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Markki Stroem wears Tikbalang-inspired national costume for Mister Universe 2024
Markki Stroem reimagined the Tikbalang, a creature from Philippine folklore, for his national costume in the Mister Universe 2024 pageant.
On Instagram, the Filipino-Norwegian actor and singer shared photos of his black inabel bahag ensemble designed by Filipino fashion designer Patrick Isorena. He matched his outfit with a gold horse head as a head dress, gold arm and wrist cuffs and wings shaped in trees.
Markki, 37, also sported knee high boots made of feathers that looked like the feet of a horse and held a wooden stick clothed in black inabel.
"The Tikbalang is said to lurk in the rainforests of the Philippines. It is a half-human, half-horse, with a head and hooves of a horse. Tikbalangs scare travelers, lead them astray and play tricks on them to get lost forever in the Philippine rainforests that they inhabit," he wrote in the caption.
"In this multiverse, my version of the Tikbalang has joined forces with mother nature to take down illegal loggers and land grabbers. Joining forces to protect our magnificent ecosystems and save our environment," he added.
Markki, whose real name is Marcello Angelo Ledesma Strøm, flew to the United States last week for the Mister Universe 2024. The pageant's coronation night is slated on December 23 (Philippine time).
Before joining the pageant, Markki appeared in the Netflix film "Lolo and the Kid" with Euwenn Mikaell and Joel Torre.
He also played the role of Christian in the 2022 run of the musical play "Mula sa Buwan" in its 2022 run.
—Jade Veronique Yap/MGP, GMA Integrated News
