We apologise for keeping you hanging like that. But we promise we shall spill the tea on Divita’s evening gown somewhere in this article.

Without wasting any time, let us dive right into the topic with the introduction of the brands associated with this year’s edition of Miss Universe.

We have already mentioned the crown and the sash before but just for the sake of this list, we shall include them in this article again. 

1. Mouawad - The Force for Good Crown

Miss Universe season has officially begun and the national queens are starting to arrive at New Orleans Morial Convention Center, where all pageant activities are expected to be held. So far, the list of roommates has been released for this year’s contest and we shall be talking about this arrangement later in this article. Right now, let us discuss the new changes and the tea that we and all the fans are receiving from the people present on location. Spoiler Alert : We might or might not have some details about Miss India - Divita Rai’s Evening Gown 😉. Stay tuned till the end to find out what we know.

Anyway, starting with the new sashes.

image source https://twitter.com/MissGrandInter

While the rest of the world was busy with Diwali celebrations, pageant fans across all continents were celebrating the festival of extravaganza - Miss Grand International! The name says it all, the powerhouse of production and entertainment celebrated its tenth year anniversary this year and boy was it Grand! From the bloodbath competition to the juicy drama and controversies, Miss Grand served us a feast! Here are the top 10 MGI'22 moments according to fans -

• Miss Ghana's Introduction -
  Like every year, the MGI'22 stage too witnessed yet another unique and extremely entertaining beauty astonish the fans with her unexpected introduction. When Zahara-Imani introduced herself as Miss Grand Ghana, she did it by melodiously incorporating the letters G, H, A, N and A in a tune followed by taking her country's name twice, in the same melody. Her unique introduction not only left fans amused but also embedded her name and influence on their minds, making her the talk of the MGI town. Miss Uganda also tried to pull up the unique introduction card during the MGI'22 finale by coming up with a very innovative melody and dance step for her introduction - Miss Grand you… you… UGANDA! However, both failed to make the first cut.
   
• The Ukraine - Russia Affair -
  Pageant fans definitely crave drama from time to time and who better than Mr. Nawat to turn to in extreme cases of Drama deficiencies? When the list of roommates for the 2022 pageant were revealed, all we could do was stare with our jaws dropped down and wonder how they do that so effortlessly. They announced that Ukraine and Russia had to share the same room! That's the recipe for disaster and we know that they knew exactly what they were doing. As a result, Miss Grand Ukraine lashed out at the organisers and requested Mr. Nawat and his Grand team to be more politically sensitive towards her and her country. The situation was handled pretty well by all the other parties involved, and Miss Russia was given a different room. 
   
• Praachi Nagpal's Performance -
  Indian fans anticipated her victory right when she announced her participation in Glamanand Supermodel India 2022 and sure enough, she won the title of Miss Grand India, also winning the rights to represent India at the 10th Miss Grand edition. Following her victory, fans had mixed opinions on her potential and preparation, but as MGI'22 commenced, fans were blown away by her form. A few were disappointed at first seeing her average styling during the opening days, but as we approached the main event, her stature became significantly fiercer and fiercer. On the night of the preliminary competition, we were left in awe, admiring her jaw dropping performance, her sultry expressions and her effortless pasarela. It didn't take long for fans to declare her as the strongest Miss Grand India that we have ever had. Praachi sure knows how to turn heads (and Opinions 😉). 
   
• Brazil's Victory - There's nothing more the fans waited for, than to see the golden crown sitting on a Brazilian woman's head. Brazil has been giving us winning contenders since Miss Grand's 2020's edition. With Lala Guedes winning the title of MGI'20 - Fourth runners up, fans expected to see Brazil taking the crown home very soon. Brazil's bet for the 2021 edition was yet another incredibly beautiful and strong candidate - Mineira Lorena Rodriguez who ended up taking the 2nd runner up crown home. After their memorable performance, fans were left craving to see the crown sit on a Miss Brazil's head and Isabella turned their dreams into a reality on 25th October 2022.  
   
