Miss Universe Malaysia to don nasi lemak outfit for world pageant

Miss Universe Malaysia 2017, Samantha Katie James posing with the Nasi Lemak-inspired dress. (Photo: Ms Universe Malaysia) 

31 Oct 2017 07:59PM (Updated: 31 Oct 2017 08:00PM)

KUALA LUMPUR: Miss Universe Malaysia Samantha Katie James will be wearing a nasi lemak dress for the national costume category at the Miss Universe 2017 pageant in December.

The outfit, conceptualised by local designer Brian Khoo, was unveiled at a launch on Tuesday (Oct 31). The model, who is of Chinese-Brazilian descent, will wear the unique dress at the global pageant in Las Vegas.

According to a report by The Malay Mail, the outfit features hand-embroided rhinestones to symbolise rice grains, red rhinestones to denote the spicy sambal and a pair of "wings" that represent banana leaves used to wrap the nasi lemak. 

The outfit also comes with accessories representing peanuts, cucumbers and a fried egg.

Commenting on his design, Khoo told Astro Radio News that it was a "fun and challenging" process to find the different materials to represent the dish.

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"Especially the sambal, the cucumber, the ikan bilis - we took a long time to find all these bits to represent them. It's all done by hand ... and it's something that (reflects) Samantha's great, strong character and bubbly personality," he added.

Khoo also designed Samantha's velvet evening gown for the Miss Universe pageant. 

Meanwhile, Samantha told Astro that she "loved nasi lemak" and eats it "all the time".

"It represents me and my country," said the 22-year-old.

Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/miss-universe-malaysia-to-don-nasi-lemak-outfit-for-world-9362084