Reacting to 58 National Costumes 

Which looks were your favorites?!

France is literally known for their fashion history and influence yet they did something you’d see on Emily in Paris

I'm deeply disappointed that America's wasn't nearly as gaudy as it has been in previous years. Gaudy is our culture guys, embrace it. Bring back the transformer.

They could have dressed Miss France as a giant macaron and it would have been a big improvement.

(stares into the distance in Canadian, a single tear rolling silently down my cheek) It- it didn't even look like a maple leaf. You want high fashion based on our flag? Make a dress that looks like it's made out of thousands of maple leaves that you carefully collected from the forest floor and then lovingly organized to create gentle patterns within the gradations of red. Want to include the white? Add a layer of what looks like frost to the hem and the cuffs along with some really elegant shoes that look like they're also covered in frost. A DRESS BASED ON OUR FLAG COULD HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN GOOD-!!!

Definitely a budget thing. I know a Miss Canada from years ago had to purchase her own plane tickets to the finals and sort out her own makeup / costumes and all logistics, and I imagine this is the case for the majority of the countries with the embarrassingly basic outfits. If the contestants do not come from money, there's not much they can do even if they are representing their country to the world. There is no team and no given budget. Luckily other countries put in more effort and funding for this type of thing.

okay i need NEED Xiran to react to national costumes every time there's an international beauty pageant coz this is so much fun to watch. also love your Ming robe!

Just to let u know that the Malaysia outfit is based on folkfore "Ulek Mayang". Ulek Mayang is story about sea spirit or bunian (elf? ) and consists of 7 princess (7 mannequin). One day, the fishermen go to catch their fish at the sea but a huge wave hitting them and they stranded on seashore. All the fishermen is concious except one. They bring the unconcious fisherman to a dukun (shaman) and he said that the unconcious fisherman soul was kidnapped by one of the princess because she interesed in him. So the dukun do a ritual to get back the soul and he fight so intensely that the princess have to get help from another 5 sisters. Then the first princess appeared which is the most beautiful, wise and strong among them. When the dukun realise the first princess appear he try to negotiate with her. The first princess keep listen because she know how problematic her sisters is. Then the princess say "I know ur origin, let creatures coming from land back to land, and let creature coming from sea back to sea". So everything back to normal and the dukun keep give offering to the 7 princess because of that event. The model in the video dress as the dukun. There is a song about this folkfore and the song have lyric about first until seven princess. But we never sing a full version because some mystical (possession and paranormal) thing happen if we do. So most people perform with even number (2,4,6) princess verse only in the song. Sorry if there is a mistake

Quick note from an Italian person: thankies dear ^^ In fact Lady Gaga is partially italian :3 And I do agree, lots of people in Italy tie themselves up for their enemies funerals ^^

my great grandma was polish and my great grandad was french, so i was interested to see how those parts of my heritage would be represented. i was kind of disappointed that i hadnt seen poland up until i saw france. a blessing in disguise, i think

I think the countries that were super underwhelming were trying to pull off the 'sexy' look. It just feels like the design team was insecure in any sort of creative vision and just went with something they thought would get by only to show up day of and realize their horrible mistake.

Rococo: *exists* France: e m i l y i n p a r i s

As a European, my impression of the white majority countries is the following: 1. Missunderstood the assignment as "represent as the cliche of your country", which explains France & Germany looking like cheap halloween costumes 2. In my experience in a lot of white countries actual cultural dress is seen as "tacky" and thus unsexy, which would explain Netherlands? 3. The best representation you can think off when thinking about your country being the flag (like Canada & Ireland)

so from what i've gathered, the person representing Canada is Olga Bykadorova and the headpiece was based on the kokoshnik, a slavic headpiece. she said that Quebec's Fleur de Lys is is detailed all over the costume "showcasing [her] French hometown and province." but the decision for the kokoshnik was probably a reference to her own family's heritage since she mentioned her parents were immigrants to Canada. she is fluent in English, French, Russian, and Ukrainian and says she is learning Spanish. tbh her outfit has been my favorite (so far) so i wanted to understand what went into it. edit: Costa Rica owned 😭👏👏👏

america has such iconic influences when it comes to fashion and they gave this woman a freaking diy skirt train. she did amazing displaying the outfit but honestly shame on that designer

love how for everyone else the US reminded them of barbie meanwhile I was over here thinking, "Ah yes, nothing more american than Elle Woods and Legally Blonde." for some reason.

