Miss SA unveils her national costume for Miss Universe Pageant

Less than two weeks after asking South African men to contribute love letters to the women of this country that would be featured on her national costume for the upcoming 2019 Miss Universe Pageant, Miss South Africa Zozibini Tunzi has unveiled her outfit.

From the looks of it, the costume is a frilly hybrid between the prints and colours often found on traditional Xhosa attire (presumably an ode to her Xhosa roots) as well as the colours of the South African flag.

Some writing is visible on the pieces used to make the skirt, thus leading us to assume that these are the love letters that were collected. These positive messages are also covering the negative messages she received about her looks since she was crowned.

She announced the idea in a call-to-action posted on social media a week and a half ago.

According to Tunzi, she wanted to do something both different and meaningful for her national costume given the country’s gender-based violence epidemic.

The call-to-action also formed part of the advocacy work required for her to take part in the pageant. She announced this in a video posted to her Instagram TV page.

“I just wanted to let you guys know that I am picking up my advocacy where I left it on the stage on the 9th of August. I know I gave you guys a hint yesterday saying I would come here and, you know, ask men to stand with women and I am here to tell you guys what that is about. On the 9th of August, I stood there when Anele asked me the question about gender-based violence and why women should keep smiling and I said we have no reason to keep smiling because women are dying every day, being abused every day and mostly nobody is doing anything about it. And so I have decided to something about it and I don’t want to be the only person doing something about it. I want you guys to join me on my journey of doing something about gender-based violence,” she explained.

Miss South Africa Zozibini Tunzi in her Miss Universe national costume | Image: Instagram

The design is by a company called the Costume Department who have been posting teasers of the process on their Instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4cBjAvpGrf/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5KAP0DpBGa/

The company has previously worked on costumes for past candidates such as Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters and Tamryn Green.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqwkfZQnR2w/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BatlB3Aho-Z/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqezwNvHPRw/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqe0BxAn63d/

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