Miss Albania

She apparently designed this herself, based on the colors of the Albanian flag. She looks like a very beautiful devil.

Miss Angola

She danced her way out, which was cool. This therefore was more impressive in motion.

Miss Argentina

This is supposed to have been inspired by their national flower, but it looks nothing like that, so I'm pretty sure it was inspired by We Really Want To Work With Jewels and Feathers.

Miss Armenia

I wish THAT had rendered better on my computer. There's some pretty embroidery on it. Mostly, it comes off like she's trying to calm us down after the warrior jewels and before THIS:

Miss Aruba

YES! I'm sad we had to wait five people to get an explosion of feathers, but on the plus side... we only had to wait five people to get an explosion of feathers. This is meant to honor their carnival, and I just feel like some of these women are like, "SLAM DUNK, PEOPLE."

Miss Australia

ANOTHER national flower, although I can see this resemblance a bit better. This does a nice job giving you oomph without necessarily needing to travel in a crate.

Miss Bahamas

Your eyes do not deceive you: She's dressed as a pineapple. Which... is apparently caught in the act of being peeled?

Miss Barbados

This, meant to evoke flying fish, ended in bellbottoms and I'm so sad I didn't get those for you. I decided the quality of the photo was worth more than the full-length shot on my grainy-ass You Tube.

Miss Belgium

"Hi. I'm Miss Belgium. I just kind of wanted to look nice."

Miss Belize

Fans on social media voted for this outfit, which is BOLD of Belize as a nation, as I feel like we've seen many examples (usually courtesy of England) of what can happen when you leave it to social media. This is inspired by a sun god, and I LOVE IT, and I also want to borrow that thing to get at the cobwebs on my bedroom ceiling.

Miss Bolivia

No joke: This is meant to evoke the world's biggest salt flat (the headdress being like crystallization). This honestly looks like they left it until the last week.

And didn't finish the back.

Miss Brazil

Conversely, it took THREE MONTHS to make this, and it shows. It's based on a woman of myth who turns into a bird, and if Miss Brazil leans forward, things morph and she does indeed HERSELF suddenly become a bird. It was COOL.

Miss British Virgin Islands

This was just sort of a general "We eat well and swim a lot and life is good here" theme. I DO like the hat. It reminds me of the Harrods Food Hall.

Miss Bulgaria

"Currently in Bulgaria we are accepting applications for more interesting native birds and animals. Thanks in advance."

Miss Cambodia

She is wearing Angkor Wat on her head. As you do.

Miss Canada

This costme was called "Queen of Make Believe" and supposedly was inspired by a maple leaf. I feel like Canada has the right idea and was just like, "Listen, who cares. JUST MAKE IT ENORMOUS."

Miss Cayman Islands

Her dress had sparkles in the skirt, so they turned off the lights and she spun around for awhile, which was hard to capture.

Miss Chile

This evokes a hunter-gatherer tribe from Chile, and I like to assume they had their own Phantom of the Opera origin story as well.

Miss China

I think this one is from Chinese opera.

Miss Colombia

I assume she is dressed as allergy season.

Miss Costa Rica

Supposedly this butterfly represents all women. Sure! I'll take it. Sit down, dudes of Costa Rica!

Miss Croatia

It must be a bummer to walk out after a gigantic butterfly and be like, "... Yeah mine is inspired by valleys. So, grass. I know."

Miss Curacao

This evokes a woman in their culture -- I think it's a specific woman -- who was a free woman who educated slaves. I just know I am mangling this but I didn't get a lot that I could translate from googling "Triumph of Sablika" and I gather "Sablika" might be more of a movement than a specific person, so... it's a SUPER striking and great outfit, and there's a very specific female empowerment angle, so hooray. 

Miss Czech Republic

This has no specific meaning other than being the colors in the flag. I like it! The whole thing is really striking and beautiful, and without needing to evoke a specific thing they still came up with something lively.

Miss Denmark

She's dressed as Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen, except... the Victoria's Secret version.

Miss Dominican Republic

She's dressed as a turtle. No, seriously.

You can see it a bit better here. Her arms didn't connect to the costume though so she had to hold them up under it, and that clearly got tiring, so she'd drop them a little but the shell part stayed put and she ended up looking more like an octo-turtle.

Miss Ecuador

This is "Amazon flora and fauna," and it is GREAT. 

Miss Egypt

I wish she'd just come out as the Sphinx. This whole "inspired by female pharaohs" thing fell flat, AND she had trouble working the skirt -- she dropped it a couple times when she clearly didn't mean to -- which is hard to see when all the women with more complicated costumes totally nailed them.

Miss El Salvador

This was based on a 500-year old pre-Colombian festival, and it's a showstopper. Except for how much show still had to happen after it.

Miss FInland

"How do I even follow that?!? With my white 'representing women' antlers? Grit your teeth and get through it, girl."

Miss France

Hers has emblems of the World Cup trophy, which makes me laugh, and also wish she'd just full-on come AS the trophy. Might as well REALLY talk the trash, right?!?

Miss Georgia

"I am seven months late for the Met Gala and it BURNS."

Miss Germany

She's dressed as the dove of peace. Apparently Germany REALLY still feels like it needs to apologize for those world wars.

Miss Ghana

WARRIOR QUEEN. I love it.

Miss Great Britain

Team GB here is paying homage to the suffragettes, which is very timely given how many vote-based shenanigans have been happening over there -- Brexit, the no-confidence thing Theresa May just narrowly won... Maybe next year someone can come as Brexit. Or as the tattered remains of a bunch of Brexit deals that all died on the vine.

Miss Greece

This is a replica of a queen's gown. It's pretty but you know they all had to be aware going in that it wouldn't compete.

Miss Guam

She's meant to be bougainvillea.

Miss Guatemala

Hers is based on the Mayans and I hope she went to the bathroom before she put it on, or else that would be very frustrating.

Miss Haiti

"In Haiti the weather is great! Thank you and goodnight!" (No, really, that was the inspiration.)

Miss Honduras

I hate how blurry this is. The dress had beautiful filigree work on it, in a way that would look so fab on a red carpet. I want someone to show up at the Oscars in that. Mask included.

Miss Hungary

"I'm dressed as someone who hopes her legs will make this look more interesting than it is!"

Miss Iceland

That is also genuinely stunning.

Miss India

She brought seating! Real talk: This weighed 105 pounds. This is basically strapping the beans to you and walking around.

Miss Indonesia

"WHEE, it feels so GOOD not to be wearing 105 pounds!"

Miss Ireland

Ireland is basically wearing streamers, and a giant plexiglass shamrock with a neon border. She looks like a bar sign on New Year's Eve, though she claims it means "equality." Equal pints for all!

Miss Israel

This is supposed to be based on the mountains, where the snow melts and they are suddenly rife with butterflies. That fabric is really amazing. I want some of these national designers to start sending stuff to Hollywood. Or at least send all these on the road to a museum.

Miss Universe National Costumes Part 1

We have feathers, neon, birds, a pineapple, a landmark, and... Bulgaria.