High-heeled ugg boots are the footwear that will represent Australia on the feet of our Miss Universe contestant Jesinta Campbell.
The daring national costume is a pastiche of Australiana including a one-piece swimsuit hand-painted by an Aboriginal artist, a wool shoulder shrug and flamenco style rainbow-hued skirt.
Designed by Sydney woman Natasha Dwyer, who works under the Arthur Ave label, the dress will be shown in Las Vegas when 18 year-old Campbell competes alongside other beauties for the coveted Miss Universe crown.
"I have a little sheepskin shrug, which I think is very Australian — very outback," she told the Herald Sun.
"It is something that I am really proud to wear. I feel magnificent in it."
But not everyone thinks the outfit is "magnificent".
Grazia fashion features editor Clare Maclean described it as a "travesty".
"She's bang on trend with the shrug and boots — shearling is very hot right now — but the skirt looks like it was made for a flamenco dancer from discount fabric bin scraps," Maclean said.
"The swimming costume was surely stolen from a Jersey Shore cast member."
Previous Australian entrants have worn bathers and a swimming cap, and dresses with maps of the Sydney Harbour and the CBD.
Maclean said strange costumes were part of the Miss Universe tradition.
"The whole point of beauty pageants is to strut your stuff in the campest outfit imaginable and, with that in mind, this Miss Universe outfit is bloody brilliant."
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