JANICEL Lubina in her winning gown made by a Filipino designer. AP
THE ATMOSPHERE became tense at the recent homecoming press conference for 2015 Binibining Pilipinas-International Janicel Lubina at the Gateway Mall in Quezon City when circumstances surrounding her award-winning competition gown were tackled.
“Next question, sorry,” said the 20-year-old Palawan-based lass when this writer asked how she arrived at the decision to use an elaborately adorned white number by Filipino designer Leo Almodal for the gown competition in the 2015 Miss International finals in Tokyo, Japan, on Nov. 5.
Lubina first struggled to find the right words to say, then looked at Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. chair Stella Marquez-Araneta, as if to seek her permission to respond, but the national pageant organizer motioned to her to decline from answering.
Lubina was proclaimed “Best Dresser” in the 2015 Miss International pageant for bagging the evening gown competition, so media scribes expected that the award would be highlighted. After all, Almodal was also commissioned to create the national costume, which Lubina used in the global tilt.
Tradition
The question stemmed from the decades-long “tradition” of Binibining Pilipinas queens ditching Filipino-made designs in their international competitions.
But with Lubina’s showcase of the Almodal gown, as well as Parul Shah’s display of a Mark Bumgarner dress in the 2015 Miss Grand International pageant last month, people would surmise that a new era has begun for Filipino queens in global tilts as far as Binibining Pilipinas is concerned.
However, Lubina appeared without her sash bearing the award she received. It was also not included in the press release distributed to media scribes who attended the conference. Almodal’s name was mentioned, but only as the designer of her national costume. The main focus of the write-up was her Top 10 finish in a field of 70 delegates in the international contest’s 55th edition.
But, at the sidelines of the press conference, Lubina related how her fellow delegates got enamored by the Almodal creation.
“My fellow candidates came to me and told me ‘Your gown is nice!’ Some even said, ‘I want to wear that to my wedding.’ So, I explained to them that it was made by a Filipino designer,” Lubina said.