The Second Flight of LIORA: Miss Australia Turns Rewearing Into a Miss World Statement
When Miss World Australia Olivija Spanovskis brought her Daintree-inspired butterfly gown LIORA back to the world stage, its second flight carried a message far beyond fashion. Throughout the 75th Anniversary Edition of Miss World, Spanovskis has been deliberately rewearing her favourite pieces, challenging hyper-consumption and the strange modern idea that an outfit loses its value once the world has already seen it.
During the month-long 75th Anniversary Edition of Miss World in Vietnam, fashion becomes almost a competition within the competition. National representatives arrive with carefully curated wardrobes for weeks of ceremonies, challenges, dinners, rehearsals and public appearances, while audiences around the world wait to see what their favourite contestants will wear next.
There is an almost constant stream of new fashion. Cocktail dresses give way to couture, evening gowns appear beneath the lights, and tomorrow brings another opportunity to unveil something entirely different. Social media magnifies the cycle, turning each outfit into another photograph to be consumed before attention moves to the next.
Against that backdrop, Miss World Australia Olivija Spanovskis has spent the festival doing something that should be completely ordinary, yet has become surprisingly unusual in the age of social media: she is wearing her clothes again.
Gown Design: Tasmin Jade | @tasminjadecouture | www.tasminjade.com.au
Not as the result of lost luggage or an emergency wardrobe malfunction, but as a conscious choice.
Throughout Miss World, Spanovskis has deliberately reworn a number of pieces from her wardrobe, allowing dresses and gowns that have already been photographed and shared publicly to return for another appearance on the world stage. Rather than treating clothing as something with a single public life, she is giving the pieces she loves another moment, another audience and, in the case of one extraordinary Australian gown, a second flight.
The decision is rooted in Spanovskis’ environmental advocacy and her concern about a culture of hyper-materialism that has made constant consumption, particularly in fashion, feel increasingly normal.
For Spanovskis, whose environmental project Our Kanyini centres on protecting the natural world and encouraging people to reconnect with it, treating every day of Miss World as a reason to debut something new simply did not align with the message she represents.
“My passion is protecting our Mother Nature, so it would be hypocritical for me to turn my back on that for the sake of the Miss World Festival,” Spanovskis said. “I love fashion and I love beautiful gowns, but I don’t believe enjoying fashion has to mean constantly consuming more of it.”
Photography credit: Jordan Lavis | @jordanlavis_photography
THE SECOND FLIGHT OF LIORA
Perhaps the most striking expression of that philosophy has been LIORA, the extraordinary couture gown created for Spanovskis by South Australian designer Tasmin Jade Couture.
Inspired by Queensland’s Daintree Rainforest, LIORA first appeared during the Opening Ceremony of the 75th Anniversary Edition of Miss World in Ha Long Bay. Covered in handcrafted florals, organic vines and butterflies native to Far North Queensland, the gown quickly became one of Spanovskis’ defining fashion moments of the festival.
For many couture pieces created for an international stage, that could have been the end of the story. LIORA had made its debut, the photographs had travelled around the world and another gown could easily have taken its place.
Instead, weeks later and thousands of kilometres away in Nha Trang, LIORA took flight again.
Spanovskis deliberately chose the gown for the recent Dances of the World event, bringing Tasmin Jade’s creation back onto the Miss World stage in front of more than 10,000 spectators. Rather than diminishing the impact of its first appearance, LIORA’s return gave the gown another life and another opportunity to tell the story it had been created to represent.
The symbolism was almost impossible to design more perfectly. A gown covered in butterflies, creatures synonymous with transformation and renewal, had itself been given another chapter. More importantly, a couture piece created to celebrate the natural world was now being used to question a fashion culture increasingly driven by disposability and the relentless pursuit of something new.
There was something particularly fitting about LIORA becoming one of the most visible examples of Spanovskis’ decision to rewear. If any garment in her wardrobe deserved a second flight, it was a gown inspired by an ecosystem that has endured across an almost unimaginable expanse of natural history.
73rd Miss World, Opening Ceremony- Halong Marina Beach Square (August 12, 2026)
Miss Australia, (Olivija Spanovskis) at Dances of the World, Nha Trang 2026.
73rd Miss World, Dances of the World - Nha Trang (September 2, 2026)
ONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST RAINFOREST LANDSCAPES, TRANSFORMED INTO COUTURE
Created by South Australian designer Tasmin Jade Couture, LIORA was conceived as an artistic tribute to the Daintree Rainforest and the extraordinary biodiversity of Far North Queensland. Part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics of Queensland, the region contains one of the most ancient surviving tropical rainforest landscapes on Earth.
The gown began as Tasmin Jade’s interpretation of the Met Gala theme “Garden of Time”, approached through a distinctly Australian lens. Rather than imagining a fictional garden, the designer looked to a landscape where the passage of time is written into nature itself.
“LIORA is my interpretation of the Met Gala theme ‘Garden of Time’, viewed through the lens of the Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland,” Tasmin Jade said. “I was inspired by the sense of ancient beauty within the Daintree, a place that feels both untouched and alive, where growth and time exist side by side.”
