DALLAS — Many pageant contestants start competing at early ages, but this year’s newly crowned Miss Universe took a different route.
R’Bonney Gabriel didn’t even consider competing until two years ago when she was 26.
“I consider myself a late bloomer, for sure,” Gabriel said.
On Jan. 14, Gabriel was crowned Miss Universe at the 71st pageant in New Orleans. The Houston native is the first Filipina American woman to be crowned Miss USA and the first Miss USA to win Miss Universe in a decade.
But before entering the world of competition, Gabriel’s focus was on a different passion: clothes.
Gabriel leveraged her training in fashion design at the University of North Texas in Denton as chief executive of her eco-friendly fashion line, R’Bonney Nola.
She interned with fashion designer Nicole Miller in New York City and worked at the nonprofit design house Magpies & Peacocks, which collects discarded materials and repurposes them into new clothes. She also taught sewing classes.
She also modeled for six years before moving into the pageant scene. In 2021, as Miss Texas USA, Gabriel was first runner-up. She won the following year. Next in her sight line was the Miss Universe pageant with an age maximum of 28 years old.
“I had a sense of urgency [because] I didn’t have a lot of time to make it happen and make my dream come true,” she said. “So if anything, I felt like it was to my benefit that I started later.”
During the pageant, she advocated raising the age limit for contestants, saying “my favorite quote is: ‘If not now, then when?’ Because, as a woman, I believe age does not define us.”
In the pageant’s costume show, Gabriel came out on stage with a massive outfit that paid homage to NASA’s Apollo 11 lunar landing and Artemis program.
“There are so many people making funny jokes about it,” she said. “It was huge and weighed like 57 pounds. The concept was a woman on the moon. So I had a big moon behind me and lots of stars. And I was dressed like an astronaut because I wanted to celebrate America sending the first human to step on the moon. And now we are currently sending the first woman on the moon on the Artemis space program.”
Gabriel discussed her journey in more detail in an interview with The Dallas Morning News.
Q: You were urged to give pageants a try a few years ago. What made you go through with it?
A: When I looked at these beauty queens, I looked at videos of them speaking and going to schools and doing community work and also being models. I thought this was a really great opportunity for me to propel in life really. So I did my first pageant at age 26. And two and a half years later, I’m happy to say I became Miss Universe.
Q: What do you recall about the fashion curricula at UNT?
A: I studied fashion design and I minored in fibers and that program was very intense. It was very demanding. Lots of hours would go into just one single project, I mean, anywhere from 30 to 40 to 50 hours to make a design piece. There were times when I would stay in the studio up until 8 a.m. until the class would start the next day — and actually, we weren’t even allowed to do that. I remember I would just sneak back into the studio when they would lock the door. I don’t think my teachers ever knew that. But I was pulling all-nighters all the time. It really prepped me to be disciplined, to have a goal in mind and go after it and put in the hours of work for that. That prepped me for pageantry because it’s very demanding as well. You have to cut out distractions just like I had to in college.
Q: What was your pre-college life like?
A: I played volleyball. I was in the marching band. I played oboe. I tried a lot of things and just have an excitement for life. But I started designing when I was about 17 years old. So junior year and senior year of high school, I really started getting into design. I was going to sewing classes in my neighborhood that was being taught out of my neighbor’s garage, and I was doing little fashion shows. And then by the time I graduated, I knew for sure I wanted to study fashion design and take it to the next level.
Q: It helped that your brother went to UNT and he was able to scout out the campus, right?
A: He kind of opened up the idea to me even more and there weren’t a lot of fashion design programs in Texas. There were a few others ... but UNT seemed the most promising and I heard good things about it. So that’s why I ultimately decided to go there.
Q: Do you have any specific memories of campus life in Denton?
A: I love longboarding all around campus. From my house to campus was like a 10-minute long boardwalk, and I would do that most mornings, if the weather permitted, just to get those endorphins going and [listen to] music in my headphones. One night coming home from the studio classroom, I fell off and it flew all the way into the sidewalk draining system. I chin-planted the ground and I had a bruise from it. I had to actually lift the draining plate up and crawl into the sewer to get it. I will never forget that.
Q: Being Texan, you have to love barbecue. Do you have a favorite barbecue joint?
A: I hate to disappoint anyone, but I’m a pescetarian, so I’ve only eaten seafood for the last five years. But I grew up on barbecue and I love it. Houston has Killen’s [Barbecue]. My parents love it.
Q: What are your favorite Filipino dishes?
A: I absolutely love salmon sinigang, which is like sour soup. It’s so delicious. Everybody loves chicken adobo. That’s something I love to introduce to people for the first time.
Q: How do you feel about representing the Filipino community?
A: It’s a huge responsibility. I just want to use this to show the world how beautiful Filipinos and Asians are. I think sometimes we’re overlooked. But we’re very hard working. We’re a beautiful culture that’s warm and dynamic, just like any other culture, and really hoping to just continue to bring that light all across the world.
Q: How are you going to advocate for Texas as Miss Universe?
A: As a Texas girl, Texas born and raised, I’m extremely proud to continue to champion how amazing Texas is and how it raised me and how we’re warm, we’ve got Southern charm with the barbecue, biscuits, things like that that are just a signature to Texas. It’s a very dynamic position and I’m very honored to be the Miss Universe.
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