The Miss Earth 2015 National Costume was held Novomatic in November 29 and the girls paraded in their fabulous attire representing their respective nation’s culture and history. Miss Earth-Air 2013 Katia Wagner along with Mr. Andreas Seidl hosted the event.
Unlike Miss International and Miss Universe, Miss Earth’s National Costume contest is awarded by region. There were only four regions – Asia and Oceania, Africa, Europe and Americas. However, this year, Miss Earth decided to split Europe into Western and Eastern regions.
Winners from Africa
Africa was dominated by amazing tribal patterns and some detailed accessories.
Gold – Miss Uganda Sandra Akello. This very African costume may have wowed the audience and the judges by one innovative accessory. Notice the stylish hat? Well, Sandra showed to everyone how it can be folded and turned into a handbag at a short notice!
Silver -Miss Ghana Silvia Commodore. This amazing and colorful costume with fabrics that are typical of West Africa took the second spot in the African continent. The bracelets were handmade and contains intricate designs.
Bronze -Miss Congo DR Cristelle Lohembe. Cristelle’s costume is unmistakably African with all the patterns reflecting her country’s culture and history. The rather earthy colors gave an overall unique feel to the costume.
ASIA and OCEANIA
As always, this region is very rich in culture with amazing headdresses and unique and diverse fabrics. For the first time, Malaysia took a gold medal at Miss Earth’s National Costume contest.
Gold -Miss Malaysia Danielle Wong. Drawing inspiration from the diverse culture prevalent in Eastern Malaysia, this costume was designed and created by Stevie Sebol. It is called Borneo Maharani and is based from the Borneo Ladybird.
Silver -Miss Thailand Chavika Watrsang. Chavika is wearing a costume that is inspired by Buddhist literature. In particular, the image of a kinnara (the Buddhist equivalent of an angel) is reflected in this attire.
Bronze -Miss Korea Han Ho-jeong. Han Ho-Jeong donned a hanbok, the traditional costume of Korea and is the usual costume of Korean beauty queens at Big4 National Costume contests.
WESTERN EUROPE
Europe is usually about simple, rather muted in design, national costumes. But still, many of the contestants donned unique costumes full of symbolism and accessories!
Gold -Miss Netherlands Leena Asarfi. From Van Gogh to Rembrant, Dutch painters are indeed legends. In her costume, Leena paid tribute to these amazing men complete with canvass, palette and brushes as accessories.
Silver -Miss Austria Sophie Totzauer. The host delegate chose a shimmering white costume. Something one would wear perhaps when dancing the Viennese waltz!
Bronze -Miss Ireland Joelle Curoe. Ireland’s obsession with clover leaf – rooted from its devotion of the country’s saint St. Patrick – has elevated it as a symbol of the nation. Featured in many products from airliners to beer, now a national costume paid tribute to the rather ubiquitous leaf.
EASTERN EUROPE
Eastern European costumes are generally more colorful than its western counterparts. It is rare though to find symbolic costumes from this region. They usually stick to the costumes that are traditionally worn in their country.
Gold -Miss Ukraine Viktoria Orel. Wearing a traditional Ukrainian costume, Victoria did shine and her beauty was further highlighted with the Ukrainian wreath that sits atop her head.
Silver -Miss Slovenia Laura Škvorc. This Narodna noša took blue as a motif and the avba (headdress) contains symbolic images embroidered in gold.
Bronze -Miss Hungary Dorina Lepp. The rather simple costume may have earned a lot of points thanks to the colorful embroidery typical to a Hungarian wardrobe.
AMERICAS
Although there is diversity, the costumes from this region are more about pre-Columbian wardrobes. There are lots of fabulous headdresses, feathers and trinkets here and there.
Gold – Miss Guatemala Sara Guerrero. This Mayan costume is just mesmerizing! The colors, the feathers, the bracelets and the headdress speak in volume about the richness of pre-Columbian culture of Guatemala.
Silver – Miss Panama Carmen Jaramillo. This is another pre-Columbian costume that one might think it looks Colombian. Well, Panama was once a part of Colombia so it is of little wonder if the feathers, the colors and the patterns of this costume remind us all of Panama’s bigger neighbor.
Bronze – Miss Venezuela Carmen Jaramillo. Venezuela opted to pay homage to the indigenous tribes residing in the Amazon region.
