The 2017 Miss Universe pageant dress for Australia has just been unveiled, and boy is it a mind-boggling mess of cultural confusion.
Debuting the creation on Thursday morning’s edition of The Today Show, this year’s Miss Australia, Caris Tiivel, explained that the cascading multicoloured creation was designed to represent the Great Barrier Reef and attempt to raise awareness around coral bleaching.
Created by Australian designer Steph Audino, Tiivel is already preparing herself for backlash.
“The dress can be a bit of a talking point, sometimes in some years they haven’t been to everyone’s taste,” the breakfast show hosts said. “Are you prepared for this to become a topic of conversation?”