Durian Dress Wins Best Costume at Latin American Pageant

Thaweeporn ‘Aoom’ Phingchamrat wears her King of Fruits costume, with which she won Best National Costume at the Miss United Continents 2017 pageant in Ecuador Monday. Photo: Matichon

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — A Thai beauty queen did not make a stink at an Ecuador pageant when her durian-inspired dress was named the best national costume Monday.

Thaweeporn “Aoom” Phingchamrat, 20, won Best National Costume at the Miss United Continents pageant, the contest announced this afternoon.

“This is such a new dimension of creating a Thai national costume,” organizers wrote. The costume presents the “durian in every dimension including its sharp external thorns along with the aromatic and sweet durian pulp inside and sprinkled over with dazzling gold yellow durian flowers.”

Read: Pageants Drop Tradition to Try Modern National Dresses (Photos)

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Aoom, 20, was Miss Grand Chanthaburi this year and third-runner in July at the Miss Grand Thailand pageant. Two months ago in Bangkok, she walked onto the stage wearing a spiky cap and durian-shaped appendages that she released to plunge into a sparkling ball gown reminiscent of the durian flower.

Miss United Continents has been held since 2006 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Contestants this year numbered 33. Thailand has participated since 2014.

Aoom poses with her Best National Costume trophy.

Miss Grand Chanthaburi in her durian costume in July at the Miss Grand Thailand pageant.