. "I want to do this," she recalled thinking, later citing THE AGONIST's Alissa White-Gluz as another major influence on her technique.
Fernández spent two years taking vocal lessons before DECESSUS came together, tracking her first recordings from a home setup during the COVID-19 pandemic. She admitted she nearly skipped the band's first live show out of nerves — "I was really planning and seeing how bad would it be if I just go home" — before a friend talked her into taking the stage in front of a sold-out crowd.
Fernández will represent Chile at Miss World 2026, with the pageant's grand final set for September 5 in Vietnam. She's using the competition's "Beauty With A Purpose" platform to champion animal rights, while insisting metal remains central to her identity regardless of the crown: "I don't care about winning a crown because of being the most pretty girl whatever."