On Sunday, January 29^th, Miss Universe was crowned, and Steve Harvey got it right this time! Iris Mittenaere from France had the honor of taking home the title of Miss Universe on Sunday night in the Philippines. This is the first time France has won since 1953 and the first time the continent of Europe has won since 1974. Mittenaere told Reporters “We need good news in France, and I think this is very good news.”

@missuniverse Iris had a stop over here in Vancouver before she heads to NY 🙊. Best of luck and kisses for the new MU as she officially starts her reign 👑 She is such a humble queen and I'm satisfied that she's Queen P's successor. #missuniverse #missuniverse2016

A photo posted by Queens 👑 (@kweensoftheuniverse) on Feb 2, 2017 at 12:59pm PST

Mittenaere is a 24-year-old dental student. She wants to focus on helping children, specifically, girls, attend school. She was asked questions such as what she was most excited for, and also nervous for, with Trumps new presidency, and whether nations should accept refugees or not. Mittenaere responded saying “Countries should have the right to open or close their borders… In Europe, we have open borders. In France, we want to have the most globalization that we can.”

This particular Miss Universe pageant ended lightheartedly as there were some jokes being made regarding Steve Harvey’s brutal mistake from the Miss Universe 2015 pageant. As Harvey was about to open the envelope, last year’s winner, Pia Wurtzbach, tapped him and handed him a pair of reading glasses, to which Harvey responded “Thank you. Thank you so much, Pia. A year late, but thank you.”

This year’s pageant dresses went against the typical pageant dress grain, as contestants shifted from wearing poofy skirts, sequined bodices, and bright colors. The women in this year’s pageant went for more of a red-carpet look. This trend has been set in motion thanks to IMG buying the Miss Universe organization in late 2015. This top agency is very in with fashion trends, and elite management of celebrities and the top 9 finalists were all wearing dresses of this red-carpet trend.

French dress designers should get excited about their country’s win as these styles are both elegant and realistic for people within the pageant age range.

Although the Miss Universe 2017 was not as exciting as last year’s, Iris Mittenaere believes that her win will bring this contest’s popularity back to Europe!