• Body Shaming Controversy - Oof! Y'all live for these moments, don't you? Anyway, what caught the whole pageant community off guard were the insensitive comments passed by the pageant director, Mr Nawat himself while explaining why Miss Grand Vietnam failed to make the top 10 of the MGI'22 pageant. Nawat's explanation included several statements that criticised Miss Vietnam's physical attributes like having a long back and short legs. Fans from all over the world were left furious after his comments, deeming his pageant to be too irrelevant and old fashioned. 
   
• The Opening Video - Leave it to MGI to stir up some controversies! During the MGI'22 Finale Live, one of the promotional videos created a lot of buzz in the world of pageants with its lack of diplomacy. The video showed the letters M and U revolving around the earth in opposite directions before coming to a halt right in the centre. Then the letters G and I fell  from above, replacing the letter U. Fans depicted this as an attack on the Miss Universe Organization as MGI had recently surpassed MU in terms of social media following. 
   
• The Indonesian Muslim Fashion Week - We love cultures and seeing our favourite queens walk the runway dressed up in the host country's culture is always a treat to the eyes. The class of MGI'22 walked the runway for Jakarta Muslim Fashion Week 2023 held in the  Indonesia Convention Exhibition on 21st October. Another very culturally rich event that the Grand Fans were blessed to witness was the Bali Traditional Costume Parade held on 11th October where the ladies were dressed in the traditional Bali attire and presented on stage. 
   
• The Follower Drop - You waited so long for this one! Following the body shaming of the Vietnamese beauty queen Đoàn Thiên Ân, the Vietnamese fans unleashed their wrath onto the Miss Grand Pageant. The MGI Insta page started losing followers in chunks, dropping its following from 6M+ to now 4.1 million. Vietnam also refused to host the next edition of MGI on their land and the Miss Grand pageant was heavily and openly criticised throughout all media channels in Vietnam and other pageant loving countries.
   
• Sofia Mayers Performance - It wasn't the first time someone did something unique on the grand stage, but Miss Grand UK stepping on the stage without heels during the Grand Finale was still way beyond unexpected. After the announcement of the top 20, the pageant commenced its sportswear round. This round was a replacement for the swimsuit portion of the competition as the event was held in West Java, Indonesia. All 20 ladies were dressed in beautiful pink sportswear sets and high stiletto heels. Well, all except one. Miss United Kingdom stunned the fans when she appeared on the stage, rocking ballet shoes and not heels for this round. Her performance was energetic, fresh and very appealing to the audience too, however, it failed to get her a placement in the top 10. 
   
• 5th Runners Up Resignation - This year, Miss Grand International came up with a very special concept - crowning of all top 10 ladies! While all top 5 ladies were given distinctive positions, the other five ladies were all crowned as the fifth runners up for MGI'22. However, around 48 hours after being crowned the fifth runners up, Miss Grand Mauritius resigned from her position stating that the pageant's ideologies do not match those of the Miss Grand Mauritius Organization's. Several posts were made from both ends, explaining the split but the real reason still remains unknown. Nevertheless, the position has now gone to Miss Grand Philippines, and we are extremely happy for our Filipina Queen Roberta Tamondong and our fellow Pinoy fans. 

Pageant season is in full swing, with both Miss Grand International and Miss Earth concluding recently, we are now left with the most awaited pageant edition ever - Miss International 2022! The last time we ever got to witness a Miss International pageant was in 2019 when Bint Sireethorn Leearamwat of Thailand took the crown home. She has been our reigning queen since, making her the longest reigning international titleholder ever, with a reign that lasted more than three years! Fans have waited for her to crown her successor for what feels like forever now but the time has finally come. 13th December 2022 - shall be the day we witness a new queen, from a new country, ascending the royal throne.

The same day when Harnaaz Sandhu of India won the most coveted and equally awaited Miss Universe Crown for India. Will this day bless India again? Well, I guess we will have to wait and watch. As you walk through the iconic Miss International 2022 journey, here have a look at the top 8 fan favourites for the competition. We have formed this list after talking to various pageant fans, considering hotpicks, and innumerable youtube predictions. Starting with -

