For Alex Kavanagh, designing Miss Universe Canada’s bold, hockey-themed dress was a bit of a departure from the gory garb she’s used to building for the popular “Saw” horror franchise and George Romero’s last three zombie flicks.
But when Chanel Beckenlehner, this year’s Miss Universe contestant for Canada, approached her about the idea, the veteran Toronto-based costume designer said she was up to the challenge.
“I’ve designed some pretty strange costumes for various films that I have worked on but nothing that was quite this theatrical,” Kavanagh told CP24.com on Thursday.
“(Beckenlehner) really wanted to elevate the Canadian national costume to a point where it was going to be in competition for the best national costume and she knew that it had to be a lot more elaborate than what the Canadian costumes had been in the past.”
Once they settled on the aspects of Canadian culture that should be represented in the costume, Kavanagh and her team of about a dozen others got to work.
The costume took several months to build, Kavanagh said.
While a great deal of attention went in to designing all the intricate details of the costume, including the patent leather hockey pads and hockey net skirt, Kavanagh said one of the most difficult aspects was the electronic scoreboard, which was built by her husband’s special effects company, ACME FX.
Kavanagh said she also tried to incorporate items to keep the costume feminine.
The costume has created huge buzz internationally and although the reaction has been mixed, Kavanagh said she is still pleased.
“(The reaction) has been an entire range of, ‘wtf’ to ‘best costume ever.’ What I like about it is that it has made an impact,” she said.
“It is definitely a bit crazy but we really wanted it to make the judges take notice of Chanel.”
The costume has ranked in the top five among those in the best national costume category of the competition.
You can cast your vote for Miss Universe Canada’s costume on Twitter by using both hashtags #MissUniverseCanada and #MissUniverse.
