America’s Flag as Brittany Ann Payne’s National Costume at Miss Earth 2015
Brittany Ann Payne, a major front runner at, Miss Earth 2015 is competing for the contest representing USA in Vienna, Austria. There was a sudden attention drawn to the National Costume segment when people noticed Brittany Ann Payne’s National Costume was resembling to national flag of USA. This became viral on the internet as many people believed that it was an extreme representation of the Flag as apparel.
This is not actually the first time some contestant wore national flag inspired costume at pageants, in fact, Miss USA 2011 Alyssa Campanella wore flag inspired back cape at Miss Universe 2011, Miss USA 2006 Tara Corner wore the dress inspired from the flag and Miss USA Earth 2009 Amy Diaz also wore costume inspired form Flag. However, Brittany Ann Payne’s National Costume faced criticism because she is literally wearing the design which is nothing else but mere representation Flag of USA. We are not sure if this can lead her into some legal trouble once she is back to her country (We hope NOT). The Flag Code of America says that “the [American] flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery.”
Joey Galon, the designer of Brittany Ann Payne’s National Costume, of Atelier, apologized openly on social media if his design has offended anyone. This is what he wrote:
“My apologies to anyone if I’ve offended them with my costume design for Miss Earth USA. I’ve had a couple of comments stating the “flag” shouldn’t be worn this way nor drug on the floor of which I respect whole heartedly. Certainly it was not my intention to disrespect my country nor our flag. These were originally patriotic ladies scarves I found after the 4th of July holiday, about 8 of them, then had the vision to not waste them yet create a gown out of them. The inspiration is “Lady Liberty” and was hoping my gown and the way I styled Miss Earth USA was such that she would best represent our amazing country when she competes against over 92 global countries at this year’s Miss Earth pageant taking place now in Vienna, Austria.
Thank you everyone for all of your kind comments. I am passionate at what I do and am very conscious of my design process and the last thing I would want to do is hurt and/or disrespect anyone or even more…our country. Again, my apologies.”
Updated: We also rechecked the Flag code of USA, on request of our readers, and we learnt that it states that a real FLAG should not be worn as a costume. Since, Joey Galon has made it clear that it was from scarves, technically it should not create any controversy, as it was never a real Flag.
Picture Credits: Miss Earth Facebook Page