Miss Japan’s National Costume in Miss Universe Shocks
Ines Lingron, the national director for Miss Universe Japan, is quick to defend the costume and called the critics as “fashion dinosaurs.”
Lingron said on her blog that she only cares in what the movers and shakers of the fashion industry will say about the fierce national costume.
“I love fierce versus safe, this is who I am and will always be. I want to bring the image of beauty queens to a level which matches mine and not struggle to remain safe and politically correct. I believe that traditional beauty queens are irrelevant in today world, and this is what most of people think and the real reason why TV ratings around the world are dropping and pageant houses have to close down their operations, instead they should reinvent themselves. In Japan, our medias exposure has exploded since the past 5 years because we deliver a work that fits today entertainment expectation. I wanted to share with you all my feelings, my views and my vision. This is what I just sent to the Miss Universe Organization. It was directed by Yoshiyuki Ogata, the designer of the red samurai costume which won best national costume with Kurara in 2006.”
French Lingron is responsible for putting Japanese delegates into the limelight in the past decade and producing a Miss Universe winner for Japan in 2007 with Riyo Mori and a first runner-up with Kurara Chibana in 2006. Last year, Miss Japan was also one of the semi-finalists in Miss Universe.