ASEAN Life Vol 1 March 2016 | Page 24

Beauty and Fashion PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE Miss Universe 2015: The ASEAN Ladies’ Race to the Crown W hen it comes to pageants, delegates from Latin America are usually expected to reign supreme. Venezuela for instance has brought home 7 Miss Universe crowns. The Miss Universe 2014 is from Colombia and just months before the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, a Venezuelan was crowned Miss International. Asians on the other hand don’t have the same impressive records. Among the Southeast Asian countries for instance, only the Philippines (1969, 1973) and Thailand (1965, 1988) have brought home the Miss Universe crown with 2 each previously. In the 2009 edition of the pageant, no Asian managed to make it into the list of semifinalists at all. 24 asean life The game started to change lately though, as more Asians started showing impressive performances. The fight was led by Venus Raj of the Philippines in 2010, after being the only Asian to have entered the top 15. She broke the 10 years of her country’s nonplacement in the Miss Universe pageant. In the succeeding years, the Philippines managed to have runners up and finalists. In 2013, Whulandary Herman of Indonesia also broke records when she became the 2nd woman from her country to have placed in Miss Universe. Indonesia’s placement streak then continued after 2013. Team ASEAN has become even stronger with the return of Myanmar in the pageant in 2013 after last sending a delegate in 1961. In 2015, Vietnam sent Phạm Thị Hương, who was a product of an actual pageant instead of being handpicked by the country’s national director. With the strength of the representatives from the region come the louder voices of their fans. If we can remember back to 2010, the video of Filipino fans who were extremely emotional with Venus Raj’s placement, became viral. Battle Royale If the performances of previous ASEAN delegates were an indicator, the 2015 pageant ought to be a fierce battle. Though Latinas remained a very strong force, all eyes were on the ASEAN delegates. They didn’t disappoint though. Thailand’s Aniporn Chalermburanawong was an imme-