Indonesian fashion aficionados descended on Nusantara on August 25, despite the city still being under construction and only planned to become the country’s political capital in 2028. That evening, the hosting of the final of Miss Tourism Indonesia 2025 brought a festive atmosphere to the venue adjacent to the presidential palace modeled after Indonesia’s national emblem, a legendary eagle-like creature called Garuda.

As beauty queens walked down the runway on a stage illuminated by coloured artificial light, local fans waved placards carrying the name of Nabila Putri GiswatamaRRI IKN – Nabila Putri from IKN Wins 2025 Indonesian Tourism Princess, 2025, the representative for their home province, East Kalimantan, on Borneo Island. Shortly afterward, Giswatama, a former artistic swimmerSportsencyclo – Nabila Putri Giswatama, 2018, claimed the title.

Beauty pageants are popular across Southeast Asia, including in Indonesia where numerous national-level contestsChulalongkorn University – Understanding femininity in beauty pageant industry: a case study of Puteri Indonesia Pageant, 2019 are held each year, such as Puteri Indonesia and Miss Earth Indonesia, alongside dozens of smaller contests. This prominence is recent. The archipelagic country maintained a restrictive policy toward beauty pageants under the rule of former President Suharto from 1967 to 1998. Indonesian women were banned from participating in international beauty contests in the early 1970sUPI – Indonesia's participation in Miss Universe pageant stirs controversy, 1993, with the ban formally enacted in 1984Jurnal Pendidikan Sejarah – Kontroversi Miss Indonesia tahun 1982–1984, 2014 over concerns that such public representation would violate Indonesia’s norms and religious values.

The end of the Suharto eraAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations – The Last Days of President Suharto in 1998 coincided with the rise of fast fashionEconomics Observatory – How did fashion grow into a global business, 2025, positioning the emerging Indonesian beauty pageant scene within a structural transition in production and consumption patterns. The onset of the fast fashion era placed pageantry companies under pressure to project the evolving priorities of the fashion industry to their mainstream audiences. For example, Miss Universe 2025, where Sanly Liu represented Indonesia, generated a total of 2.6 billionMiss Universe – The most viewed Miss in History, 2025 online views.

Beneath stylish outfits and crowns these events have long played a role in the construction of beauty standardsJurnal Riset Komunikasi – The Construction and Adoption of Beauty Standard by Youth Female as the Consumer of K-Beauty Products in Indonesia, 2022 as runways serve as testing grounds for fashion brands to pioneer new looks and accelerate adoption of emerging trends. And runway influence no longer ends with the event, as many participants now acting as pageant influencersBorobudur International Symposium on Humanities and Social Science – Exploring the role of pageant influencers on social media campaign in Indonesia, 2024 on social media, maintaining year-round promotional cycles.

Yet the Indonesian pageantry sector has said little about this environmental cost. In practice, the shift from durable clothes to disposable garments and a relentless flow of new styles has turned the fashion industry into a factory of mounds of waste, predominantly synthetic fibers that release microplastics into the environment. While annual global clothing production is estimated at 80 to 150 billionBritish Vogue – Billions Of Clothes Are Produced Every Year. Why Do We Still Not Know Exactly How Many, 2023 units, garment lifespan fell by 36%United Nations Environment Programme – Unsustainable fashion and textiles in focus, 2025 during the first 15 years of the 21st century. In Nusantara, Miss Tourism Indonesia 2025 sat, without confronting it, at the intersection of pageant performance and the global fashion system.