Xiran: has made mention of 2 countries being Stand Users Jojo fans who are also fashion nuts: *has been summoned* All jokes aside, the costumes of Latin America and Asia were really amazing!

I'm mad at Ireland. There's so much they could have done to at least not look like they grabbed whatever decorations were hanging up in a liquor store on St. Patrick's Day.

European countries and the US could've made a medieval themed outfit like most medieval larpers/cosplayers have good ideas. Or like a high fantasy outfit like in Lord of the Rings. They could've represent or can be hired to create costumes. Well if not, then there's pinterest where they can get inspired by high fantasy medieval theme.

16:03 Malaysia slaying the whole stage holy shit 😩

What I thought France would be: Joan of Arc or Rococo style What France was: French Flight attendant

Mexico’s look is inspired by the god kukulkan or Quetzalcoatl

Chile looks like 1970s Wonder Woman. Egypt's tiger is silly. Italy is dressed for an audience with the Pope. Spain saves Europe from being a total loss. USA is just a budget Barbie. Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa stole the show.

Me not a fashion fan... Also me screaming every time a latino country show up with those amazing desings. ESO MI GENTE!!!

Problem is with germany, we have DOZENS of "ethnic costumes" no way to find a general "german" one, so i think it was a good choice to go the fairytale route, since those are more universal. Still the costume looks cheap as fuck

As a very white Canadian, that dress could’ve been salvaged. Just change the theme to Canada’s many forests, especially because the beauty of Canadian land is something our country loves to show off. Just changing the red to red and orange and yellow, it might have looked less like like a giant walking ball of feathers and more like a tree inspired outfit. Also I’m loving how everyone is coming out and commenting on their countries outfit representation that is so cool

My family is French/German and I am D I S G U S T E D. I have a couple pieces of French rococo inspired Lolita fashion that looks WAY better then whatever the hell most of Europe was wearing💀💀💀

I think the Dutch costume is inspired by a Dutch racer winning the F1 world championship last year. It was a big thing at the time, but hardly representative. The Netherlands is so much, much more than car racing, like we're ruling speed skating for decades. But well, the wind mill was already done on this show. ;) It's not that we all lack imagination.

Ms dominican republic: the red is supposed to represent the bloodshed of out liberators. What does yours represent? Ms canada: uhhh I’m a maple leaf 😬

waiting on sweden like "theyll never do a saami inspired look" and then seeing that godawful lucia outfit. the ultimate disappointment. didnt even take the easy way out with one of the traditional dresses smh

France literally looked like a generic cartoon. Im surprised she didn't hold a croissant or baguette at that point...bruh (*eye freaking roll*)🙄.

France gave us a stewardess outfit as if the entirety of Rococo fashion was not made for this exact moment

I think the issue was France, Germany etc interpreted the category as “we need to be sexy” while places like Malaysia weren’t afraid to do non sexy cool concepts.

everyone else: amazing elaborate and detailed dresses showing off their history and culture France, the historical centre of fashion in Europe: **sweating nervously**

the problem with the looks of most European countries is that they dont even try to incorporate their historical or mythological fashion. France could have done crazy hair with a roccoco dress, russia could have gone all out on traditional dress (they did some of it, but not as puffy and not enough detail in the embroidery), ireland went for st.patricks day, but they could have made it bigger and sparklier, there were definitely ways to make their concept look better. over all the southern hemisphere countries carried this contest

was so excited for you to roast the uk then we didn't even bother to show up 😔

France: Deep history as a fashion leader, including haute couture houses, the Rococo gowns and exaggerated wigs of Marie Antionette, cancan fashions and Moulin Rouge, Dior, Chanel, etc., etc... Miss Grand France: Party City Sexy Mime sounds right.

"What happened to the European delegates' budget?" Easy answer. It's going to Eurovision

To quote miss Katya and Tracy Martell, the South/Central America and Asian beauty queens dress as if they're going to be seen all the way from Mars.

France: Has Renaissance extreme styles, more stylists than I can memorize and is one of the hot spots for fashion in general. Also France: Let's do Jean-Paul Gautier, but if he wasn't inspired.

In national costumes rounds, you can always count on Latin American and South East Asian countries to serve. Everytime I watch one of these, they always bring vibrant colours and great energy.