1. Miss India -
   Zoya Afroz - The journey that Zoya has had towards Miss International has indeed been a long, testing one. She was the runner up at Femina Miss India 2013 pageant and was anticipated to represent India at the Miss International 2013 pageant that eventually Philippines ended up winning with Bea Santiago. However, Zoya was not given this opportunity, even though she deserved the rights according to her Femina placement.  Zoya left pageantry and focussed on building a bollywood career, however, her appearance in movies didn’t start after Femina. Her first ever onscreen appearance was in the year 1988 - as a child artist in Kora Kagaz - a star plus Tv Show. She appeared in many tv shows and movies as a kid since then but her debut in Bollywood as an adult did not happen until 2014 with The Xposé. There were absolutely no hopes for Zoya to step back into pageantry, but on fan demand,she decided to give it one last shot when she registered for Glamanand Supermodel India 2021. Right from the day when she announced her participation in the pageant, fans knew she would emerge as the winner in the end and she sure did. On 21st August 2021,  Simrithi Bathija ( Miss International India 2019) crowned Zoya Afroz as her successor, giving her the sole rights to represent our country at the 60th Miss International pageant.
    
2. Miss Peru -
   Tatiana Calmell - Tatiana is a young, and well experienced model has been a part of the modelling industry in Peru for a very long time now. At the age of 19, she was also a part of Peru’s Next Top Model, but was eliminated from the competition because she hinted that one of the judges - Brazilian model Antonio Borges - had touched her inappropriately. After being disqualified from the show, she made the following statement, explaining what happened and how she felt about the whole incident - “I was in a bathing suit and had half a leg in the air. That bothered me quite a bit. I didn’t want this to become a drama but it turned out that way because he has been offended too. I didn’t feel comfortable that he was touching me and the other girls. I do know that he limits me as a model, but he hurt me that they didn’t give me a chance like another contestant. It hurts a lot”. Indeed her journey in this industry has been a harsh one and it is really inspiring to see how she dealt with it and continued to rise with it. Tati is also an actor and has a vast social media following too. She is one of the most anticipated winners of the Miss International 2022 competition and boy is she strong.
    
3. Miss Philippines -
   Hannah Arnold - Can we talk about pageantry without mentioning the Philippines? You are right, not even possible. Anyway, Hannah is one of the most favourite Miss International contestants this year. She is a Filipina model, who has been into pageantry since 2002. 2002 means right from when she was just 6 years old! She participated in the Baby Queen Of Masbate 2002 pageant and ended up winning the title. She went on to participate in quite a few pageants since, one of them being Miss Philippines Australia 2014, that she won and has participated in charities and volunteering work ever since. That brings us to our next very interesting point - Miss Arnold is actually half Filipino and half Australian - The same combination that won Philippines its third Miss Universe crown with Catriona Gray. Hannah’s father happens to be an Australian with Irish descent while her mother is a filipina. In the case of Cat, her father too is Australian and her mother is also a Filipina. Furthermore, both these queens spent a lot of their years growing up in Australia and returned to the Philippines only after completing their education in Australia. Hannah was also one of the contestants that participated in Binibining Pilipinas 2019 pageant, when Catriona Gray was the outgoing BBP queen. The Miss International organisation sure loves Miss Philippines a lot and it is very evident on all of their social medias where Hannah keeps making an appearance every now and then. 
    
4. Miss Dominican Republic -
   Celinee Santos Frias - It is impossible to ever underestimate a contestant from the Dominican Republic. In terms of performance and stage presence, nobody can ever even come close to Miss DR in any pageant. Celinee is a fashion enthusiast pursuing her law degree and is also a professional model in DR. She also loves dancing a lot and is very passionate about maintaining her body shape and size. Miss Frias first entered pageantry in the year 2019, when she represented Duarte at Miss Dominican Republic 2019. She finished in the top 6 of the pageant and was later given the right to represent DR at the 2019’s Miss Intercontinental pageant, that was held in December. However, she only managed to make the first cut at this pageant held in Egypt. She participated at Miss Mundo Dominican last year and was crowned as Miss International Dominican Republic at the end of the competition on 4th September 2021. Her styling and game so far at the Miss International 2022 pageant so far has been impressive and people are expecting her to get a very high placement for her country.
    
