It takes serious work to win Miss Universe. And that has been evident in the past couple of days since the arrival of the candidates in Atlanta, host city of this year’s competition.
Each of the candidates all had their own gimmick for their departure for and arrival in the host city. Some girls had a very warm send-offs at the airport with girls mobbed by media and fans. Some girls had fans lining upon their arrival in Atlanta. Some even had both like in the cases of Miss Philippines, Gazini Ganados and Miss Thailand, Paweensuda Drouin. Most girls came in quiet but are met with a loud bang on social media.
Registration and fittings are always the first in the long list of things to happen in the Miss Universe pre-pageant activities. Signing legal papers as an official candidate is always the first order of business. One former MU delegate told us that once you’re done with the registration process, that is only the time that they will be giving you your country sash. After their registration, the girls are checked in their respective rooms, and for those that come early they get thrown immediately into fittings.
Lucky for those that came in early as they got the lion’s share of photos on the Miss Universe social media accounts. Now it seems that the early bird does catch the worm as the girls must arrive at the pageant early to get fitted for the best outfits and meet their fellow participants. Coming in early allows you to pick the best Sherri Hill opening outfits there are available. It also seems that due to the very late and rushed announcement of the pageant dates, the Sherri Hill dresses available are those that are from the existing stock of the brand. Nevertheless, those sparkly dresses will be gobbled up by the candidates in no time. So lesson to be learned, next time try to arrive early.
For those that are doing fittings, they will also get into filming video snippets that will be features for the final telecast. We’ve seen several candidates having done those (France, Japan, Thailand, etc… to name a few). This year also marks the return of pageant photographer Fadil Berisha into the pageant after a 3 year hiatus. The last time we have seen Fadil doing the headshots of the ladies was back in 2015, when the Philippines’ own Pia Wurtzbach won the crown. With him back into the pageant, we are expecting that the headshots of the girls would look phenomenal! This would hopefully signal the return of the more glamorous Miss Universe pageant we are accustomed to.
Also showcased in the fittings are colorful swimwear to be worn by candidates this year. It seems that there will be an explosion of highly saturation colored swimsuits. Although only one-piece swimwear was visible in the released ‘behind-the-fitting’ photos, we believe that like in previous years candidates have the option to wear one-piece or two-piece swimwear. Our only concern is that some of the ‘stabilo colors’ of the swimwear shown might not flatter candidates with darker skin-tones. Although we love the single color swimsuits this year. No more fancy prints that distracts form the candidates.
So far, the standouts in the registration were the Latinas and Europeans who came in early. But we doubt if that will make a difference in the next few days of the competition. It is still too early to tell who are the real frontrunners and crown-contenders in the pageant…