Filipino team behind Miss International’s glam photos, videos

Bb. Pilipinas Nicole Borromeo’s official headshot/MISS INTERNATIONAL FACEBOOK PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Miss International pageant has already released the “glam” headshots, introduction videos, and swimsuit photos of the delegates in this year’s competition. And a team of Filipinos is behind the images and clips posted on the official social media pages of the global tilt.

Raymond Saldaña and Owen Reyes of Klickbox Studios flew to Tokyo, where the pageant’s 61st edition is currently taking place, for the delegates’ official glamour photos and self-introduction video clips. Filipino stylist Patrick Henry Mergano collaborated with the lensmen for the project.

In an online interview, Mergano shared that this is not the first time he collaborated with Saldaña for the Miss International pageant. The two were also behind the headshots of the delegates in the 59th Miss International pageant in 2019. Mergano did not join the glam squad for last year’s competition because he personally handled the styling of the Philippines’ 2022 representative, Hannah Arnold.

The stylist shared that the International Cultural Association (ICA), organizer of the global tilt, gave them the liberty to conceptualize the shoot. “We just wanted it to still look ‘very Miss International,’ soft, delicate, elegant,” he said. In their headshots, the delegates sported a clean look, wearing white outfits against a white background. For the introduction videos, the ladies made slow, graceful movements and poses while being filmed in tight framing.

For the swimsuit photos, Mergano had large, sheer coverups in soft hues incorporated in the wardrobe. “The treatment is different, it has to still be conservative in keeping up with the image of the Miss International pageant,” he shared.

Behind the scene of the glam photoshoot/MISS INTERNATIONAL PHOTO

For the 2023 competition, the Miss International pageant is doing away with the swimsuit parade during the final show. But ICA’s head director Stephen Diaz, also a Filipino, clarified that the ladies will still be judged in swimwear for their body proportion and skin quality, which will take place at a closed-door evaluation.

Mergano expressed his gratitude to Diaz for the continued trust in them since he and Saldaña got on board in 2019. He also said that this year’s competition is “very organized” and that the 2023 delegates are fortunate to experience the competition as if they are tourists, enjoying the sites and culture of Japan. “This is the pageant where the girls are not haggard,” he said.

The stylist also said that being tapped by the Miss International pageant makes him “happy and proud to share our talents on the international stage, especially because this is one of the longest-running and most prestigious pageants in the world.”

He also compared the experience to his work in the Binibining Pilipinas pageant where “the treatment is very traditional.” Mergano and Klickbox Studios have also worked together on the official photos of the candidates of the national pageant for several years already, along with the Dia Ali fashion label that provided the ruffled robes used in the 2023 Miss International glamour shots.  /ra

Bb. Pilipinas Nicole Borromeo’s official swimsuit photo/MISS INTERNATIONAL FACEBOOK PHOTO

The 61st Miss International pageant will hold its final competition at the Yoyogi Gymnasium No. 2 in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward on Oct. 26. Bb. Pilipinas Nicole Borromeo is aiming to succeed reigning queen Jasmin Selberg to become the seventh Filipino woman to capture the title.

The Philippines has produced six Miss International titleholders to date—Gemma Cruz (1964), Aurora Pijuan (1970), Melanie Marquez (1979), Precious Lara Quigaman (2005), Bea Rose Santiago (2013) and Kylie Verzosa (2016).  /ra