5. Miss Mexico -
   Yuridia Durán - One of the longest reigning national contestants for the 2022’s Miss International pageant! Her journey began alongside Sofia Aragon, who represented Mexico at Miss Universe 2019! That’s right, Yuridia was crowned Miss International Mexico even before Queen Bint could represent her country at Miss International. At this time, she was studying to become a dental surgeon at the Autonomous University of Nayarit. In 2018, at the age of 19, Miss Duran was crowned Reina de la Feria de Nayarit or the Queen of the Nayarit fair. The same year, she participated to win the title of MExicana Universal Nayarit, which she did. She the represented Nayarit at Mexicana Universal 2019 pageant alongside Sofia Aragon and was crowned as Miss International Mexico at the end of the event, giving her the sole rights to represent Mexico at the 60th edition of the Miss International pageant.
    
6. Miss France -
   Maya Albert - Maya is a marketing student, also pursuing a professional career in modelling. She was crowned as Miss International France towards the end of June 2021 by the Miss International France Organization. Maya’s entry into pageantry could not have been possible if her friend did not quite literally force her into participating in a beauty pageant in 2016 when she was crowned as the second runners up at Miss Pays de l'Albigeois pageant that year. She stated how she felt she was unfit for pageants because of how reserved her personality was. However, being in a pageant environment gave her confidence and she later decided to stay a part of the pageant and modelling industry. Maya is one of the most anticipated winners for this year’s competition and we sure see her placing really high.
    
7. Miss Spain -
   Julianna Ro - Spain has been doing really well at pageants these days, even when their placements say otherwise, we have seen some really strong and inspiring women representing the country internationally. Having said that, let us now discuss Julianna. Miss International 2022 began only a few days ago and so far we have only seen the gorgeous beauties from all over the world taking part in the orientation program and the different activities planned out for them by the Miss International organisation. In the case of Spain though, we have seen more. Day 1 - the orientation day at Miss International 2022 and she was already winning awards. Miss Ro was given the title of  Miss Visit Japan Tourism Ambassador by the Japan Tourism and International Cultural Association. She explained how she started learning Japanese for the competition as it was supposed to be held in Japan. Julianna is currently doing her MBA in Fashion and she is also a singer and songwriter. Given the competition she is headed to is Miss International, we can surely see how well she fits all the criterias that Miss International organisation takes into consideration while crowning their winners. Therefore, her victory is very highly anticipated.
    
8. Miss HongKong - 
   Rosemary Ling - Having the kind of beauty Miss International looks for, and the aura too, Rosemary is one of the most anticipated winners of the Miss International 2022 crown. She has won the award for being the best in swimsuit of her national pageant - Miss International HongKong. She is a young content director and model in her country. She graduated with a degree in Social Sciences, specializing in sociology and media and cultural studies, from the University of HongKong. She explains how her dream is to build a platform, through her own platform and resources for other women of all ages and races to be able to communicate, raise their voice, and empower each other together.

Miss Universe has a brand new owner and with a change in ownership, a change in ideologies and overall pattern of the pageant was well expected. Fans were looking forward to the new era of the Miss Universe and Anne Jakkaphong did not disappoint. Whether it is about drama or controversy, Miss Anne surely served. But fret not honey, we are here to break down what's new going on at the Pageant alpha lately.

• Starting with the crowning controversy -
  This one really shook the pageant world to bits! Anne revealed in an interview recently that she will be crowning the first ever Miss Universe of her era. She also expressed her vision of crowning the winner of the 100th edition of Miss Universe, likely to be held in 2052. Fans were left confused, furious and heartbroken by the sudden announcement and most bashed the organisation and Anne for it on all social media platforms. Pageant pages from all over the world started pointing out the similarities between the new Miss Universe era and Miss Grand International’s pageant culture, both now run by Thai business personalities. Anne, however, was not unaware of the rage she had unknowingly ignited, and so she took it to herself to calm down the burning pageant world. Various polls and stories were posted from her end on all of her personal social media handles, asking fans their opinion and suggestions on the given scenario. Not once were the fans made to feel not welcomed or unimportant throughout the entire crowning case and in the end, after considering all of our views, Anne announced that she will not tamper with the age old Miss Universe traditions, giving the right to crown her own successor back to our reigning queen - Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu.
   