Tasmin Jade first experienced the region in 2022, an encounter that later became the creative foundation for the gown.
Handcrafted lace, three-dimensional florals, blossoms, vines and flowing organic textures were layered throughout the design to recreate not simply the appearance of the rainforest, but the feeling of being immersed within it.
Among them are five butterflies found in the Daintree region: the Ulysses butterfly, Delias mysis, Cruiser butterfly, Cairns Birdwing and Red-bodied Swallowtail. Their delicate forms sit against the symbolism of an ancient landscape, representing transformation, fragility and the continual evolution of the natural world.
“Through LIORA, I wanted to translate that feeling into something tangible, the drama, delicacy and transformation found in nature,” Tasmin Jade said. “The butterflies, florals and organic movement represent growth and fleeting beauty, brought to life through handcrafted detail and texture.”
The gown carries an even more personal meaning for its designer. LIORA, meaning “light”, was named in honour of Tasmin Jade’s mother and represents the guidance, strength and creative inspiration she has provided throughout her life.
“Named after my mum, LIORA, meaning ‘light’, carries a more personal layer of meaning for me,” Tasmin Jade said. “It reflects the guidance, strength and creative clarity she has always given me, and the way that light can exist within both memory and creation.”
For Spanovskis, the Daintree represents more than an extraordinary Australian landscape. Experiencing the region and learning from First Nations custodians helped shape her understanding of the relationship between people, culture and Country, as well as her belief that people are more likely to protect environments when they first develop a meaningful connection with them.
“The Daintree is one of the places that has most profoundly shaped my understanding of purpose-led travel,” Spanovskis said. “Experiencing it firsthand and learning from First Nations custodians deepened my appreciation for the rainforest and reinforced my belief that the most meaningful journeys leave us with a greater understanding of the places we visit.”
“Through LIORA, I hope to inspire others to discover, value and help protect places like the Daintree, because I believe people protect what they feel connected to.”
LIORA’s second appearance therefore became more than an outfit repeat. A gown created to celebrate an ancient natural environment was being worn according to the same values it represented. Its story did not end because photographs from its first appearance had already been posted. Instead, it was given another stage, another audience and another opportunity to shine.
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT: WHEN DID OUR CLOTHES BECOME DISPOSABLE CONTENT?
LIORA LIORA may be the most spectacular example, but Spanovskis’ decision extends across her Miss World wardrobe and raises a question far beyond pageantry: when did being seen in the same outfit twice become something to avoid?
Social media has changed our relationship with clothing. An outfit is no longer simply worn; it is photographed, posted and, strangely, can begin to feel “used” once it has appeared online. That pressure is magnified for women in the public eye and becomes particularly visible at Miss World, where contestants spend almost a month making public appearances.
“I want to spread the message that I can still feel beautiful in something if it has already been worn in the public eye,” Spanovskis said. “People can genuinely love an outfit but hesitate to post another picture in it because they have already been seen wearing it. Nothing about the clothing has changed. The only difference is that somebody has already seen you in it.”
The issue also carries an environmental cost. Overproduction and overconsumption have become significant challenges within the textile sector, with the United Nations Environment Programme calling for greater circularity, reuse and longer-lasting garments.
For Spanovskis, one answer is simple: value what we already have.
“I’m a quality-over-quantity girl,” she said. “I’m so in love with the gowns handcrafted for me by Tasmin Jade. She has put so much care into creating these pieces with consideration around ethically sourced materials. Something that beautiful deserves more than one opportunity to see the light.”
Her message is not anti-fashion. It is about appreciating fashion differently: choosing thoughtfully, prioritising quality, renting and rewearing. Spanovskis is also an advocate for Adelaide-based Glamourhouse Dress Hire, whose rental model allows beautiful pieces to have many lives rather than a single occasion.
“We can still enjoy fashion, feel glamorous and have these beautiful moments without believing that every occasion requires something brand new,” Spanovskis said. “Mass consumption ultimately contributes to mass waste, and I want to limit my footprint here as much as possible.”
For most of history, wearing clothing repeatedly was not a sustainability statement. It was simply what clothing was for. Yet in the age of fast fashion and social media, clothes increasingly compete not only for space in our wardrobes, but for space on our feeds.
Spanovskis knows rewearing her Miss World wardrobe will not solve fashion’s environmental problems. But during one of the most photographed periods of her life, she can make repetition visible again and perhaps create a butterfly effect of her own.
LIORA brings that idea full circle. The first time Spanovskis wore it, five butterflies from one of Australia’s most ancient natural environments travelled with her onto the Miss World stage in Ha Long Bay. The second time, they appeared before more than 10,000 people in Nha Trang.
Nothing about the gown became less extraordinary because the world had seen it before. If anything, its second flight made its story stronger.
Sometimes, giving something another life gives its message greater reach.
And in an era constantly asking women what they are wearing next, Miss Australia is asking a more important question:
What is wrong with wearing what we already love?
