Fashion craftsmanship is truly a form of storytelling for Filipino couturier Axel Que.
The designer has made the Philippines proud with her national costume creation for Miss Universe 2021 Philippine representative Beatrice Luigi Guzman during the pageant preliminaries held in Eilat, Israel earlier today.
Initially wowing the Universe Philippines crowd with her sea serpent costume on Beatrice in September, the designer took her natcos couture to a whole new level for the Universe 2021 prelims.
The beauty queen truly slayed the Universe stage with Que’s fashion interpretation of the Visayan mythical creature, the Bakunawa- – only this time with even more outlandish, more intricate shimmering details embellished onto the turquoise costume. With more elaborate golden accents such as creature-like sleeves depicting the folklore sea serpent in its superlative phase, the designer described her elevated Universe natcos as the “Bakunawa in its final form: the golden lunar dragon.”
Que shared her design vision on her Instagram page.
“I wanted to continue my narrative of the Bakunawa, and I’m taking my artistic license to a whole new level. The initial version was a bit restrained, it was more of a Drake (video game jargon used for a dragon’s stage of evolution), which is basically mid-life cycle. I wanted to take everyone on this journey of growth and maturity, not just for the costume itself, but also as a metaphor for Bea’s personal evolution,” she said.
“I am proud to present my Bakunawa’s final form: The Golden Lunar Dragon. This is a personal, hypothetical envisioning of what the Bakunawa would look like had it succeeded in devouring the last moon. I chose gold to render the whole piece in because aside from its divine beauty, it is considered as the perfect element ( because it’s chemically one of the least reactive ), and to hopefully imbue this characteristic to the wearer, much like an enchanted armor.”
“I believe that this final rendition of the Bakunawa, will serve as the perfect conclusion to this design chapter in my life. I’ve poured so much of myself into engineering this garment, and I am filled with so much joy to be able to share this project of unbridled artistry and craftsmanship. I couldn’t think of a better punctuation,” she concluded.
The natcos was topped off with a wonderful crown by Manny Halasan, and paired with marvelous gladiator heels by Jan Montalban. The overall national costume ensemble was curated by stylist Edward Castro.