Under The Angsana Tree: Dress worn by Miss Universe entrant baffles Singapore

What does Miss Universe Singapore 2018 think of her costume

Wings, Trump and Kim Jong Un

On June 12, President Trump held a summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore. The meeting — the first between the two countries’ heads of state — was honored before it even happened with a commemorative coin for sale in the White House Gift Shop (current price: $100).

Now, the event will be commemorated again — when Singapore’s entrant in the 2018 Miss Universe pageant next month wears a dress bearing a giant digital image of Trump and Kim shaking hands.

Zahra Khanum, 24, will show off the dress at the contest (which, incidentally, was owned by Trump between 1996 and 2015) in Bangkok on Dec. 17. Speaking to Singapore’s New Paper, Khanum said the dress “represents something we all need, which is to promote a sense of unity and friendship, rather than hatred and anger.”

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No peace for Miss Universe Singapore national costume inspired by Trump-Kim summit

The design of the Miss Universe Singapore national costume has sparked off a sea of memes and parodies. PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN, FACEBOOK

History repeated itself when the annual Miss Universe Singapore national costume was unveiled on Thursday (Nov 29).

As was the case for the last 5 years, the national costume, inspired by the high-profile summit in Singapore between United States President Donald Trump & North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier this year, received poor reviews from the public.

The dress, designed by 48-yr-old Moe Kasim, centres on a flowy electric blue skirt that fans out with a digital print of a handshake - one arm features the North Korean flag and the other, the American flag - over the Singapore skyline.

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8 things Miss Singapore’s national costume looks like instead of ‘world peace’

Miss Universe Singapore’s national costume apparently depicts world peace. Peace as a result of the North Korea-United States summit that saw Kim Jong Un & Donald Trump meeting in Singapore in June.

The dress was unveiled today before Miss Universe Singapore 2018 Zahra Khanum wears it at the Miss Universe pageant in Bangkok next month.

No offence to the designer, but I just don’t see “world peace”. I do, however, see:

What the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel might look like if Michelangelo was from Singapore and designed dresses for Miss Universe Singapore contestants.
Changi Airport in a much more convenient location.
An American flag missing around 40 stars.
Two arms making a deal. Wait… Is that an “arms deal”?
An angel showing us a vision of a dystopian future.
Two foreign men being deported from Singapore via UFO.
The Merlion, cracking up in the corner, spitting out his drink at the sight of this dress.
Shoes that do not go with this dress.

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Netizens turn Miss Universe Singapore 2018 national costume into hilarious memes

Another year, another Miss Universe Singapore national costume that has drawn flak

This year's costume features a peace symbol incorporated into the bodice, but the highlight is a fan-like electric blue skirt emblazoned with a digital print of a handshake - one arm features the North Korean flag & the other, the American flag - over the Singapore skyline.

The eye-catching design inspired one Facebook user, Jer Bear, to launch a #MissUniverseSingaporePhotoshopBattle, challenging internet users to superimpose on the skirt whatever they want. More than 45 Photoshop-enthusiasts have posted their responses within 4 hours.

Wary that some of the nastiness may be misdirected at current Miss Universe Singapore Zahra Khanum, Jer Bear wrote: "This is calling out the team behind her, not Miss Universe herself." "Yes it's mean of us, but when you do s**** like this you get called out."

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Hundreds of netizens blast Miss Universe Singapore national costume depicting US-North Korea summit

Hundreds of netizens have excoriated this year’s national costume that will be worn by Miss Universe Singapore as she represents the nation in the international beauty pageant.

Designed by Moe Kasim, the dress depicts the US-North Korea summit that was held in Singapore in July this year. The costume features a digital image of a handshake between two people – one arm features the US flag while the other bears the North Korean flag – set over the Singapore skyline, printed on a long blue skirt.

The bodice of the dress consists of a white peace symbol over a nude fabric. The dress is completed with a pair of 3m-long white dove wings, will be worn by Miss Universe Singapore Zahra Khanum when she appears on stage next month in Bangkok for the pageant’s national costume parade.

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The photoshop battle involving Miss Universe Singapore’s terrible summit-inspired outfit has begun

As you may have seen and tittered in disbelief this morning, this year’s Miss Universe Singapore will be competing on the world stage with a horrendous costume.

The award-winning designer behind the outfit thought it would be great if young model Zahra Khanum wore a dress emblazoned with a tacky, tasteless print reminding everyone that the Trump-Kim summit took place in Singapore.

