Last night’s Stylo event left me completely awestruck. Honestly, I had my mouth hanging open for most of “A Couture Evening”, presented by Visa and showcasing works by Albert King, A Breathing Palate by Stage cosmetics and the best of Michael Ong.
Albert King’s line combines forward fashion and architectural design with infusions of traditional local aesthetics. It translates to gowns structurally designed with ruffles and meticulously placed embellishments.
In the pure spirit of haute couture, all his pieces should be considered as works of art, and would easier be filed under “things to look at” than “things to wear”. It would be amazingly difficult for us to find an appropriate event to wear them too (if we could buy them that is)!
That’s Albert King looking adorably sheepish in the picture above. Almost as if to say, “I don’t know how I managed to create such fierce fabulousity either!”
Next up was Breathing Palate by Stage cosmetics, a complete body art showcase. When Dato’ Nancy Yeoh announced the programme for the night, I wondered how they’d get away with this sort of a show in KL, considering each body was to be a canvas with little clothing required.
It turned out to be very tastefully done. A mix of dancers and models used creative movement instead of your typical runway strut, making the showcase beautifully entertaining.
Unfortunately for some of the models, undergarments inevitably rode up a little, disallowing seamless body art and exposing wedgies of sorts!
Overall, it was definitely a showcase to remember. I’d never seen anything like it in Malaysia, which I thought to be a tremendous step forward for our local fashion scene. I also loved that this particular showcase featured varying body shapes as compared to generic model figures.
Next up was a showcase featuring Michael Ong’s most memorable works as worn by stars like Sheila Majid, Siti Nurhaliza, Ning Baisura and the late Anita Mui during pivotal fashion moments in their careers. Gowns featured were from private collections that had to be gathered, altered and curated before the event. The dress above was worn by Sheila Majid.
Ning Baizura wore this work of art for her wedding early last year.
Siti Nurhaliza wore this during her performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005.
And this was her wedding dress.
The night ended with a surprise showcase of 120 local socialites and celebrities decked out in local designers’ couture.
Which explained why the audience last night mostly consisted of celebrities decked out in OTT designs.
Melinda Looi took to the runway with her son. So cute!
Here are some shots I took during showcase intermissions; most of which, consist of the socialites with their designers.
Actress Chelsia Ng
Levy Li
Right-Left: Marion Caunter and Stephanie Chai in Lucas Blim‘s creations (2nd from left).
Feel free to drop comments. If more pictures are what you want, to see click here. Until the next Stylo update!
