Gabriela Isler Photo: CFP

 Newly crowned Miss Universe, Gabriela Isler of Venezuela, took up her duties in Moscow on Sunday, twirling in a jewel-studded swimming costume valued at $1 million.

Isler, 25, spoke to reporters a day after winning the title at a glitzy ceremony at a Moscow concert hall, saying she had stayed up all night talking to friends and family on the phone.

"I feel very happy to share my first day as Miss Universe," Isler said. "I'm a simple girl. I am just come to have fun, to enjoy the moment - and here I am."

She said she felt "honored" at becoming the seventh Venezuelan Miss Universe, triumphing over 85 other women at the first competition held in Russia in its 61-year history.

Isler won the final interview round by saying in response to a question about her greatest fear, "We should overcome all our fears and this in turn will make us much stronger."

As the new face of an Italian lingerie company, she posed in a Moscow hotel in a white cut-away swimming costume featuring swirls of diamonds and rubies.

The organizers of Miss Universe said the costume was sewn with 900 stones and is worth $1 million.

"We do have armed guards, so don't get any ideas," quipped the president of the Miss Universe organization, Paula Shugart.

AFP