Is it me or does USA's costume look like Regina George from "Mean Girls"? But seriously, Europe just could've shown off their best costumes by combining their Medieval history and so much more after that and only Italy understood the assignment and slayed it.

The difference in the Australian butterfly costume and Philippines butterfly costume is the difference in someone actually prepping and someone who realized she forgot her costume at home and had to run to Spirit Halloween 5 minutes before going on stage

I saw the US design and thought "Is she ... Barbie?" but now all I can think about is how awesome an actually, intentional tribute to Barbie would be in one of these things. Just, have the contestant in a full size replica of Barbie's iconic debut swim-suit, hair and make-up done to match the doll.

Watching the majority of the European countries' outfits as a medievalist has me putting my head in my hands. Like. come on, I KNOW you have centuries of interesting historical and cultural dress, what are you all DOING in bikinis???

As a South East Asian, I am genuinely happy that every single one of our costumes was legit good Try convincing me ONE of them isn't good

They could've done an extreme rococo Marie Antoinette-esque costume, but instead they gave us that thing.

Xiran: "I love colorful outfits, I wish I could pull this off but I probably can't" while pulling off a vibrant red and gold outfit

France: you have an entire history of lacemaking and folk headresses that would put orchids to shame and then you show up in "sexy chanel mime" halloween costume sans makeup and beret. -10/10

Other European countries: we should go very simple and understated Italy: it's my time to shine 🎭

Historical tidbit: Njinga was an African queen who basically kept Portugal from imperializing her nation for like 50 years. She was lit af and it's super cool that Angola based their costume around her.

In fairness, if a white Australian showed up in traditional aboriginal dress, that would have been problematic.

I am actually really impressed by the European contestants’ confidence - cuz if every one else’s costume was gorgeous and elaborate and mine was a basic Halloween costume, I wouldn’t even bother - but they still slayed the walk! I don’t even mean this as a backhanded compliment 😅

21:24 For Filipino who's asking what Ms. Philippines wanted to represent in her butterfly costume: it's the Paruparo Festival (Butterfly Festival). It doesn't seem a cultural thing because IT'S PRETTY RECENT! But it shouldn't also be dismissed! Paruparo Festival was launched in November 26, 2011. It features the metamorphosis of Dasmariñas (Samantha's hometown) from being barrio to becoming one of the most fast developing cities in the countries. Because it's pretty recent (November 26, 2011) Butterfly represent metamorphosis. In this case: it represent the development of the city thanks to unity, determination and unhesitating willingness to embrace changes. I also love how the wings embraces the light, “like a butterfly embracing the sun with their wings wide open”. Although it doesn't seem a grand thing for others, Ms. Philippines really took it by heart and that's admirable.

As an Italian, I was so scared after seeing France and Germany's costume, but you know what? We killed it, and we brought actual parts of our culture in the game.

As a Southeast asian, I AM SO PROUD OF OUR CULTURE. They delivered on every single one of them!

In every pageant, national costume section is technically the battleground between Southeast Asian countries, this is why they are always all-out. The winners of national costume in Miss Universe in 2010-2020 are almost all Southeast Asian countries.

Germany had exactly one good thought and that was "fairytale". Then they went with little red riding hood from the dollar store. Imagine if they had done Rapunzel instead, with an enormous wig that's like 10 feet of hair. Or a Rumpelstilzchen inspired thing with a spinning wheel that's just spilling golden thread the entire time. Literally any other fairytale or at least a higher budget costume could have been great.

I was not expecting my country Malaysia to be on the list so I screamed when I saw Ms Grand Malaysia. She looks gorgeous and her outfit is insane yet stunning! Bravo to her outfit and makeup team they knocked it out of the park. (and yeah I agree that the European countries' outfits, excepting Czech Republic, Italy and Spain, were kind of underwhelming)

I’m from Australia and I think that costume (yeah it’s definitely a party dress) should have huge spider legs at the back instead of butterfly wings. That would be much more representative, based on my personal experience…

Fun Fact: Quetzalcóaltl is actually a feathered snake, not a dragon.

I'm Argentinean, and I'm pretty sure the outfit that represents our country is based in the outfits from the Gualeguaychú carnival, the biggest carnival event/parade that we have, which takes place every February in the city of the same name in the province of Entre Ríos. If y'all like flashy costumes with colourful feathers, regardless of gender, you should check it out!

