Leo Almodal airs side on Miss Earth gown issue

CEBU, Philippines - Fashion designer Leo Almodal on Tuesday broke his silence, denying that Imelda Schweighart’s evening gown was stolen and given to Miss Earth 2016 Katherine Espin.

Almodal took to Facebook to narrate his side regarding the issue on the gown originally called “Artemis” or the moon goddess.

He said the yellow gown is part of his upcoming international fashion shows and high fashion editorial video, as well as his planned book-catalog themed fairytale and mythological goddesses, which will be launched next year.

Almodal clarified that Schweighart’s training camp asked him to dress her up, to which he agreed. However, he clarified that he still owns the yellow gown as it was not paid by the Philippine bet’s camp unlike Espin, also a client, who already paid half of the amount as down payment.

“To set and clarify things, Imelda or anyone from her camp has not given or paid me a single peso for that gown. That yellow gown is technically my property and just letting her borrow it for Miss Earth pageant; that is if she makes it to the Top 16. As the owner it will be under my discretion to whom it will be used,” Almodal said.

“Since she (Schweighart) did not make it to the Top 16, not competing for the evening gown segment and unfortunately I didn’t finish the gown of Ecuador on time which I am obliged because she already paid half of the amount as down payment,” he said.

Almodal claimed Schweighart knew of the arrangement and denied that she was left with nothing to wear. He said he provided her a red gown but the latter declined his offer.

“Contrary to her statement that she had nothing to wear is an absolute lie! I provided her with a beautiful red gown but she smiled and refused to wear it, saying that it looks like Miss Belgium’s gown and opted to borrow from Miss Guam instead,” the designer said.

On Monday, Schweighart said that she was offended that her gown was given to Espin. A video of her wearing the same gown was posted in her Facebook account after the pageant.

According to Almodal, he asked Schweighart to take down photos and videos of her wearing the gold gown.

“Before dressing up Katherine I sent Imelda messages on Facebook to take down the photos and videos but she never listened. She posted it after she did not make it to the Top 16 cut. I actually begged her,” Almodal said.

“She was not ripped or robbed. The gown was not taken away from her and she was asked nicely,” he maintained.

For her part, Espin told ABS-CBN: “When I got into the top 16, I was like, ‘Where’s my dress?’ His assistant was telling me, ‘We didn’t finish. We have this yellow dress. Try this yellow dress.’ I’ve never even tried the yellow dress in my life. I never even knew how it looked on me. They just put it on me and I never knew it was Imelda’s dress.”

“Imagine, I did not have a dress,” Espin added. “It was crazy backstage. No one knows about this. I think Imelda got upset about this. She must know that it wasn’t my fault. It was actually a misunderstanding with Leo. He didn’t know what to do. Leo will do it on social media and probably have an interview explaining all these issues. It’s his responsibility actually.”