Tracy Maureen Perez’s Miss World NATCOS took only two days to make, says designer Axel Que
At the Miss World coronation night, Tracy Maureen Perez donned a national costume that seemed different yet somehow familiar. It turns out that it was actually a “baby version” of what she wore at last year’s preliminaries—and it took only two days to make.
“I made it when Tracy was already in Puerto Rico for the pageant in December,” fashion designer Axel Que told PhilSTAR L!fe, referring to the time when the tilt was initially scheduled on Dec. 16, 2021.
“She called me up because she can’t perform Dances of the World properly so immediately, I decided to make a new one and I only had two days to finish everything because it had to be sent to Puerto Rico,” he continued.
At the prelims, Tracy wore a striking outfit inspired by mythological creature Mayari—the moon goddess and daughter of Bathala—and amped up with some white and purple flowers as well as some pearls and tassels.
While the first version of her NATCOS is more elegant and sophisticated, Axel confessed it was quite difficult to wear and dance to. “I call the new one a ‘battle costume.’ It’s more for the movement, and I changed the colors of the flowers and exaggerated the headpiece to balance everything out."
How Axel was able to come up with such a masterpiece in so little time came as a surprise to Tracy. “It was already final when it arrived there. Me and Tracy have a deep understanding of what she likes and what she doesn’t like so she was confident enough to trust me,” said Axel.
“Walang shoot or anything na nagawa for that costume so the only exposure was the finals,” he added, “I was the only person who knew about the look beforehand.”
The Miss World Philippines 2021 titleholder concluded her journey to the crown in the Top 12 of the tilt’s 70th edition held on Thursday, Mar. 17. Karolina Bielawska of Poland was crowned Miss World, followed by first runner-up Shree Saini (United States) and second runner-up Olivia Yace of Cote d’Ivoire.
