The Miss Universe season is on and the entire country is excited to host the pageant for the third time in history. 

Filipinos are very pageant savvy and our country has been grabbing titles left and right for the past seven years. Who could forget how the entire country reacted on MJ Lastimosa's national costume during the 63rd edition of the pageant that was made by a Colombian designer? After that issue, Albert Andrada, a Filipino designer, made the national costume and evening gown of the reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach who brought home the third Miss Universe crown for the Philippines in 2015. 

Pia wore an intricate white terno decorated with beads, crystals and capiz shells for her national costume. For this year's pageant, our delegate Maxine Medina wore a vinta-inspired outfit designed by Rhet Eala— it was a very beautiful gown and it came as no surprise because of the country's colorful culture and talented designers.

Pageants are held all over the Philippines and the national costume is always one of the most awaited part. Each region has their own interpretation and creative ideas on how our national costumes would look like. Down here in Zamboanga, we have the mascota-- a Spanish inspired evening dress worn by the women of Zamboanga during the colonization of the Spaniards. 

The mascota has six  essential parts: (1) corpiño (chemise), (2) candongga (panuelo), (3) renggue (upper body), (4) sobre falda (tapis), (5) cola (the lower body), (6) enaguas (inner lining). An annual mascota competition is held during the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival. Do you think that the mascota is Miss Universe worthy?