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SASHES AND TIARAS.....Miss Earth 2016 Finals: EVENING GOWNS RECAP!

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Earthly Gowns: "Miss Earth 2016" Finals Evening Gowns--"Miss Earth 2016" Crowning Night Finals, Manila Philippines

Last night were the Finals of one of the top international beauty pageants (I know! There have been several this past week--including "Miss Grand International 2016" and "Miss International 2016"), the "Miss Earth 2016" contest. What differentiates this pageant from the rest is it's environmental theme and its winner spending the year promoting global issues and specifically, environmental ones...

Ecuador Win: "Miss Earth Ecuador" is the new "Miss Earth 2016"--Manila Philippines

The winner of this year's "Miss Earth" was "Miss Earth Ecuador", Katherine Espin Gomez. Katherine is 23 years-old and stands 5' 9" (1. 76 M). She competed against 82 (wow!) delegates from all over the word, including representatives from Iraq and Palestine.

Top Four: (L to R) "Miss Fire" Bruna Zanardo from Brazil; Winner, Katherine Espin "Miss Ecuador"; "Miss Air" Michelle Gomez from Colombia; "Miss Water" Stephanie de Zorzi from Venezuela

Katherine Espin "Miss Earth Ecuador" is "Miss Earth 2016"

Ecuador Costume: Katherine Espin Gomez "Miss Earth Ecuador" in her national costume during the "Miss Earth 2016" National Costume Presentation

Gown Gals: "Miss Earth 2016" Semi-Finalists in their Evening Gowns--"Miss Earth 2016" Crowning Night Finals, Manila Philippines

Time for the EVENING GOWNS!!! So....as you know I love discussing the EVENING GOWNS of these International pageants and well, now it's time to give my "Nick Two Cents" on the "Miss Earth 2016" Finalists' Gowns:
Some photos courtesy of Rappler.com and Missosology Facebook

Let's begin with the eventual Winner--"Miss Earth Ecuador":
Miss Ecuador Katherine Espin: Katherine wore a canary yellow gown which featured a sequined fit-to-flare style with chiffon falls as well as nude illusion side torso insets. I wish those side nude insets had not been there and the entire gown was paillette covered, but other than that, it was quite an impacting gown and she did make a dramatic evening gown entrance. She was one of the favorites to win the contest and she delivered with this gown.
Score: 9.00

Miss Colombia Michelle Gomez: First Runner-up Michelle Gomez wore this lilac and silver-hued beaded gown. The style featured ivory embroidered embellishment at the top section. It fit perfectly, was the correct length and worked for her. Muy bien!
Score: 9.05

Miss Venezuela Stephanie de Zorzi: Venezuela's Stephanie de Zorzi was probably one of the prettiest contestants in the pageant. Her face was GORGEOUS! Like "Hollywood" star gorgeous. She wore this red gown from Venezuelan Pageant-and-Wedding designer Dheymid Laim Galaviz. The red organza gown had incredible sequined jeweled detail (as seen in the above photo) as well as red horsehair trim. It was beautifully made and worked perfectly with Stephanie's red-ish hair. There was one teeny aspect of the gown that I had a problem with:

The slit was SOOOOO HIGH that well, you could see her CHA-CHA (see photo above), or at least, her nude underwear covering her cha-cha. This was really distracting from such a pretty gown. I just cannot understand how anybody in Stephanie's "Pageant Team" didn't catch this. Ayyyy Dios Mio! It really brought my score down...
Score: 8.90


Miss Brazil Bruna Zanardo: I loved Bruna's acid green gown. The design was very Couture and featured multi-pleating and draping that hugged the body and then cascaded down the back of the gown. Superb.
Score: 9.30


Miss Russia Aleksandra Cherepanova: Aleksandra was probably one of the most beautiful contestants--next to Venezuela. She was tall, model-pretty and she chose a stunningly elegant gown that was simple, classic yet still impacting. No sequins, no slit, nothing tacky. Just Classic and Chic. If only she had worn strappy black heels.
Score: 9.55

Miss Sweden Cloie Skarne: Cloie looked like Swedish royalty in this royal blue strapless ballgown. The design featured silver embroidery down the front of the "base" gown, as well as an overskirt. Her elegant hair and clean makeup finished off this wonderful look.
Score: 9.35

Miss USA Corrin Stellakis: Corrin wore this halter-style powder pink gown with a front keyhole detail, center front slit and delicate sequins throughout. She looked nice but the style was a bit 1996 in its design and I wished she had done something more modern and less "Pageant Betty" with her hair; she's so pretty but all I kept thinking was how she looked like she was a contestant vying for "Miss Arkansas" and not the USA representative for "Miss Earth". Just sayin'.
Score: 8.00

