Gwen's Miss World gowns by Oliver

MANILA, Philippines - From the start, Hollywood-based Filipino designer Oliver Tolentino (below) was sure that Gwendoline Ruais would finish a winner in the recent 2011 Miss World contest in London, not just first runner-up.

‘Gwen walked and talked like a winner,’ said Oliver who designed the gowns (some of them shown here) Gwendoline wore during the contest. ‘I was convinced that she would bring home our first Miss World crown.’

Gwendoline lost by a slim margin to Venezuela’s Ivian Lunasol Sarcos Colmenares (above, center, with Puerto Rico’s Amanda Perez as second-runner-up). It’s the closest that the Philippines came closest to clinching the title since Evangeline Pascual also placed first runner-up (to USA’s Marjorie Wallace, later dethroned) in 1973.

‘Gwen is so nice to dress up,’ added Oliver who has also designed gowns for Hollywood celebrities (he owns and manages a shop in Beverly Hills, right next to those of Stella McCartney and the late Alexander MacQueen). ‘She’s so well-raised (by a French father and a Filipino mother). I was impressed by how polite, respectful and sweet she is. Truly beautiful inside-out.’

From London, Gwendoline went to Paris for an R&R. She’s expected back home anytime now.