• The New Crown -
  During one of the press conferences held in Thailand, Anne revealed that Miss Universe is in fact going to get a new crown, from the present crown partner Mouwad itself. She also revealed excitedly that this time we can expect the crown to have a blue diamond instead of a yellow one as present in the current Mouwad Power Of Unity crown. She also revealed that fans might get a glimpse of the new Mouwad crown later this year in December and we cant be more excited to see what would be the new symbol for the Miss Universe Legacy.
   
• New Sash -
  Fans are also expecting to see a new sash design this year with a new era beginning. Many stories and posts by the Miss Universe owner Anne suggest that she and her team are reviewing all old sashes from the earlier years of Miss Universe and taking inspiration from them to design a new sash for the first year in her era. 
   
• Miss Universe Apartment -
  Well, Miss Universe, along with her Miss USA and Miss Teen USA sisters stay in a New York apartment, that we see in most of the shoots and lives, but now with the JKN era, we see the situation improving for the upcoming Miss Universe queens as Miss Anne has promised the fans that the new Miss Universe will spend the majority of her time travelling between USA and Thailand, where she will have her own penthouse to live in. Along with that, the new Miss Universe will also travel in her own private jet across all the countries as per the latest news going around in the pageant town. 
   
• Runners Up -
  Anne has been giving interviews back to back ever since the news of her taking over the MUO came out and she has been dropping bombs all over the pageant civilization with every new interview and press conference that she has. In her most recent interview, she revealed that the new Miss Universe and her two runners up will fly to Thailand and stay in the penthouse. Fans have not received this news well and there has been a lot of criticism regarding the new changes she is making in the MU legacy. MAny think that she is too excited for her new era and therefore she is making such drastic decisions because she can't contain her overwhelming feelings, but honestly, we totally get the enthusiasm. Who wouldn't lose their mind over being the new owner of the Miss Universe pageant anyway? We get you Anne.
   
• The change in the eligibility criteria -
  While very little is known about these changes, a lot is being talked about allowing married and divorced women to participate in the annual celebration of women empowerment and feminism - Miss Universe. After the Miss Supranational announced the change in the age criteria, now allowing women up to 32 years of age to participate in their pageant, fans are expecting to see similar changes in the MUO manifesto. We are loving the healthy competition between the major pageants these days. It's just amazing to see these pageants make progressive changes in their culture to fit the current ideals of being woke and inclusive, and we totally love it. However, we can expect these changes to come into effect in the 2023’s MU edition as most national contenders for the 2022 competition have already been crowned.
   
•  No Bias -
  For years we have seen how Miss Universe has always had one spot reserved for Miss USA in the first cut, just as other pageants like Miss Supranational have always given one spot to Poland in their annual pageant. This year however, Miss Anne has promised the fans that we shall not see any form of bias and favouritism in her era. This might also mean that we might see many powerhouse countries not placing since no sash factor will be considered from now on and some new, never seen before countries might surprise the world and even win it all!
   
• Capes -
  OH MY GOD! Boy did we save the best one for the last! Recent posts from the present national contenders from all over the world suggests that all the Miss Universe contestants participating in the Miss Universe 2022 have received a plain cape from the organisation that they can customise as per their liking for the upcoming Miss Universe competition that is scheduled to be held in January next year. That means, the beautiful girls get to individualise their own swimsuit capes to show their own creativity and personality. Now, whoever thought of that definitely deserves a raise, because we are going all gaga over this idea!

Unfortunately, that's all that we have time for today. However, stay tuned because we will be back with yet another amazing update about everything pageant and Miss.

We are in the beginning of a new year and with new years come the chances and the motivation to start something new. Therefore, we have decided to start this wholesome series of remembering our queens of pageantry on or around their birth anniversaries. Starting with the very start of the year - January 1st. 

The queen owning this date in the land of pageants is - Winfred Adah Omwakme - Our very own Miss Earth 2002. Hailing from Kenya, Winfred belongs to the Abaluyia tribe. The Abaluyia tribe is mostly present around western Kenya. She was born on 1st January 1981, to Kenyan parents. Her family comprised 5 people, including her parents, two younger siblings and herself. 