The worst thing about so many of these costumes is the clear attitude of some designers: who cares about the costume as long as you can see her legs (looking at you, Germany, Ireland, Australia etc. - this could've been so much less tacky!). I mean if it's clearly a part of design, like with so many of the amazing South American and African countries, then great, but in so many costumes you can tell that was their main concern: HAVE TO SEE THEM PINS! Italy really stood out positively. I love your reactions here!

The saddest thing about the European nations is that they all have rich fashion throughout history. For example both northern and Eastern Europe have a rich folk history that could’ve been used greatly to their advantage. France could’ve used their 17th century ball gowns like how Italy used their Venecian Masquerade. I feel like Germany’s could have been salvaged because the Brothers Grimm were both influential to German folklore, but the cheap costume just ruined it.

So for context, Latin American and South East Asian countries generally take more interest in peagantry, hence more dedication and preparation are put in these costumes. European delegates often come to these events with limited budget and lack of sponsors. It’s not the contestans’s fault, they did their best with what they have. While you’re at it, I recommend you to check out Miss Universe 2021 National Costumes show. There are more countries, more extravagant costumes, Europeans also did better with their costumes 😊

As a Mexican person, I was scared that Mexico was going to go with a native dress, but seeing that marvelous interpretation of Quetzacoatl really blew me away. Also, my favorite one was Thailand. When she posed at the end with the figure was breathtaking.

Latin America and Southeast Asia came here to win, while Europe was basically the equivalent of slightly burnt box brownies at a bake sale. Except Italy. That was awesome.

The worst part about it is that the Netherlands has traditional dress. I mean at the very least they could pay homage to their country's exceptional feats of engineering and mastering of the forces of nature. Please, a racing bodysuit? Also... 30 minutes of bisexual squeeing is my jam.

Something that isn't widely discussed regarding "beauty" pageants is how *ugly* they can get backstage, with various contestants sabotaging the outfits of their competitors, requiring them to bring 2 or more dresses for each required category. So some of these might be 2nd-best versions (or even 3rd-best!) because their top choices were wrecked by their rivals.

The "halo" look on Vietnam is a part of our national dress! the headdress is call a khan dong, and you would LOVE the variations of it from other international pageants too!

hey, south african here. the guy on miss grand south africa's cape is Siya Kolisi, the first black captain for the Springboks (our national rugby team). Under his lead we won our third world cup in 2019. Her outfit is supposed to be a representation of the Springbok & Protea, our national flower & animal and the names of our national sport teams. Our sport teams (but especially the rugby 😂) are known as the Green & gold, therefor the colour scheme.

As a german, not only is germany's outfit embarrassing in comparison to all those drop-dead gorgeous south-east asian and south american ones, I'm also sad I didn't get so see a creative interpretation of german traditinal clothes

As an Italian I'm so proud of what they pulled off after seeing Germany and France! But damn the central-American countries RULED the show!!!

As a mexican, I was really impressed by the Quetzalcoatl outfit. It was INCREDIBLE. And it warmed my heart to hear it was probably your favorite. Had a blast watching your reaction, despite this not being the kind of content I tipically watch!

Dude... the US contestant just needs to own that her outfit was inspired by our Patron Saint of Pageantry, Barbie!!

24:42 can I just say… I’m proud to be Thai I know it’s not really a needed comment but I just feel so happy that ours don’t suck, btw I can just feel the meaning through that costume it’s really not something you would see in a lifetime.

If I was one of the Halloween-costume European ones, I'd be so sad looking at all the really cool outfits the other countries had. Seriously, how did none of them think to go for a cool medieval or renaissance look or something? dresses from that era were stunning!

Hey! a filipino here! Ms. Philippines' outfit was probably inspired by an old folklore/mythology creature, The Diwata. It's a forest spirit and usually female presenting who is benevolent to the good and vengeful to those who cross them, they will either have blue butterfly wings or yellow dragonfly wings, they also happen to be the filipino equivalent of a fairy.