Miss Vietnam Nguyen Thi Le Nam Em: I really liked this chartreuse-colored gown worn by "Miss Earth Vietnam". The color was just right for the "Miss Earth" pageant and it was made beautifully. I am normally not a fan if the iridescent fabrication but here, it worked. It also fit like a glove! This was one of the better gowns of "Miss Earth 2016" Finals.
Score: 9.15

Miss Australia Lyndl Kean: Lyndl wore this royal blue "Mikado" mermaid shaped gown with a sequined waist. The design is an off-the-rack Jovani Prom and  if you want to order it, it's Style #28124. This gown is only $640. I just cannot understand how one can manufacture a gown like this for that low of a price. I've said this before but I'm guessing it's polyester and made in China. While I am not a fan of that sweetheart neckline and illusion inset, the dress fit her nicely and looked like it cost her much more than $640.
Score: 8.75

Miss England Luissa Burton: Luissa wore this powder blur tulle and sequin applique gown. It was a cross between a tacky "Figure Skating Costume" and a Too-Sexy Mother-of-the-bride dress. The bust section seemed too overwhelming and then she styled it with that 2003-looking hairstyle and to make things worse...those darn tacky nude platform pumps!
Score: 7.99

Miss Italy Denise Frigo: Denise seemed like a lot of fun as she was doing her "Evening Gown Competition" walk at "Miss Earth 2016" Finals. She wore this hunter green sequined gown with a very high center front slit, keyhole front and crystal waist detail. I thought it was bit late 70's Disco Fab but the slit was too high and her hairstyle (especially with the curl wispies), too dated. I did love the ankle-strap gold heels.
Score: 8.10


Miss Korea Chae-Yeung Lee: One of the prettiest "Miss Koreas" in recent memory for sure and, while I liked the lipstick red color of her chiffon draped gown, I didn't like her accessories. The necklace and earrings were a bit "Tacky Prom" and the dress itself just wasn't impacting enough for such an important International Beauty Pageant stage.
Score: 8.10

Miss Macau Clover Zhou: Clover wore this chartreuse (popular color!) ballgown for the "Miss Earth 2016' Finals. The gown was unusual and impacting on stage but there was no need to have that iridescent tulle/organza back train (what the heck was that?) and the hem was--for a lack of a better word--"bunching"--as you can see in the photo above. And--just like "Miss Korea"--there was no need for her to accessorize it with a necklace and earrings. Can you say "Too Mucheey"??!!
Score: 7.99

Miss Mexico Itzel Astudillo: Oh Itzel! This was a Mess. Plain and simple. It was soooo Tacky-licious Showgirl and then that slit was dangerously too close to her "Cha-Cha". And to add insult to Gown Injury, her "sisters" looked a bit too "done". Where does one focus? I have no idea. On a good note: I liked the sequins and color of the gown.
Score: 6.00

Miss Northern Ireland Julieann McStravick: I liked this silver sequined column gown worn by "Miss Earth Northern Ireland". It was a simple silhouette and looked elegant. There was nothing extraordinary about this and generally, it was a nice, safe choice.
Score: 8.99

Miss South Africa Nozipho Magagula: I liked the color of Nozipho's gown but after that, she lost me. This look was a tad cheap-looking and off-the-rack. The fabric looked like it came from Downtown L.A. Santee Alley and it was too short where you could see her super tacky sequined platform pumps (right photo above). This gown choice was a miss, and a shame, for such a pretty contestant.
Score: 6.00

CONGRATULATIONS to the new "Miss Earth 2016" Ecuador's Katherine Espin Gomez (second from left)!!!

2 Responses to "SASHES AND TIARAS.....Miss Earth 2016 Finals: EVENING GOWNS RECAP! "

Unknown said...

I love what Russia wore. Simple but it's elegant to looked at.

Anonymous said...

Love your comments. I am always looking forward to it every Miss Earth season. Actually, I watched the show live and for me Brazil was perfection in the Evening Gown competition. Next was Miss Russia of course who was very simple and chic. Vietnam and Sweden's gown were lovely too. Mexico's gown during the Evening gown preliminary competition, I think, was much better than what she wore in the finals. I am not a fan of Ecuador and Venezuela's gown but their determination to win worked for them. Looking forward to your ME Evening Gown review next year Nick :)