National Costumes and Long Gown at the Miss Universe 2009

Posted by Tomomi Mizusawa On Monday, July 20, 2009 0 comments

The official head shot of Miss Philippines Universe 2009, Pamela Bianca Manalo

Miss Universe candidates from all over the world start arriving in Bahamas one week from now. We have visited different websites and forums and collected some interesting information on some of the lovely candidates. Here they are:

1. Miss Japan Emiri Miyasaka will be the first Japanese delegate to speak English if she can pass through the finals or Top 5. According to her national director, Ines Ligron, Emiri is the most prepared Miss Japan since she started handling the Japanese girls to the pageant.

2. Mayra Matos of Puerto Rico will be wearing a boxer-inspired suit for her national costume. Some argue that she should not win the Best in National Costume award since boxing is not a native of Puerto Rico. They say Puerto Rico can't claim the boxing outfit exclusively. See the pictures below for reference.

3. Miss Philippines Pamela Bianca Manalo is no longer dressed by Alfredo Barraza who, for almost a decade, trained the Philippine representatives with no success. Pamela is being trained by a Philippine top model, Wilma Doesnt, with her catwalk skills. Her sister, Miss World 2002 finalist Katherine Ann Manalo is training her how to do well at the question and answer part of the pageant.

It is also rumoured that Pamela will be wearing a Filipiniana terno for her national costume and it is said that the dress was designed by Pitoy Moreno. According to some, Pamela personally chose the dresses she will be wearing in Bahamas.

Will she be wearing a gown made by Monique Lhuillier? What's the truth on this?

4. Miss Singapore Rachel Kum will be wearing a national costume that will be decided by the people via public voting. Six costumes were presented online for voting and the one with the highest vote will be her costume in the pageant.

5. Miss Jamaica Carolyn Yapp is said to be the latest favourite of the Miss Universe Organization. Apparently, the people behind the Miss universe pageant are so impressed with her beauty. If this is true, expect her at the Top 15.

6. Miss South Africa Tatum Keshwar's national costume is very similar to a Vietnamese traditional dress. Her costume is kinda good but the gown is not stunning. See pictures below for reference.

7. Miss Vietnam Vo Hoang Yen is definitely one of the most hyped delegates this year together with Miss Japan Emiri Miyasaka. At first we love to see the "photo-chopped" pictures of Vo Hoang Yen but upon seeing more of her candid shots, we are predicting that she will end up not making the cut.

Though Vo Hoang Yen has a good catwalk skill, we doubt if she can score high in the long gown and preliminary interview. Never had a Miss Vietnam wore a stunning gown in any international pageants. We doubt also if she can do well in the interview. But we hope we are wrong since we love to see Asian winning the crown again.