R’Bonney Gabriel, best known to global audiences as Miss Universe 2022, is charting her next chapter as a full-time fashion creative, bringing her sustainable, upcycled design ethos to television and international media.
Her latest moves include joining the upcoming season of the fashion competition series “Project Runway,” where designers race against the clock to create runway-ready looks, and fronting a June issue cover story for Tatler Philippines that spotlights her advocacy for diversity and responsible fashion.
A long-running staple of fashion television, “Project Runway” follows a group of designers as they tackle themed challenges, present collections to a panel of judges and face weekly eliminations until a winner is named. The series has helped launch careers and shape trends, making Gabriel’s participation a natural next step for a queen who has always emphasized that her reign is rooted in design as much as in pageantry.
Gabriel grew up in Houston, Texas, in a household that blended Filipino and American cultures, a mix she often credits for her sense of identity and style. Her father, Remigio Bonzon “R. Bon” Gabriel, emigrated from Manila to the United States on a college scholarship, arriving with little money but a determination to build a new life, while her mother, Dana Walker, hails from Beaumont, Texas. Gabriel has spoken publicly about how hearing her father’s immigration story and visiting family in Malate, Manila, shaped her understanding of resilience and representation.
Before she was a household name, Gabriel was a designer with a strong technical foundation, earning a degree in fashion design and fibers and spending years at the sewing machine. That training eventually translated into late nights in the studio and early mornings in local pageant rehearsals, where she discovered that the runway could be a platform not just for gowns but also for messages about sustainability and inclusion.
Her rise in pageantry was rapid: after gaining momentum on the state circuit, she captured the Miss Texas USA title, then Miss USA, and ultimately the Miss Universe crown, becoming the first Filipino-American to hold both national and global titles.
Throughout that journey, Gabriel has consistently used interviews, social media and public appearances to underscore that her success is tightly linked to hard work in fashion and a desire to see more Asian-American stories reflected on screen and on the catwalk.
Outside televised competitions, Gabriel operates her sustainable brand R’Bonney Nola, designing pieces from repurposed materials and collaborating with organizations that support women and marginalized communities. In Houston, she has also shared her skills by teaching sewing to survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking at a local nonprofit design house, reinforcing her belief that fashion can be both creative and restorative.
In 2023, The Outstanding Filipino Awards (TOFA) recognized Gabriel’s impact by presenting her with the Global Award for Women Empowerment. She accepted the honor through a video message while on duty at the Miss Universe competition in El Salvador, thanking the Filipino-American community for embracing her as a symbol of pride and promising to continue using fashion and media to elevate women’s stories worldwide.
