THE ESSENCE OF A NATIONAL COSTUME

By: Jetset Alejandro

When pictures of Miss World candidates came out and they are in their national costumes, the reflex action of this writer is to say that, wow! - the national costume is back in Miss World. As for this writer, it is but proper that the national costume should be put back into the limelight even if it were only during the Dances of the World portion. Here are 125 candidates from all over the world and basically putting the concept of unity among diversity. And such diversity is underscored in every candidate’s national costume. It is such a nice feeling that the Miss World Organization was able to group 125 candidates of varying beauties, faces, persuasions, intelligence, talents but unified all of them in their pursuit for the title of Miss World 2012 – the Beauty with a purpose.



Miss World 2102 Candidates in the National Costumes for the Dances of the World Segment Audition



The national costume is basically a national essence. It represents the cultural and fundamental nature of the country that the candidate represents. It speaks of the country’s history and heritage. It shows the emotions and feelings of the country it represents. It shows the spirit and the soul of the nation. And as such, purists have always something to say when we see a national costume being paraded by a certain country and does not adhere to its culture and history. A very good example is the costume of Miss Australia which she would show during the national costume presentation.



Miss World Australia 2012 in an aborigine inspired costume



Writers, fashion designers and the like had all something to say about her costume. Some say that it is a “travesty” and a national joke. Australians react a lot to what have been passed off as their national costume. Such reaction is acceptable because in reality, Australia has no national costume. In the Philippines alone, there is a continuing debate about its national costume. Given the varied culture presented by the different islands in the country, each local costume has its own distinguishable characteristics that could be presented globally. Sometimes, these characteristics are incorporated into the national costume itself which is the “terno” and the creative Filipino designer gets applauded because of their ingenuity.



Miss World Philippines 2012 was crowned in the Philippine pageant donning a blue terno which is the Philippine National Attire for ladies



I believe the national costume presentation should be continued and pursued every year not only for Miss World but also the other beauty competitions like Miss Universe, Miss Earth, Miss International and so many more. The national costume presentation allows us to see the evolution of the others’ national costume too. With the globalization of the world that is making us literally a homogenous, society, the use of the national costume even just for beauty competitions makes us more aware of others’ cultural identity and even more so our own cultural identity. It makes us also appreciate and respect other’s culture. The national costume is a product of each and everyone’s own heritage and as we reach out to people during the competition, we are also embracing the other candidates’ heritage. Thus we can see, the national costume is not only an identification of who you are but it has become a bridge among people joining one another in a competition in displaying what is unique among them.