Michelle Dee, Miss Phillipines 2023, wore a dress as a tribute to the last and oldest living Kalinga (Indigenous Filipinos) tattoo artist, Apo Whang Od and her work
So I saw some of the notional costumes for Miss Universe and I've come down to my top five in no particular order after El Salvador. Her outfit is my favorite:
Miss Universe 2023 Sheynnis Palacios' national costume by designer Jorge Salazar was inspired by the great-tailed grackle bird "El Zanate" found only in Nicaragua (Lake Nicaragua and Lake Managua) and Costa Rica (Caño Negro).
It's a medium-sized bird with a long, graduated tail and fairly long black bill and legs and pale yellow eyes.
Completely random but, about 5 or 6 years ago I went to a dance competition with my school where we got to meet a bunch of people from other schools both from our city and others.
Long story short, I saw this really gorgeous girl, I asked for her number, we became acquainted with each other nothing more nothing less.
Anyway, turns out she's representing my country in this year's Miss Universe, and it feels so surreal😭😭
I lost my mind for a few seconds there and literally leapt out of my seat, did a little dance, and screamed ‘YES! NICARAGUA! YES!’ at the top of my lungs when she won! My mom made fun of me.