Miss World 2011 Ivian Sarcos of Venezuela: Radiant in Yellow!

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Latina Victoria Beckham: "Miss World 2011" Ivian Sarcos, in Venezuela at a press conference--looked chic in a fitted mustard yellow dress

The newly-crowned "Miss World 2011", Ivian Sarcos returned to her native land, Venezuela, on December 3rd this past weekend--to a "Heroes Welcome". Ivian's schedule in Caracas was filled with lots of press conferences, TV appearances and official visits.

Pink Queen: Ivian Sarcos, "Miss World 2011" right after she was crowned in London

After being crowned the 60th Miss World (and SIXTH from Venezuela) in London in a televised gala watched by millions of worldwide viewer, she traveled home with Miss World Organization Co-Chair Julia Morley, to be congratulated, say "Gracias" (Thank You) and "Te Quiero" (I Love You) to her country...

"Miss World 2011" Ivian Sarcos and Miss World Organization "First Lady" Julia Morley, Caracas Venezuela Press Conference

Besides her many appearances, she was also there to discuss her "Beauty With A Purpose" schedule as the new Miss World for the upcoming year.

The 5' 11" beauty look radiant for her Venevision (Venezuelan TV Network) Press Conference this week, wearing a mustard yellow fitted below-the-knee drop-shoulder dress accessorized with royal blue and crystal stacked peep-toe pumps. She looked like a Latina Victoria Beckham!

Much better than that strapless pink "frothy" organza-and-sequins gown she won the title in: she looked modern, directional, and yes, MUY Chic! Me gusto!

Poppa Beauty: Miss Venezuela Organization Director Osmel Sousa (Left) with "Miss World 2011" Ivian Sarcos, Venevision Studios, Caracas Venezuela

Ivian also reunited with Miss Venezuela Organization President and Pageant Guru Osmel Sousa, who lavished her--and Julia Morley with gifts from the House of Cartier (must be nice!). As the new "Miss World", she will travel to many countries to spread the "Beauty With A Purpose" message as well as crown various national pageant winners. After Venezuela, Ivian is scheduled to go to Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Australia New Zealand, Peru , Mongolia, China, Indonesia and the Philippines, among others. I am SO jealous of the Frequent Flyer Mileage she is going to rack up!! Buena Suerte (Good Luck) y Buen Viaje (Bon Voyage) Ivian!!!

Pageant Gown Two Cents: Miss Indonesia 2011 is Crowned!

Indonesia Likes a Similar Gown...Read on...

Ball Gown Sandwich: Miss World 2010 Alexandria Mills and Miss Indonesia 2010 crown Miss Indonesia 2011, Astrid Ellena

Tonight, a new Miss Indonesia was crowned. A lovely woman by the name of Astrid Ellena Indriana Yunadi won the title of Miss Indonesia 2011 and she will go to the Miss World pageant in London this Winter.

In case you are wondering, there is a whole separate contest to crown the girl who goes to Miss Universe and that one is called Puteri Indonesia or "Princess of Indonesia". They are different franchises and different beauty pageants. One can argue, until the "bathing suits come home", which Pagaent is better---Miss Universe or Miss World--but who cares? More Gowns and more to comment on!!!

Anyhow, in case you didn't know, The current Miss World, Alexandria Mills from the good ol' US of A was on hand to crown the winner. Hope the Miss World Organization flew her First Class. It's a LONG way from the Miss World Org. headquarters in London to Jakarta Indonesia!

Color Ways: Finalists of the Miss Indonesia 2011 in their colorful gowns

Now, of course what interested me where the gowns. There were ten Finalists for the crown and what was fascinating to me-- as a Fashion Designer--and "Style Watcher" was the fact that the finalists ALL wore ALMOST the SAME gown!!! But in different color ways (see photo above). There were slight detail differences, but the colorful organza "Mermaid"-shaped gowns were extremely similar. Very interesting...

Indonesian Quinceañera: Miss World 2010 and Miss Indonesia 2010 crown the new Miss Indonesia 2011, as other contestants look on

As you can also see in the above photo, the reigning Miss World, Alexandria Mills (on the left) wore a BIG OL' Gown--and last year's Miss Indonesia who was passing on the crown, also wore a very similar BIG OL' Gown--this time in silver. I guess, Indonesia and Indonesian beauty pageants love similarities. I guess, it makes it easy in terms of cutting, pattern-making and cost purposes. at least, all the "we-didn't-make-it-into-the-running" girls in the back had DIFFERENT gowns--Yeayyy for that!

Miss World 2010 Finals: Nick Verreos Rates The Miss World Evening Gowns!!!

And The Winner Is...

