I waited long for this: the evening gown preliminary. For people who don’t know a lot about pageants: preliminaries is actually one of the most important parts of judging. The top 25 isn’t based on what the contestants do at the actual show but it is all premade the days before the actual show so that they know the top in advance (I actually also think top 10 and top 5 gets roughly made here but I can be wrong).
So as you might already guess, this part is suuuper important since it decides almost everything. The final top 25 gets selected by the jury by 3 preliminaries where we get graded: preliminary evening gown, preliminary swimsuit and preliminary interview. The evening gown part was the first one. I had a very special dress of Atelier Exc that was also worn by Stephanie Geldhof at Miss Universe this year in february. It doesn’t surprise you that I was very excited to be able to wear a gown like that. It was eye catching and certainly very different and special than the other contestants. I HAD to make an outstanding impression with this gown! But okay, first things first.
In the day we first had a sort of rehearsal where we learned where we had to walk, where we had to stop,… etc. Walking in evening gown is the part I enjoy the most about pageants! People sometimes wonder why I am so in love with pageantry since they often associate it with people that are not the brightest and that are purely superficial. Unfortunately these people just think these things because they don’t actually know what pageantry is also about… The reason why I love it is not because you get graded on your looks or because they chose ‘the most beautiful’ girl (since I have to agree that part is actually waaaay too superficial for me) but just because I love the dressing up part and being able to wear an evening gown that you can never ever wear in normal life and that you can walk on a catwalk and dance,.. It is just my thing!
Rehearsal for preliminary competition: They told us where to walk and stop exactly for our walk in evening gown for the live show of preliminary evening gown. This is Miss Australia (my second roommate!).
We had to wait a lot during the rehearsal but we made it fun anyway except for Miss China it seems. 😉
After a long preparation time to make myself ready and having problems with applying the right make up (I really need to get make up classes, can’t do it as flawless as the others!) , the moment was there. It was also quite stressful since it was aired again LIVE and thousands of people would be watching it, perhaps putting positive or negative comments on your part. So you know, you just want to do it right and I am a perfectionist: it has to be good!
Unfortunately not everything can go as perfect as you want: Stephanie Geldhof, the girl that participated in Miss Universe last year, was a little skinnier than me so the dress was insanely tight! It was very uncomfortable and I felt like my boobs couldn’t get covered completely. Also at the area of my thighs it was way too tight so it was uncomfortable to walk. I should have known this before, but regret always comes too late. 😉 So when I was actually walking I might not have done it entirely perfect because you know you have to be confident in what you wear.
In the end, I think I could have chosen the gown better and could also have walked better. But regret comes always too late, whatever…. :p
PS: people that are interested to rewatch the preliminary evening gown competition, you are just a little googling away.
Me in my evening gown for the preliminary evening gown.
