2016 Pageantry: Best & Worst Gowns
It’s always been said beauty pageants are not all about fashion and wearing sparkly evening gowns, and that they’re about empowering women and giving them a platform which I agree to, but we can’t forget all about the gowns and couture. Something we all look forward to during pageant season is the beautiful gowns we get to see, but sometimes not all that sparkles is beautiful. So here are my 5 favourite and least favourite gowns of 2016!
Best Gowns of 2016 Pageantry
Chalita Suansane
Roshmitha Harimurthy
Stephanie Del Valle
Ariska Putri Pertiwi
Iris Mittenaere
Let’s start off with the best, and topping the list as one of my favourite gowns of 2016 is none other than Miss Universe Thailand 2016, Chalita Suansane. Miss Thailand made a change in her evening gown for the final night and I think that was an extremely smart move! She wore a beautiful black gown with amazing beading. Her cape was giving the gown such a regal and elegant look and her styling that night made it all come together into perfection. Her gown was inspired by a Thailand national outfit. It also reminded me of an Indian saree.
Next up is none other than Miss Universe India 2016, Roshmitha Harimurthy. This gown was extremely surprising because the Miss India Organisation had become quite monotonous with the gowns they were sending and to see such a beautiful creation made specially for Roshmitha was really refreshing and pleasing. Swapnil Shinde did an amazing job with this gown from the colour, the thigh high slit to the beading and that over skirt was the perfect touch, Roshmitha did complete justice to the gown and looked extremely elegant!
Next up is Miss World herself Stephanie Del Valle from Puerto Rico wore a beautiful dress by Carlos Alberto. This dress was a perfect dress for Miss World, The colour was the most perfect shade if pink, The layers on the dress made her look like a princess and the detailing with the swarovski crystals was done perfectly, not to less and not to much.
Designer Anaz created the most beautiful gown for Miss Grand International 2016 Ariska Putri from Indonesia. The gown was made to fit for the queen and made her body look fabulous! The detailing of the gown is intricate and elegant, While the colour is so subtle yet stunning.
Next up is Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere from France, Miss France also had a change from the preliminary competition, through I don’t think it was necessary because her yellow gown was also extremely beautiful, But her golden gown was such perfection and made her look like a queen. The detailing was so intricate it took almost 5 months to make and it shows, one thing I loved the most was that the dress showed her off in the best way possible.
Worst Gowns of 2016 Pageantry
Darina Kulsitova
Sierra Bearchell (Prelims)
Valeria Vespoli
Srinidhi Shetty
Sierra Bearchell (Final)
Now coming to some of the not so beautiful gowns. Topping this list is Miss Kazakhstan, Darina Kulsitova. If I were to ever show someone a dress never to wear, this would be it! She wasn’t even wearing the gown, the gown was wearing her! It showed how uncomfortable she was in the gown because she could barely move without picking half the gown up with her hands. The beading and the feathering was just wrong.
Next is Miss Universe Canada, Sierra Bearchell during the Preliminary round. This gown highlighted everything that shouldn’t have been on Miss Canada, It was way too typical pageant gown gone wrong, the colour was ugly and the netting gave the gown a bit of nude illusion look and it definitely was not working in her favour.
Miss Supranational Venezuela, Valeria Vespoli wore a mirrored gown during the Miss Supranational evening gown round and I don’t think anyone could make that gown look nice, the gown was ill fitted and it seemed like the designer ran out of ideas and had a bunch of mirrors lying around. This dress was a big no no.
Ironically next up is Miss Supranational 2016, Srinidhi Shetty from India. During the evening gown round Srinidhi wore a black fringe gown designed by Gavin Miguel and honestly if they didn’t have to change for the top 5 final look round, she may not have been crowned Miss Supranational that night. The gown was extremely ill fitted and the side fringes and the interesting embroidery work in the middle just did not work. This was really not some of Gavins best work.
Last but certainly not least is Miss Canada Universe again! Sierra made a change from the preliminary round and wore a white gown for the final night. Unlucky for her this gown was not at all better, maybe even worse. This gown again, like the previous one was highlighting all the things needed to be hidden. The gown was so awkwardly poofy at the bottom and had some interesting embroidery done throughout top half with a rather weird neck like as well. This was a big miss!
There we have it, my favourite and least favourite gowns of 2016. Thank you.
Author: Alfaaz Ali Khan
Images: Official websites of Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Grand International & Miss Supranational
Roshmitha’s gown was well made, but it did nothing for her. She carries high fashion with such elegance and you give her this just “pretty” gown, with the most boring styling. No wonder she was talked more for her Davao show performance than her prelims. Don’t just design a pretty gown, design a pretty gown for the girl, like France. Take risks, like Thailand did. I haven’t seen anything risky from Swapnil yet.