Beauty queen and actress Michelle Dee inspired several Filipinos to recreate her evening gown routine “snake walk,” a week after she won the Miss Universe Philippines 2023.
Michelle’s unique pageant walk or “pasarela” during the evening gown round of the competition was a hot topic among pageant fans on social media during the MUPH finals on May 13.
While wearing a black creation by Mark Bumgarner, the newly minted beauty queen strutted onstage in an “S” pattern. She then stopped in the middle to move her upper body in another “S” pattern while serving a fierce look to the audience.
Michelle won the Best Evening Gown award for this performance.
Her evening gown routine dubbed “the snake walk” also made an impact on her fans who released videos of their versions of it.
Pageant page M Pageantry on May 20 shared a video compilation that showed noteworthy clips of some Filipinos recreating Michelle’s snake walk.
“Snake walk syndrome is real,” the page wrote in the caption.
The post has since garnered 7,700 reactions, 420 comments and 183,000 views on the platform.
A May 15 video that showed Michelle showcasing her popular routine on television also gained new comments from Facebook users.
The walk was captured in an episode of the morning show “Unang Hirit” where the Kapuso actress guested for an exclusive interview after she was crowned MUPH 2023.
“Manifesting @michelledee‘s win in El Salvador this 2023!” the post reads.
The video has so far garnered 94,000 reactions and 7.5 million views on the platform. The comments section, meanwhile, was filled with mixed views.
Some Facebook users expressed their support for Michelle in her her bid to take home the Philippines’ fifth crown in the next edition of Miss Universe.
Other Filipinos, meanwhile, perceived that Michelle needed to practice more.
“The way she carried herself like not real and her facial expression is not positive to look. Not nice, looks trying hard. Hope she can do better,” a Facebook user commented.
“More practice pa sana or try another walk,” another Facebook user said.
A tribute
In a statement on Instagram, pageant coach Ian Mendajar explained that Michelle’s snake-like strut was inspired by her mother—Miss International 1979 Melanie Marquez.
“Michelle’s gown routine is inspired by our Miss International 1979, Michelle’s Mom, Melanie Marquez,” Ian said.
“The ‘S’ walk after her 2nd establishment is one of Melanie’s signature walks during her modeling days while her final pose is inspired by her Mom’s supermodel poses,” he added.
Ian said that Michelle’s roles as Serpenta and Freya were also “married” to make the beauty queen’s personality shine in the competition.
“We also married a touch of her recent roles ‘Serpenta’ and ‘Freya; as we needed Michelle’s personality and presence to shine – ensuring that her performance was nothing short of who she really is,” he said.
Aside from modeling, Michelle was also a rising actress under GMA Network.
Michelle starred as Serpenta, a villain in “Agimat ng Agila” in 2021. This year, she also played Freya in “Mga Lihim ni Urduja,” one of the main characters in the series.
A fan reposted Ian’s explanation of the “snake walk.”
The Makati beauty then quote-retweeted this tweet and wrote: “Loud and proud.”
Loud and proud 🖤 https://t.co/qezqmibsyY
— MMD (@michellemdee) May 15, 2023
