Miss Vietnam might be the best story in this year's Miss Universe pageant

Costume of the year by far.

Nyi Nyi Thet | December 17, 2018, 04:39 PM

The recently concluded Miss Universe saw Miss Philippines emerge the winner.

Here's a touching reaction shot of her parents.

Well deserved.

Here are the top 20.

One of the stand-outs of the pageant was another Southeast Asian contestant.

Miss Vietnam, or H'Hen Nie, was involved in a few notable moments, some by choice, and others a bit out of her control.

Growing up

A Twitter user, Carle100 came up with some reasons why she deserved more recognition.

https://twitter.com/Carle1001/status/1074508120054001665

Nie comes from the Rade people, whose customs include marrying young, and speaking Rade, a separate language from Vietnamese.

Despite this, she refused to marry early, and soon became a fluent speaker at a later age.

She had to hustle to pay for her education, and was also the first ethnic minority to win Miss Vietnam as well.

View this post on Instagram

Growing up, H'Hen Nie chose to focus on education, which helped positively change a difficult childhood. She has tried her hands in several jobs such as a maid, tutor, leaflet deliverer, and model to help pay for her studies and life in the city. The Miss Universe Vietnam crown is not only the result of her hard effort, but also changed the definition of a beauty queen in Vietnam. If she becomes Miss Universe 2018, H'Hen Nie will use the influence of the title to continue helping disadvantaged children around the world to attend schools, especially in conjunction with organizations to enhance girls' lives in developing countries. @missuniverse #MissUniverse #Vietnam #MissUniverseVietnam #HHenNie #Unicorp #ConfidentlyBeautiful #TeamVietnam

A post shared by Miss Universe Vietnam (@missuniversevietnam) on

"Growing up, H'Hen Nie chose to focus on education, which helped positively change a difficult childhood. She has tried her hands in several jobs such as a maid, tutor, leaflet deliverer, and model to help pay for her studies and life in the city. The Miss Universe Vietnam crown is not only the result of her hard effort, but also changed the definition of a beauty queen in Vietnam."

Miss USA controversy

Controversy had erupted earlier on in the competition when Miss USA, Sarah Rose Summers, was deemed to have been racially insensitive to both Miss Vietnam and Miss Cambodia.

In a nutshell, this is what Summers said.

“She’s so cute and she pretends to know so much English, and then you ask her a question after having a whole conversation with her and she goes…”

At this point, Summers does a mock imitation of Nie’s smile, then laughs and adds, “She’s adorable.”

Not only did Nie not compound the issue, she gave a downright lovely defence of Summers to CNN.

“Everyone in this competition, myself included, loves and respects one another.

“When she knew about my difficulties with (the English) language, she took an interest and showed me love. That’s why she knows about that. Thank you Miss USA for taking care of me, showing me love and helping me recently.”

Classy.

Alternative style

Her style has also been hailed as a distinct breath of fresh air, with many pointing to her pixie cut.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrZCgCDh0Ho/

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I love you all and love every moment at Miss Universe 2018 ❤️ Thank you so much: @sherrihill @sirivannavari_shop @oandb_official @chihaircare @linhsancouture #MissUniverse #MissUniverse2018 #Vietnam #Bangkok #Thailand

A post shared by H'Hen Niê (@hhennie.official) on

Her unique sense of style was also eye-catching.

She wore pants in the final stages of the pageant.

Image from twitter

Image from Twitter/Miss Universe

Not to mention, her iconic national costume.

View this post on Instagram

Bánh mì Việt Nam ngon khó cưỡng 🥖❤️ Chân thành cảm ơn VIFON đã đồng hành cùng Hoa hậu H’Hen Niê trên hành trình mang hương sắc Việt vươn xa trên đấu trường Quốc tế ❤️ #MissUniverse #Vietnam #HHenNie #NationalCostume #Banhmi #MisUniverse #VIFON #VuonxaHuongsacViet

A post shared by Miss Universe Vietnam (@missuniversevietnam) on

Image from Miss Universe/ Saigoneer

Image from Miss Universe

Compassionate

Even though the pageant is now over, wholesome stories about her just keep coming.

Fans of her were angry that her response during the question segment of the show was not interpreted as accurately as it could have been, jeopardising her chances at winning the competition.

However, according to this post by Isabelle Du, she has asked netizens to not blame the interpreter, and to "thank [the interpreter] instead of criticising her".

Legendary.

 

 

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