The Filipino connection: Miss Universe 2022 candidates' Philippine-made costumes, trainers
MANILA, Philippines — In the past, when the Miss Universe franchise was still with the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. (BPCI), Filipino representatives to the Miss Universe pageant were first sent to train with Osmel Sousa in Venezuela. And when they competed in their respective years, they most likely wore gowns by Alfredo Barraza.
When Miss Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach won the title, she persuaded Madame Stella Araneta that she'd wear a Filipino designer's creation in the evening gown competition, and this decision has led to Albert Andrada's design now being part of pageant history.
From then on, Filipino queens wore Filipino designs when competing abroad, and they trained in the Philippines as well.
Slowly, pageant hopefuls from all over the world began to train in the Philippines in preparation for international competitions.
This year, a few Miss Universe aspirants trained with Filipino camps and/or trainers or had their costumes created by Pinoy designers.
The first to visit the country was Cambodia's delegate, Manita Hang. She first trained here before flying to India to get more training sessions.
Despite the late revelation, Indonesia's Laksmi De-Neefe Suardana had pasarela training sessions and a number of photo shoots in Manila late last year.
Spain's Alicia Faubel, who worked as a model in the Philippines a few years back, revisited Manila to have training sessions here, as well as appear in a number of interviews with national media.
Vietnam's national winner, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Chau, likewise did some pasarela training sessions here in Manila.
Miss USA R'bonney Gabriel, who won the Best National Costume in her national pageant, had her costume for the New Orleans pageant done in the Philippines too!
Her parents, including her Filipino father, Remigio, had to fly to Manila during the holidays to pick up the costume so she could bring it to Louisiana in time for registration.
Last year, Nigeria's Maristella Okpala won the Best National Costume award. Her Mmanwa ensemble was created for her by Filipino designer Kennedy John Gaspar.
Sometimes, the contributions of Filipino designers are not known until the competitions are over, and we are pretty sure that pageant fans will be aware of more news about this.
We thank all of these international entities that trusted Filipino designers to create costumes and wardrobe pieces for their delegates.
The Miss Universe 2022 National Costume presentation will be beamed live on January 11 (January 12 in Manila) through the Miss Universe official YouTube channel, a few hours after the preliminaries. Stay tuned!
