R'Bonney Gabriel chooses Filipino designer Rian Fernandez for her gowns

Miss Universe 2022 R'Bonney Gabriel may have created some of the gowns she wore for the pageant herself, but she also wore a unique gown created by Filipino designer Rian Fernandez.

Asked during her interview on the Updated with Nelson Canlas podcast on how she chose Rian, she shared, “ I discovered him just through the internet in the pageant world. And I have been working with him for a while because he made me two gowns for Miss Texas, he made me my gown for Miss USA.”

“When it became time to go to Miss Universe I said I need to go with the same designer because he's been with me since day 1. And he made beautiful pieces,” she added.

The beauty queen then detailed the process of designing her gowns. As a designer herself, she sent over a few inspiration ideas to Rian.

“For example, for my final gown, I said I wanted something bold, different, I knew I wanted black because I feel like a lot of girls haven't worn any black and I really wanted to take a risk and do something edgy and just something really out there, so I told him all these things,” she added.

She added that they then “bounce ideas back and forth” before Rian sends a sketch. Once she approves of the design, she “just let him do his thing.”

“I don't try to put my hands on his creations too much because he's a designer as well and I just like to trust his process,” she added.

However, she had asked the Filipino designer to add some touch of blue to the original design to match the crown at the last minute. R'Bonney said that she did not see any photos of it and that it was just shipped over where her parents had to pick it up.

She then mentioned her initial reaction to it. “Once I finally got the gown and I saw it for the first time in person and I tried it on, I was just 'Wow this is incredible, this is so different and I'm ready to take this to the Miss Universe stage.'”

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