Puerto Rican fashion designer Joshuan Aponte has been creating iconic looks long before Miss Puerto Rico Zashely Alicea hit the stage during the National Costume Show at Miss Universe 2025.
Aponte has done everything from creating the main look for Cardi B’s “Hot Shit” music video to creating beautiful costumes worn by queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race and even dressing the likes of Adriana Lima, Busta Rhymes, and Lizzo. But long before working with Miss Universe Puerto Rico on this years look, Aponte was designing at home with his abuela.
“My grandmother, in Puerto Rico, in schools, everybody has a uniform so that they can identify the different schools,” Aponte told Remezcla during an exclusive interview right before the National Costume Show at Miss Universe 2025. “And my abuelita was known for just… with the same fabric, creating wonderfully different jumpers and pants and blazers. […] So that was my first view into what fashion could be and how creative you could be with very little resources.”
Now settled on the mainland U.S., Aponte still carries that memory with him as he started his career in the pageant industry, in LGBTQIA competitions, and coaching girls and young women in modeling classes, makeup, and photography. And in 2018, his life’s dream of creating costumes for the Miss Universe organization came true.
“I believe in destiny,” Aponte said, “And one night in 2018, I went to bed and I had a dream about a national costume. And I saw it, in detail.” So what did Aponte do? He took a chance and just asked. “I just wrote on Facebook. If anybody knows anybody from the Miss Puerto Rico organization. I dreamt of it. I dreamt of the national costume. Please, somebody get me in contact.” And it worked.
Aponte created and designed the National Costume for Miss Puerto in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, and 2024. That means that he created Jennifer Colón’s Miss Puerto Rico national costume that was a near replica of the 1996 Puerto Rico Barbie by Mattel. But he also was the wardrobe director for all the contestants for the 2024 pageant in Mexico.
“It was unprecedented. It was the first time they had such a big amount [of contestants]. I think it was like one hundred and twenty seven last year. So it was a completely new undertaking under a completely new organization. So it was a lot. But I love a challenge,” Aponte said about the huge responsibility that included fittings, approvals for everything from swimwear to evening wear, and even testing out if the looks work for TV.
Now we’re here in 2025, Aponte designing and creating this years Miss Puerto National Costume. And it’s a beauty. Taking advantage of Zashely Alicea being a classically trained ballerina, Aponte designed a national costume inspired by the hummingbird, which Puerto Rico has plenty of. During the preliminaries on November 19th, we got to see Alicea glide across the stage in her blue and green costume complete with wings and a head piece.
For Aponte, planning for the Miss Puerto look started even before Alicea won. “I kind of do a little bit of stalking on all of the girls when they’re going through casting [for Miss Puerto Rico.]” Aponte said. “When Zashely won, I was going through her stories and saw that she was classically trained in ballet. And immediately I started thinking, “I have to use this somehow in the costume.” So it all started there. I wanted to use her natural talent.”
“Ballet is not inherently Puerto Rican. So my mind went, “Where is it? Where is ballet? How do I find the metaphor that I could use ballet as a tool to make it more impactful?” Aponte added before revealing that he had thought of doing a parrot for the National Costume before dismissing it because plenty of contestants have done that look before. That’s when he thought of the hummingbird.
“I had a picture in my mind of [Alicea] doing a step that’s called bourrée. El bourrée is when she gets en pointe and she starts doing the little tippy taps. And it reminded me of a zumbador [hummingbird] when it’s floating in front of a flower.” That moment lit up Aponte’s brain and in no time he had a rough sketch of the look we saw on stage during this years Miss Universe pageant.
Per tradition, the Miss Puerto Rico National Costume look is presented on the island as a going away ceremony before Miss Universe. And weeks after completing the look, Aponte wasn’t ready for what Alicea did during that fitting. “I almost cried because I was only expecting her to do that step that I told you, just get en pointe and do the little steps and just flap [the] wings.”
“That girl starting kicking and twisting and doing pirouettes and doing poses that I was not able to even imagine that she was going to be able to do in a corset and all of that on her,” Aponte continued, “And it just came alive. It was like… I still get goosebumps when I think of that first fitting. And it was a perfect fit. So there wasn’t a lot to do and the rest is history.”
When it comes to materials, Aponte estimates that Alicea’s hummingbird costume, from top to bottom, has an estimated 80,000 to 100,00 stones. As for the wings, Aponte used crinoline, which is a coarse fabric used for hoop skirts or big quinceañera dresses. And the wings in particular were made with this because the Miss Puerto Rico National Costume is one of conservation.
“Even though we were doing a bird, we didn’t want to use bird feathers because we’re bringing a message of conservation of our environment,” Aponte explained. “So all the materials that we wanted to use, not that they were necessarily recycled, but that they could be recycled in the future and that we weren’t doing any harm to the wildlife.”
As for what comes next, Miss Puerto Rico will be hitting the stage at the 74th Miss Universe for the grand finale. And Aponte, just like this Boricua writer, is hoping that Alicea brings it home for Puerto Rico. He’s also hoping that one day, just maybe, all these designs he’s made for the Puerto Rico organization can come together in an exhibit.
“I dream to have an exhibition of the national costumes and the celebrity outfits that I’ve worked on. One day.” If him making his Miss Puerto Rico dreams come true are any indication, destiny will make this happen. And we’ll be there, hopefully celebrating Puerto Rico as the 75th Miss Universe is heading to the island next year.