As you may have seen and tittered in disbelief this morning, this year’s Miss Universe Singapore will be competing on the world stage with a horrendous costume. The award-winning designer behind the outfit thought it would be great if young model Zahra Khanum wore a dress emblazoned with a tacky, tasteless print reminding everyone that the Trump-Kim summit took place in Singapore.

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Ho Ching’s sloppy sandals, PAP, and Lee Kuan Yew not spared in Miss Universe Singapore 2018 Photoshop Battle

The highly-criticised Miss Universe Singapore 2018 national costume has spawned a photoshop battle on social media, drawing submissions from dozens of netizens.

Some of those who took part in the photoshop battle replaced the digital image on the skirt of the dress with notable Singapore icons, foods and prominent figures, while others used other creative images to create an optical illusion.

This year’s Miss Universe Singapore national costume drew immense flak when it was unveiled yesterday. Designed by Moe Kasim, this year’s dress depicts the US-North Korea summit that was held in Singapore in July this year.

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Miss Universe Singapore will don a costume inspired by the Trump-Kim summit, and it is horrifyingly bad

The Miss Universe 2018 contest will be held in Thailand next month, and 24-year-old National University of Singapore graduate Zahra Khanum will represent the Little Red Dot in the highly-regarded (chortle) beauty pageant.

She seems like a pretty nice person, and that’s why we’re pouring our genuine sympathies for her — the model will have to don a horrible, horrible dress that looks like it was designed by people who manufacture cheap junk for souvenir stores.

Behold! Honestly, we feel embarrassed for her. It’s like the costume was going for a modest Victoria’s Secret angel feel with a touch of diplomacy and a whole truckload of kitschy, tacked-on motifs. The white wings supposedly represent doves; the bodice resembles a peace symbol, and the skirt is embellished with an outrightly gaudy print featuring a panorama of the Singapore skyline beneath an oddly-shaped disembodied arms shaking hands. One side representing North Korea, one side representing the United States. In case you don’t get it, it’s supposed to represent the historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in our fair city back in June.

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The Worst Comments On The Miss Universe Singapore Costume

So… we kinda need to talk about this year’s Miss Universe Singapore costume. The costume, designed by Moe Kasim of Moephosis Concepts, was revealed on Thursday morning (29 Nov) and quickly drew the ire of commenters on Facebook. A concept: a 33°C nation clothed by Uniqlo and Taobao immediately became a Project Runway judging panel.

Inspired by the Trump-Kim summit that was held in Singapore this June, the costume consists of 3 metre-long white dove wings, a peace symbol incorporated into the bodice and an electric blue skirt emblazoned with a digital print of a handshake — one arm features the North Korean flag and the other, the American flag — over the Singapore skyline. Miss Universe Singapore (MUS) 2018 Zahra Khanum will be wearing the atrocity costume at the Miss Universe finals on 17 December.

Moe Kasim told The New Paper: “The toughest part was bringing out the message tastefully through design. I had to consider the political sensitivities and what it all meant to Singapore and to the world community… without (creating) any misinterpretation. As the summit was about making peace, it was only natural to go with the World Peace theme.” World peace was not to be had, however, not even on a national scale. Many voiced their (gentle) disapproval with the design.

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Trump-Kim summit inspires latest Miss Universe Singapore national costume

When Miss Universe Singapore (MUS) 2018 Zahra Khanum appears on stage in Bangkok for the Miss Universe parade of national costumes next month, she will be displaying one of the significant events of the year

In June, Singapore was the location for the historic North Korea-United States summit, the first-ever between the leaders of the 2 countries, Mr Kim Jong Un & Mr Donald Trump respectively.

That meeting is the inspiration for this year's MUS national costume, which consists of 3m-long white dove wings, a peace symbol incorporated into the bodice and an electric blue skirt emblazoned with a digital print of a handshake - one arm features the North Korean flag and the other, the American flag - over the Singapore skyline.

Designing the MUS national costume for the 3rd year in a row, Mr Moe Kasim, 48, was happy to play on a beauty pageant stereotype - wanting world peace.

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Netizens Think Miss Singapore Dress Is A Knockoff Of Miss Turkey 2015’s Gown

Miss Turkey’s Dress Had A Picture Of An Ancient City

Social media was ablaze with hilarious memes on Thursday (29 Nov) when pictures of Miss Singapore’s Trump-Kim summit inspired dress went viral.

Even though the dress became a nationwide meme sensation, none of us questioned the creativity and originality of the dress.

Not till now at least. Redditors seem to have found the original dress that gave inspiration to the Trump-Kim summit inspired dress.