Kentucky Princess: The newly crowned Miss World 2010, 18 year old Alexandria Mills

Yesterday in Sanya China, a new Miss World was crowned and to a lot of people's surprises, the US representative, 18 year old Alexandria Mills, won. 114 contestants from all over the world competed. She was a favorite to make the finalist roster but not necessarily to take it all. But she did! Miss World--in case you were not "in the know" for international pageants--is a completely separate pageant from the Donald Trump-owned Miss Universe.

Top 5 Gowns: The five Miss World 2010 Finalists Venezuela, Botswana, USA, Ireland and China

While most of the Western Hemisphere (North and South America) consider the Miss Universe Pageant as the premier international beauty contest, the rest of the world (Europe, Africa, Asia) see Miss World as the leader. The Miss World Organization is based out of London and it's "Donald Trump" is CEO Julia Morley.

The new Miss World, hails from Kentucky and is a model with Elite Models in Miami. There is no "official" Miss United States World pageant and, according to THIS, since 2007 Elite Model Management has been in charge of choosing the US representative via portfolios and then sending the "winner" to the international pageant. But enough of the pageant nitty-gritty, let's get to the GOWNS: As usual with gowns we see at the Miss Universe, Miss World gowns tend to also either be "Oh-No-She-Didn't" or "Pageant Elegant" (beading, satin and a high slit somewhere!). While we don't expect to see actual "red carpet" gowns on these girls (one can only dream!), it's nice to see at least some who get it semi-right.

Winning White: The Winner, Miss United States Alexandria Mills wore a very "Pageant Safe" white taffeta one shoulder gown with beading. It featured a fitted silhouette but never went into too-sexy mode (Miss World Organization does not like sexy!) and appropriate for an 18 year old.

Black Peacock: Miss People's Republic of China Tang Xiao (who was a Finalist) wore one of my favorite gowns of the night: A Mermaid-shaped black dress with cascading peacock feather sequin detail. It was elegant, dramatic and impressive. The train was a little too long, however, and she didn't need it. The gown spoke for itself in all its drama without the extra 15 yard train!

South American Red: My favorite gown of the night was this red multi-layered chiffon dress worn by 2nd Runner Up Adriana Vasini from Venezuela. It was one shoulder (of course!) and featured elegant interwoven beading and a high slit (of course, Part Two!). On the stage, she worked that gown OVERTIME! I loved how the color stood against her porcelain skin and very dark hair. It reminded me A LOT of this one:

Worn by Miss Mexico Ximena Navarette, when she won the Miss Universe 2010 title earlier this year.

Canary Queen: An interesting choice was the gown worn by 1st Runner Up Miss Botswana Emma Wareus. It was a strapless bright yellow Mermaid-shaped (popular shape this year) dress with intricate silver and black flower embroidered beading and lots of feathers. This could have gone the "Oh huney that's a mess" route but Kudos to the designer and Emma for OWNING the look and making it work!

Dancing With The Stars, the Miss World Edition: Miss Puerto Rico, Miss World Beach Beauty 2010 Yara Lasanta was very "Dancing With The Stars" in this heavily beaded gown featuring A LOT of chest AND a lot of leg. When you have that amazing of a figure, pick one or the other. She won the "Best Body" already, there's no need to shove it in everyone's faces. It's a little too much, especially for Julia Morley to take. Now, if she was in the Miss Universe Pageant, Donald would have LOVED it!

Miss Thailand Yuwaret Sirirat Rueangsri, looked like a Hollywood (or Bankok rather) film starlet , in this. Love the heavy silver torso beading and deep purple velvet sweeping gown featuring a high slit and open sides/back. I was surprised to see such a SEXY Miss Thailand! How do you say "At A Girl" in Thai?

Penelope 2.0: Although she didn't even place, I still loved the gown Miss Spain Fatima Jimenez wore. It was creme, fully beaded and featured a draped front cowl and gold details at the bust. It was modern, chic and had a 1920's/1930's vibe. Loved the hair bun and the simple drop earrings. Muy elegante.

Beauty and The...Ball Gown: Miss Greece, Diamanto Gasteratou decided to go the Ball Gown route. Hers had a corseted bodice and silver sequin details. She is SO beautiful, I just don't know why she chose such an over-powering gown--that was frankly so Quinceañera. No Miss World since 1996 has won in this type of a gown (when incidentally, Greece won!), so it's a good bet it ain't happening any time soon.

Where's The Steamer: The very pretty Miss Finland Anne-Marie Nurminen unfortunately chose this not-so-pretty gown. I liked the lilac color but the dress itself was uninspired. Besides the wrinkled hem, the bust line had an odd fit problem and I pretty much know that the inner black tulle petticoat should NOT be showing like that. And what is with the oversized pukashell-looking necklace?