Miss Omwakme is  professional model who also holds the record for being the first ever woman representing Kenya to ever win a major beauty pageant. 2002 was the year of dethronement and ascension of queens in the pageant world as we saw not one but two major queens being dethroned and getting replaced by another queen from their court. Winfred is also one of the queens that faced this fate. She originally won the title of Miss Earth Air during the Miss Earth 2002 finale. Dzejla Glavovic - the winner of this competition was dethroned on 28th May 2003 and the reason stated by the Carousel Productions was her not being able to fulfil her duties as a Miss Earth. Winfred was crowned as the reigning queen months later - on August 7th in the same year. Before entering pageantry however, Winfred had quite a rough childhood. Her father passed away when she was around 10 years old and her mother died two years later. Being orphaned at the age of 12, the only support system she was left with were her elder siblings, a sister and a brother, who then took up the role of her parents in her growing years. Both her siblings went on to become lawyers in the future. She grew up and pursued a career in the medical stream. She graduated from the institute of Healthcare Management and went on to become a physiotherapist. 

Her first attempt at pageantry was in 2001 when she participated in the Miss Universe Kenya 2001 pageant. She managed to make it to the finale of the competition but could not take home the crown. She then participated in the Miss Tourism World Kenya pageant in 2002 and finished as the first runner up there, giving her the right to represent Kenya at the second edition of Miss Earth. Winfred finished as the first runner up at Miss Earth in her year of the competition and was given the yellow crown of Miss Air. Having been crowned late, Winfred only had a few months to reign as Miss Earth, but she tried her level best, and beyond to maximise all the resources and opportunities provided to her by the platform of Miss Earth. She also worked towards the environment - the motto that Miss World proudly carries and works for.  

Apart from pageantry, Winfred, also called Winnie by her loved ones - is very private about her personal life. Very little is known about her current life or her relationship status. Winfred is one of the most well known Miss Earths because of the dethroning in her year. She is also known for being the first ever black winner of Miss Earth and also the first African to ever wear the Miss Earth crown.  

IMAGE Facebook/Araneta City, Instagram/laraquigaman

Born on 3rd January 1983, Precious Lara San Agustin Quigaman-Alcaraz is a Filipina actress who won the title of Miss International 2005, becoming the fourth ever representative of the Philippines to be declared victorious at Miss International. She also became the third Miss International winner from the Binibining Pilipinas family. She stepped into the world of pageantry at the age of 15, when she became a part of TV Babe - A beauty contest telecasted on GMA-Channel 7. She was also one of the finalists of Calender Girl, telecasted on  ABS-CBN-Channel 2. Her first major pageant was back in 2001, when she participated in Binibining Pilipinas, at the age of 18. She remained Unplaced in the competition and also failed to win any sub contests. The edition was later won by Zorayda Ruth Andam who represented the Philippines at Miss Universe. The other queens crowned were Gilrhea Quinzon who was sent to Miss World and Maricarl Tolosa who participated in the Miss International pageant in the same year. All three however remained unplaced at their respective international pageants.  

Precious took a break for several years after the setback, not participating in any pageant until 2005 when she made a comeback at Binibining Pilipinas. As commonly stated, Comebacks are always stronger than setbacks. She was better and more determined to take home one of the crowns. And she did. During the competition however, Quigaman could not bag any of the subtitles. She emerged as the winner of Miss International Philippines at the end of 19th March 2005. Her preparations for the international contest began. 

Prior to entering the world of pageants, Precious spent almost her entire life jumping from Laguna and Bahrain, the two places she spent most of her childhood in. She completed her graduation studies from England in the field of media production and communication. She participated in 2005’s Miss International pageant and won the crown ultimately. Owing to her own experience in the world of pageantry and what she has acquired from her fellow pageant sisters, she has written and published one of the most famous handbooks in pageantry - The Secret of Beauty Queens. 

In 2011, she got married to her long time lover Marco Alcaraz privately and a year later they had a ceremony in church where they got married again, this time in public. She also has a little son Noah Alcaraz who recently turned 10 years old. The Alcaraz family now vlogs their daily life and their day to day shenanigans on YouTube with the channel name of “The Alcaraz Family” and have gathered around 185K (185000+) subscribers on the platform. We are happy to see our reina enjoy her life and share her happiness with us. Wishing only the best for Queen Precious!