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Miss Universe S’pore 2018 national costume found similar to Miss Universe Turkey 2015’s costume

You’ve probably seen Miss Universe Singapore representative Zahra Khanum don the national costume inspired by the Trump-Kim summit which happened on our shores earlier this year.

It became so well-known that Singaporeans started a Photoshop challenge ridiculing the dress.

But Reddit user u/fateoftheg0dz pointed out that this year’s national costume looks a lot like Miss Universe Turkey 2015 representative, Asli Melisa Uzun’s national costume.

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Singapore and Malaysia Slug It Out for “Worst-Ever Miss Universe Costume” Crown

When it comes to Miss Universe costumes, it seems like Singapore and Malaysia are neck-to-neck in the race for the “worst-ever costume” crown.

Last year, Miss Universe Malaysia got everyone stunned like vegetable when she turned up in this spicy “nasi lemak gown” which showed off her erm, ample cucumbers? Luckily for Samantha Katie James, the sambal was slapped at the top and not at the bottom, otherwise she’d belong in a period drama.

This year though, it seems like Singapore has (like always) tried to beat Malaysia at the game by coming up with this Trump-Kim Summit gown for Miss Universe Singapore.

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8 FACTS ABOUT THE MISS UNIVERSE S’PORE 2018 COSTUME THAT HAS EVERYONE TALKING

Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause as I present to you guys the Miss Universe Singapore costume…

A piece of apparel so baddy that I have to write 8 facts about it:

What is it?
Who’s the unlucky lucky girl?
WHO DESIGNED THIS… BEAUTY?
Reception
Reception Part II
Meme-fied
It’s hard to make everyone dislike it
This isn’t the first time

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Trump-Kim summit costume is ‘representation of what Singapore stands for’: Miss Universe Singapore

Ms Zahra Khanum will be headed to Bangkok for the Miss Universe 2018 finals. (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)

The Trump-Kim summit may be long over, but the historic event is back in the spotlight once again through an unlikely platform - the national costume of Miss Universe Singapore Zahra Khanum.

Unveiled on Thursday (Nov 29), the outfit features an electric blue skirt with a hidden surprise - a huge digital print depicting the historic handshake between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Miss Khanum will parade it at the Miss Universe 2018 pageant in Bangkok next month.

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@cheezzoo 20h hours ago

hi i have another suggestion for the miss universe costu–

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Priscilla Lai added a new photo. 13 hrs

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Jiahui Cai @ipoop_rainbows 12 hours ago

So apparently I’ve lived to see the day where my country puts a North Korean flag in its Miss Universe dress entry. That’s not even the worst part... #singapore #fashionista

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Jer Bear Teo added 2 new photos. 20 hrs

I challenge everyone to #MissUniverseSingaporePhotoshopBattle

Edit: Yes its mean of us, but when you do shit like this you get called out. Edit 2: Its unfortunate our Miss Universe representative has to wear this - this is calling out the team behind her, not Miss Universe herself. Green screen version included.

Dan Wong Alfonsus Wong Annabella Goh Anngee Neo Lynx Ng Benjamin Chee Jana Yar Andy Heng Chris Chang Bel Mervyn.

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Meet the designer Zah 16

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6 Patriotic Moe Kasim Dresses Made Prior To His Trump-Kim Summit Gown

Moe Kasim Features Singaporean Culture And Landmarks In His Dresses

Unless you’re been living under a rock, you’d have seen photos of Miss Singapore in the wacky Trump-Kim summit inspired gown.

The man behind it? Mr Moe Kasim, a self-trained local designer who helms his own creative firm, Moephosis Concepts. But if you’ve followed him across the years, his latest design shouldn’t come as a shock.

Here are 6 wacky, yet patriotic dress designs that came before the viral Trump-Kim summit gown:

Turquoise floral gown (2017)
Peranakan dress (2017)
Princess warrior costume (2016)
Racially encompassing dress (2017)
Sunny island dress (2018)
Merlion-themed dress (2018)

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Moephosis Concepts 18 hours ago

Thank you The New Paper! 🙏🏼

It's our third year in a row designing and making the Miss Universe Singapore national costume. We feel so privileged and proud. 😁

Earlier this year, when we were told that we had to design something based on this historic event, we were a little hesitant at first as we were well aware of the political sensitivities surrounding it. But hey! #challengeaccepted 👌🏼...

Unveiling the National Costume for Miss Universe Singapore 2018 Zahra Khanum!

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The Straits Times 21 hrs