Outcry over Miss New Zealand's US dress
BY TRACEY BOND AND BRONWYN WILLIAMS
Is Miss Universe New Zealand's dress
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Miss Universe New Zealand chose traditional colours for her national costume at the Miss Universe 2010 pageant but her black dress was made in the United States and the outfit has left New Zealand officials "upset".
Contestants opted to don wings, extravagant headdresses and bare as much flesh as possible for the national costume segment of the beauty pageant, currently underway in Las Vegas.
Miss Universe New Zealand Ria van Dyke - who has admitted that she struggled to find enough clothes to take to the event - wore a gown by US designer Sherry Helen America, with only the headpiece and cuffs designed by local designer Natalie Chan.
National director for Miss Universe New Zealand Val Lott said she was disappointed that the dress was not made by a local designer.
"I was very upset about the fact that it was not a national costume. It was just a black dress with bling bling on it."
"Thank goodness we had a headpiece by Natalie Chan." Lott said.
Chan, an Auckland-based designer who provided dresses for Katie Taylor when she entered the contest in 2009, said the design for the headpiece and cuffs features the Silver Fern and was a collaboration between van Dyke and herself.
"I wanted to keep in with the New Zealand theme, but with a fashion aspect and make it stylish and show off New Zealand." Chan told Stuff.co.nz.
"I didn't want her to look like she was a showgirl. In New Zealand, we want to put our best foot forward but we're not showy, showy."
In an interview with magazine Woman's Day van Dyke said she trawled through opshops for outfits in the run up to the contest in Las Vegas.
"Some of the girls have dresses worth tens of thousands of dollars and I'm going to second-hand shops with mum.
"I didn't expect it to be like this. It's pretty disappointing really,"she said.
The winner of Miss Universe will be announced on on August 23 (New Zealand time).
What do you think of the outfits? Is the dress worn by Miss New Zealand chic or cheap? Post your comments below.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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Some of the dresses could be in the world of wearable arts show! :o Go Ria, make Aotearoa proud!
I think she looks stunning :) They all do!
If you wanna see trashy? Go to down town Wellington on a Saturday night.
Wow. This is totally newsworthy and does not at all want to make me poke my eyes out with a fork
The dress looks like Tui feathers to me and with the ferns and colours, this is a great representation of NZ. Other coutries look like trash e.g. Australia (FUGG boots... really???)
Great Britain and Switzerland = HOT!!
the dress would look waay nicer without the massive head piece
I don't know the background and maybe the organisers tried to get a dress, but support for pageants isn't so popular these days. I think Ria looks gorgeous in whatever she wears and while a beauty contest may seem frivolous compared to 3rd world poverty. Lets just enjoy a bit of glamour and brightness in our lives and support this girl, she's not an airhead, she has a degree and I really think she will do well. Hope to see it on the telly!
I think she looks great and compared to some of the other national costumes I'm sure she felt more comfortable and looked a lot more stylish. The combination of black and the silver fern is a good representation of our NZ culture. Go Ria
Ria looks AMAZING - classy, chic and not cheap and tacky like some of the other so called national costumes. I think there should be a national outcry that Miss Universe NZ had to go to op shops to get clothes and none of our world class NZ designers stepped up to the plate and did something for it. But in saying that the Air NZ uniforms have left a lot to be desired, so perhaps it was best she did what she did. She's gorgeous and good luck to her
Maybe if Val is so upset she should have got NZ designers to make an outfit. Great to bag people once it's done!!
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Oh for f@(k sakes, get over yourself NZ.