- Miss USA R'Bonney Gabriel was crowned the 71st Miss Universe winner on Saturday.
- During the pageant, she wore a massive woman on the moon-themed costume that weighed 30 pounds.
Miss USA R'Bonney Gabriel was crowned the 71st Miss Universe winner on Saturday and wasn't afraid to do some heavy lifting in order to impress the audience.
Gabriel, 28, was named the winner of the 71st Miss Universe pageant on Saturday night in New Orleans, Louisiana. Miss Venezuela, Amanda Dudamel, was the runner-up, followed by Miss Dominican Republic, Andreína Martínez.
During the national costume segment of the pageant, she took the stage wearing a huge star-spangled costume that had a gigantic moon-shaped prop attached to it. The silver ensemble also featured colorful neon illuminated lighting and bedazzled headpiece.
According to an Instagram post shared by Patrick Isorena, the costume designer behind Gabriel's showstopping look, it weighed a total of 14 kilograms, roughly 30 pounds, and spanned 36 inches in diameter.
On her own Instagram, Gabriel shared that the 1969 US moon launch inspired the design for the costume. "On July 20, 1969 two US astronauts became the first humans to step foot on the moon accomplishing one of the most remarkable achievements in human history," she wrote.
"Fast forward to today and women are involved more than ever in the Artemis program aiming to send the US back to the moon," Gabriel added. "As a Houston native, where the NASA space center is located, I am proud to be from a city working to send the first female to the moon."
Ultimately, she wrote, the purpose of the costume was to "inspire women in all spaces across the universe to dream big, shoot for the moon and achieve something out of this world."
In another post about the costume, Gabriel added that she received it only two days prior to her check-in for Miss Universe. "I tried this costume on for the first time 2 days before check in on the top floor of a parking garage at midnight in New Orleans," she wrote.
During the swimsuit segment of the pageant, Gabriel, the model, fashion designer, and sewing instructor, also sported a unique look she designed herself using recycled plastic bottles.
Sharing insight into the design process on Instagram, Gabriel wrote that the cape was "sustainably dyed and designed using plastic bottles." The video has over 60,500 likes since it was posted on Saturday.
"I gathered and transformed this cape to showcase how art can be made out of what we perceive as trash," she added. "It also embodies my favorite message of "If Not Now, Then When?"