LIST: 10 of the biggest and heaviest Miss Universe national costumes through the years
A crown can be heavy, but so can a national costume for Miss Universe.
The national costume contest at the international tilt is a chance for the candidates to put their respective countries on display, mostly through big, bright, and bold costumes that showcase their homeland's beauty and heritage.
Bringing props on stage is nothing new for a Miss Universe hopeful. But there were some delegates who have opted to go all out with their massive costumes—of course, without losing their grace and poise.
Let’s revisit some of the biggest and heaviest costumes at the beauty pageant through the years.
Ecuador, 2024
Mara Topic Verduga, Ecuador's bet for the 2024 pageant, turned heads at the recently concluded national costume event with her eyecatching outfit.
Verduga stepped onto the stage in a red gown, paying homage to Ecuador’s capital city of Quito with an elaborate model of the San Francisco and Santo Domingo churches and white birds (presumably the Andean Condor–Ecuador’s national bird) perched upon her shoulders. She later pulled a string to reveal an entire background behind her surrounded with feathers.
The surprises did not stop there as she later revealed a colorful mural hidden in her costume’s skirt. With that amount of intricate layers and details, one can only imagine how much the costume weighs on her.
Pageantry site Missosology ranked Verduga’s national costume as second out of all the contestants that night.
Bolivia, 2024
Another head-turner during the Miss Universe 2024 preliminaries was Miss Bolivia, Juliana Barrientos.
She sported a two-piece gown while holding a staff with an owl atop. Behind her is a larger version of the owl, adorned with a lot of feathers. According to a post on her Instagram page, her costume paid homage to the Bolivian tradition of Tobas.
She appeared to do the Tobas folk dance as she walked down the runway.
Guyana, 2023
Miss Guyana 2023 Lisa Narine showcased the beauty of her country through her national costume designed by Katya Suzdaleva.
She sported a silver dress with lillies, a plant native to South America. The showstopper, however, lied in the sprawling ecosystem behind her. Giant leaves were attached to a moving background with flowers in different colors and sizes, as well as a plethora of animals including a turtle, a monkey, and parrots.
USA, 2022
Filipino-American R’Bonney Gabriel sported an out-of-this-world look for her national costume when she represented the USA at Miss Universe 2022, where she ended up winning the highly coveted title. Dubbed “Woman on the Moon,” the outfit—designed by Filipino creative Patrick Isorena—paid tribute to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), located in her hometown, Houston.
In an Instagram post, Gabriel shared that the costume aimed to “inspire women in all spaces across the universe to dream big, shoot for the moon, and achieve something out of this world.”
The NATCOS featured a silver metallic bodysuit that lit up in red and blue colors as well as matching gloves, boots, and headdress. It also had 50 stars on her back to represent America's 50 states, and a large moon-like sphere. In total, the costume stood at almost six feet tall.
Malaysia, 2020
Miss Malaysia Francisca Luhong James left the audience in awe with her national costume during the 2020 edition of the pageant.
She began her NATCOS performance in a black-and-white kaftan with a 45kg kampung (a traditional Malay village home) following closely behind. The house was also in monochrome, looking similar to one drawn in childhood books and comics.
The beauty queen later revealed a second look—both in full color this time—that was said to be inspired by the sunset and her Sarawakian heritage. The house, also having undergone a transformation, showed coconut trees and chickens.
Panama, 2020
It was smooth-sailing for Miss Panama 2020 Carmen Jaramillo as she donned a maritime-themed costume for the tilt.
Her costume, named “La Niña, La Pinta and La Santa Maria,” paid homage to the Isthmus of Panama.
She included a bodysuit decked out with seashells and pearls as well as a net that hung from her arms and flowed all the way to the floor. Throughout her time on stage, she carried a half-boat design while sporting an incomplete ship's wheel and an anchor behind her.
Thailand, 2019
The Thai contenders of the Miss Universe competitions have always been powerhouses, and the year 2019 proved no different.
Miss Thailand 2019 Paweensuda Drouin donned a colorful national costume inspired by the Phi Ta Khon, or Thailand’s Ghost Festival—the biggest ghost dancing festival in her country where participants dress up and wear masks as ghosts and dance along the country’s main streets.
Drouin first appeared on the runway behind a giant, colorful ghost mask made of plastic bags and other recycled materials. Later, she stepped out of the mask clad in a form-fitting dress with intricate patterns made of copper-wrapped aluminum wire. With her NATCOS, designer Alongkorn Kongin wanted to portray liveliness, fun, and undeniable grace.
Philippines, 2018
Before she was named Miss Universe 2018, Catriona Gray stunned as Miss Philippines in the national costume portion of the pageant. Designer Jearson Demavivas dubbed it “LuzViMinda” as it boasts the collective rich and vibrant culture of the country.
The costume's most striking element is the enormous parol that Gray carried throughout her runway walk. It was made to represent Luzon, specifically the parol-makers of Pampanga, and was colored with blue, red, yellow, and white like the Philippine flag. Completing it are paintings featuring the art style of national artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco. The parol itself is said to weigh 50kg.
Gray donned an embellished jumpsuit patterned with the tattoo designs of Pintados to represent Visayas. She matched it with knee-high boots featuring indigenous patterns of the Mindanaoans that went with her T’Boli headpiece and brass accessories.
Laos, 2018
Miss Laos 2018 On-anong Homsombath took home the award for best national costume in her ensemble that had the audience seeing triple at the international pageant's prelims.
Her costume called “The Stream of Generosity” was inspired by the Laotian folklore of the Kinnaree, a half-human half-bird creature from Buddhist and Hindu mythology.
Homsombath wore a gold bodysuit with an intricately designed headpiece and wings on her arms. She also sported two “walking” figures that she made walk with sticks attached to her arms and legs—one in front of her and another one behind her.
Canada, 2014
Audiences could not forget when Miss Canada 2014 Chanel Beckenlehner paid homage to the country’s ice-cool sport, ice hockey.
Beckenlehner wore a dress in red and white– the colors of the Canadian flag. She paired it with thigh-high laced-up boots, and even sported shoulder pads, a stanley-cup hat, and hockey sticks for the wings. But the main event was the scoreboard that she sported with her throughout the segment. It even lit up like an actual scoreboard seen in hockey games.
