Dubai-based Filipino couturier Michael Cinco enjoyed the distinct honor of making the farewell-walk gown of Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere at the 2017 pageant in Las Vegas that was watched by millions the world over.
How did he bag the job?
“We just talked on the phone,” Cinco recalled in a message-chat with Lifestyle, about his talk with Miss Universe manager Esther Swan and Mittenaere. “There was even no actual fitting,” he added.
The Miss Universe Organization asked him back in September to design the farewell-walk formal wear for the French Miss Universe. “She really wanted something like this,” Cinco described the cut of the evening wear.
It was a mermaid-cut long dress, its skirt cut in a flowing bias, with a detachable train. It was encrusted with Swarovski crystals, and it was all done in a month.
It was only last week that it was received by the Miss Universe organizers.
And so, in a resplendent gown in rich red, Mittenaere had a fitting finale to her reign.