MISS Trinidad and Tobago/Universe Latoya Woods yesterday apologised to the "vocal minority" of citizens who were offended by her decision to pose topless in a Miss Universe-approved photo shoot.

However, Woods said if faced with the decision again she would make the same choice.

Woods sparked controversy last month after she posed topless for an official photo shoot for the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

She eventually failed to qualify as one of the top 15 contestants in the final of the competition on August 23. The competition was won by Miss Mexico, Jimena Navarrete, with Jamaica's Yendi Phillips placing second.

Woods defended her decision during a news conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain yesterday. At one point, Woods appeared to be on the verge of tears.

"After doing a few shots in my official pageant swimwear, I was shown some photos done by a number of other fellow delegates.

"In these photos, the women were without their swimsuit tops, but covered in body paint, liquid latex and in most cases pasties," Woods said.

"What was explained was that they were looking to create an illusion of the bare natural human form to look almost statue-like or ethereal. The photos were not in any way meant to be sensual.

"The organisation understood that they were pushing the envelope, but ensured that the photos would be in no way distasteful since these very photos were to be used to promote the show and would be used in the pageant's official magazine."

The issue was brought to the fore after Woods was interviewed by the Access Hollywood entertainment news programme before the official photos were released.

"The fallout from that certainly affected my spirit while in Las Vegas since I felt I was being judged without anyone having seen the final official photo.

"Public sentiment expressed seemed to indicate that many people wished I would not succeed due to this shoot," Woods said.

"Interestingly, the only place that this seemed to be a major controversy was here at home.

"The majority of people, it seemed, did not find the photo offensive, but there was a vocal minority that took offence to my decision to do so. And to those, I apologise sincerely."

She added, "There are also many who seemed to think that it was this photo shoot that was some sort of a test by the organisation, which I failed.

"This is totally unfounded. There were delegates who made it to the top 15 and also chose to do the shoot with the body paint and pasties," she said.

Asked whether she would do it all over again the same way, Woods responded, "Absolutely."