The Sweeden dress was inspired by Sankta Lucia. She’s an important saint to both Finish and Swedish people. We don’t technically have saints, but make and exeption for her. She was a girl who brought warmth with candles and a bunch of food to strugling people. And since our countries are really cold the warmt was really important. She is usually displayed with a crown of candles and holding a candle. We have a celebration where a bunch of girls dress in white and carry candles in a procesion of sorts. Even I have done this. Wasn’t Lucia tho.

I knew that Miss USA was going to disappoint me so it made me overjoyed that Miss Mexico was absolutely radiant in every sense of the word.

The costume from Malaysia is based on a traditional dance called Ulek Mayang from the state of Terrenganu. The dance is based on a ritual by a bomoh (shaman) to treat a fisherman who was spellbound by a sea princess who fell in love with him. According to the legend, the princess called five other sisters to fight the bomoh for the fisherman’s soul until the fight was resolved by the seventh princess who ordered everyone to return to their place of origin, the fisherman stays on land & the princesses return to the sea. The mannequins were based on the 7 sea princesses and Lishalliny (the contestant) dressed as the bomoh hence the traditional malay male attire and the rice paddy she was holding and swinging was used in the ritual. The dance is one of many dying arts in the country so I'm glad to see it being preserved in the costume.

Malaysia definitely popped off to me. Like the androgynous look is the cherry on top the impressive beautiful statues, the way it's making us focus on her last. Definitely a stand out.

Ms. Malaysia being a whole damn parade float- holy. Absolutely jaw dropping.

Miss grand sweden really tried to do a Lucia look without real candles and without the red sash. The girls at my school didn’t get hot wax in their hair just so our representative in a weird pageant could walk out with ugly, fake, unlit candles.

I grew up in a Dutch-American town that celebrated its Dutch-ness every spring with a Tulip festival. Traditional costumes from every region of the Netherlands abound that whole week. For one week, everyone is "Dutch," no matter their actual ethnicity or where. You could do *incredible* things with ANY of those traditional styles, and that's not even considering the "iconic imagery" of the country. I'm not even Dutch but growing up in a place that unironically celebrates and dances in real wooden shoes every spring makes me offended that Miss Grand Netherlands wore a cheap racing track suit. Like....what?!

Latin America understood the assignment… France… did not. Why didn’t they do something from like, the French Baroque era or something? It’d be so easy to make something extra with that. I literally was in a whole play about France in the 1700’s! America… just went full on Barbie.

US contestants will never surpass Miss America 2013 transformers costume

You are absolutely right in regards to Miss Germany's outfit. Germany has *way* better ethnic outfits than that. Maybe take an old Germanic design for a dress, rework it and glitz it up? Do something like what Miss Pakistan or Miss Russia did? Nope. Just a Red Riding Hood costume that you can get at Party City for pocket change. T_T

As an Indian person, when Miss Grand India walked out I just remember going "you really saw Parvati and Padma's awful costume design for the yule ball and took that as your inspiration, huh?"

The Malaysian costume is inspired by a folk tale in Malaysia called Ulek Mayang. Basically, it is a ritualistic dance performed to appease or invoke the spirits of the sea (the 7 princesses on the back)

Alternate title: Xiran looking at pretty women and pretending not to be gay for 29 minutes

The Netherlands actually has a bunch of folk/traditional dress that differs per region and they put her in a sexy racecar driver costume- Crickets.

Talking about Stand Users in a fashion show is just perfection. I'm loving this new content

As an American, I'm wondering why our Miss Grand looks like a dollar store version of Barbie? My favorite though was Mexico. What can I say? I see a dragon, instantly my favorite.

I like to imagine the European countries backstage being like "oh you have a massive costume showcasing the incredible intricacies of your culture with movable parts, brilliant colors, and mythological significance. We have a racecar suit."

European countries really need to start going for historical costumes because so many of them have amazing historical dress (look at Italy’s outfit) but instead they go for a club outfit

My favorites are Angola, Malaysia, and Italy. Italy was based on the Carneval in Venice. I'm not sure the spelling but it's similar to the Carnival in Rio or Mardi Gras in New Orleans - one last hurrah before the 40 days of Lent. I saw some of the masks they wear when I visited Venice and they were absolutely stunning.

Latin America really said "Our costumes are like our food. They're both full of flavor and spice."

France really looked at their history and how they dominated women's fashion in Europe and abroad for hundreds of years and went "ummm maybe non."

I also need to appreciate Vietnam's boots actually matched her outfit. She pulled off those platforms so well!