Finally, we must end with the winner of The Miss World Best Dress Designer Award: Miss French Polynesia Mihilani Teixeira. It was part Tahitian costume, part evening gown featuring several red tiers of printed crepe satin, feathers throughout and accessorized with an over-sized silver necklace. It's A LOT OF LOOK. If an actress wore this at the Academy Awards, Emmys or Cannes, she would be SLAMMED by the media. But somehow, at the Miss World, it worked for the judges (but not me!).

Click BELOW for the Crowning Moment of Miss World 2010:

Until the next Pageant--And remember: Keep it elegant, simple, modern and don't forget that high slit!

Nick Verreos Fashion Pageant Gown Police

Rating the Gowns at the "World Designer Awards and Fashion Show" at Miss World 2009
The 59Th annual Miss World beauty pageant--the "biggest one of them all" , at least in amount of contestants: 112 !!! (Miss Universe had "only" 84)--is occurring in Johannesburg, South Africa. The final live telecast is not until December 12Th but already lots of pre-final events are happening as we speak (or as I type), including the Miss World Sports (who's the best in sports), Miss World Talent (who performs the best), Miss World Beach Beauty (who looks best in swimsuit) and Miss World Top Model (who best models on the runway). That is a lot of Pageant Craziness!!! In addition to these, there was also a World Dress Designer Fashion Show and Award which happened last week in Turbine Hall, Johannesburg. Miss Sierra Leone (and her gown) took the Grand Prize--followed by Miss South Africa and Miss Jamaica (see above). After looking at some of these gowns, you KNOW "Pageant Nicky" had to give his two cents:

The Winner (of the World Designer Award") was...
Miss Sierra Leone, with an interesting fitted gown which was one of my favorites. It fit beautifully, looked well-made, modern, elegant and had DRAMA. But yet, I couldn't help but think "Gosh, it reminds me so much of....Rami Kashou's gown from his Project Runway Finale Collection". It was very similar: The shape and especially, the ruffled shoulder Caplet piece. I'm not implying that it was a copy, I just found the similarities interesting. Miss Sierra Leone deserved the win and I thought it was a great dress.Now that wasn't the only similarity I noticed from the photos of this Miss World Dress Designer Award Fashion Show: Miss Japan wore a royal blue gown that looked a lot like the one...worn by last year's Miss World, Ksenia Sukhinova from Russia. The same bust and torso shirring, beaded halter neck detail and the same cheesy "car wash" effect. I love the color and the be-jeweled neck accent but THAT car-wash bottom part is SO 1994!
Besides the above "copy cat", there were some beautiful gowns at the Miss World Designer Award and Fashion Show. One of my favorites was this Grecian Goddess (quelle surprise!) apple green gown (above) worn by Miss New Zealand. I was just happy that she wasn't showing distracting cleavage, a high (I shaved my ENTIRE leg) slit or wearing those AWFUL clear Lucite Stripper Heels.
Another stunner was Miss Guatemala, who wore an elegant, red carpet worthy tulle, organza and gold strapless gown down the runway. She looked perfect. Her hair was clean and modern and her accessories were simple yet chic. Somebody is coaching her right! Loved her!Peacock Crazy: For some reason, there were lots of peacock feathers at this Miss World Dress Designer runway show. Case in point: Above, we see Miss Cote D'Ivoire (that's Ivory Coast for non-francophiles) and she wasn't the only one...Miss Guyana was also featuring some peacock feathers worthy of a Shirin-from-Season-Six-Project-Runway dress. I didn't know that there was a Michaels Arts and Crafts store in Guyana?! Now I do.Boobies and a High Slit: A Big No-No, in my book. Miss Angola is very beautiful but really? I can just hear the designer now: "It's going to be PLUNGING up there and OPEN down here!" This is not the red carpet for the Las Vegas Stripper Convention, it's Miss World! Time to add a little bit of class. Is that too much to ask?Another mess was Miss Latvia. You gotta love those girls from Eastern Europe. Why do I just feel like they would be great girlfriends to bring to a Gay Bar? They always bring some of the "Gown Crazy" at these international pageants. This canary yellow polyester satin (the puckering in those seams tell me that is NOT silk!) gown with "peek-a-boo" black bust cups is just...well, best left for the Best Drag Queen in Latvia Pageant. And I'm sure it would be FABULOUS!!!But the winner of the worst dress at the Miss World Designer Dress Fashion Show was this pouffy gown seen here on Miss Germany. Bless her heart. She either A) Has no fashion sense. Or B) made her designer really mad! She's so cute and demure but this is a HOT PROM MESS. I would have rather seen her in an Oktoberfest Dirndl! Heidi Klum: We need you!

Until next time kiddies... "Pageant Nick" will continue to be on the lookout for all the Best and WORST Pageant Fashion!