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R’Bonney Gabriel, the first Filipino-American to be crowned Miss USA, beat 83 other contestants to be crowned Miss Universe on Saturday night in New Orleans.
The Miss Universe website called Gabriel “a voice for Asian Americans” who “opens the door to greater diversity and representation in society.”
Gabriel has previously spoken about her immigrant roots. “My dad moved to America from the Philippines on a college scholarship with about $20 in his pocket,” she said when she was crowned Miss USA last year. “I am a very proud Filipino American.”
The news caused a sensation in her father’s home country. The Philippine Star wrote about her background, while the Manila Times said the Filipinos “dumped her” after the national nominee failed to make the final.
At 28, Gabriel is at the top of the age limit set by the competition. “Delegates must be at least 18 years of age and under 28 years of age at the time of the start of the national competition,” the official website states.
When asked during the pageant what change she would make to the competition, she said she would raise the age limit. “I’m 28 years old. And that’s the oldest age to compete. And I think it’s a beautiful thing,” she said, according to CNN.
This year’s Miss Universe pageant allowed married women and mothers to compete for the first time in its 70-year history.
Gabriel, a Houston native, is CEO of a sustainable apparel line, R’Bonney Nola. She earned her bachelor’s degree in fashion design from the University of North Texas.
Last week, Gabriel took the stage at the competition’s costume show wearing a NASA-inspired outfit with thigh-high metal boots, a moon-like headdress and wings made of silver stars. According to Filipino media, it was designed by Filipino designer Patrick Isorena.
Isorena wrote on Instagram that the costume weighed around 14 pounds.
The costume show is an opportunity for candidates to display their cultural heritage and honor their home countries. But Gabriel’s ensemble drew a backlash on social media, where some said it suggested the United States was laying claim to the moon.
“Do you know what American is? the moon!” one Twitter user said in response to the outfit. “The United States of America, a country known for restraint and modesty,” another said.
Explaining her costume choice on Instagram, Gabriel said that as a native of Houston, where NASA’s Johnson Space Center is located, she was “proud to be from a town working to send the first woman to the moon.”
“On July 20, 1969, two US astronauts became the first humans to step on the moon, accomplishing one of the most remarkable feats in human history,” she wrote. “Fast forward to today, and women are more involved than ever in the Artemis program, which aims to send the US back to the moon.”
NASA has been in the Artemis program for several years, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon in a series of missions, the first since Apollo in the 1960s and 1970s. The program has promised to add a black astronaut and a woman to its missions this time.
In New Orleans on Saturday, the first runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant was Miss Venezuela Amanda Dudamel and the second runner-up was Miss Dominican Republic Andreína Martínez.