Miriam Quiambao's Long Gown Inspired Lara Dutta's

Philippine representatives to the Miss Universe pageant usually wear 80-ish gowns since the start of this new millennium. Binibining Pilipinas Organization is obviously not working out in this issue. Many pageant fans who are mostly Filipinos believe that the lack of support from the pageant organizer to dress their candidates in stunning long gowns is what causing the Philippines their failure to crack to the semis.

But in 1999, ten years ago in Trinidad and Tobago, Miriam Quiambao impressed the universe when she paraded in a breathtaking Halston evening gown which helped her claimed that year's First Runner-Up to Miss Botswana Mpule Kweglagobe.

The said gown is also the same long gown that caused Miriam's infamous fall on stage during the preliminary competition. She slipped and fell when the heel of one of her shoes got caught in the trail of her dress.

Maybe Miriam's gown was one of the best gowns ever wore by a Miss Philippines to the Miss Universe. I said this because I have observed that the following Miss Universe pageant in Nicosia, Cyprus in 2000, some of the candidates had gowns that is so similar with Miriam's.

Have you observed this? If not, take a look on these pictures.

This is Miriam's gown.

 

Now, take a look on the gowns of the Top 3 finisher that year.

Lara Dutta of India, the new Miss Universe and Helen Lindes of Spain, First Runner-Up wore gowns that was obviously inspired by the gown of Miriam.

Record Holders of Miss Universe Pageant

Let's take a look at these three beauty queens who had the highest scores in the history of the Miss Universe pageant with judges' scores revealed on TV. Who is the highest in Swimsuit, Evening Gown or Final Night's Preliminary Interview?

The gorgeous Carolina Gomez of Colombia sashayed in the elegant evening gown number in Manila, Philippines in 1994 earning her an average of 9.897.

The brilliant and eloquent Lara Dutta of India wowed everyone in her replies to the initial interview of semifinalists in Nicosia, Cyprus in 2000. This earned her a near perfect score of 9.95.

In the swimsuit category, a previous record of 9.85 swimsuit average score by Veruzka Ramirez of Venezuela (1998, Hawaii, USA) was broken when the breathtaking Oxana Federova of Russia began her phenomenal walk during the swimsuit competition in Puerto Rico (2002). Oxana got a whopping average score of 9.88!