CLEO Fashion Awards 2008

8 November 2008 was a memorial day for Cleo magazine as they held their Fashion Awards, for the first time, at the most unusual yet unique venue, Pavillion Kuala Lumpur Oval Concourse.


Among the attendees were Cleo's sponsors, esteemed fashion brand partners, clients, celebrities & friends, contest winners & most importantly hundreds of awed, fashion raved shoppers.


There were loads of goodie bags given away too..


Celebrating their second Fashion Awards, this time themed FASHION RAVE, the event started with the arrival of guests at 6 til 8pm then focused on catwalks & live performances by popular urban artistes.

Hosted by the whacky Daphne & 8TV Quickie's smashing bloke Henry, the 18 fashion award winners were announced.


Ash Nair was first to perform with 2 songs on minus-1 (playback music) backed by a percussionist. During his performance, a catwalk display of 8 lovely Caucasian models wore square (as in nerdie) outfits with big Ugly Betty spectacles. He was fun in stage doing his chasing-the-babes-but-they-all-tak-layan act.

Next, a groovy band called Estrella, led by this lady with amazing voice performed 2 more songs..


Right after, the hosts called Editor-in-Chief, Lynette Ow on stage for the first draw.. Lucky Draw that is.. Cant remember who won though.. sorry..


Once the names were announced the mini concert continued with more live music.. by Prema Yin and her band! I never expected a voice like that to come out from someone like her, wei. She's so good I had to take a picture with her after.. Rock on!


Now, Im pretty sure there were games after Prema's performance. I cant quite remember coz I was busy socialiting.. Or maybe I was too occupied taking these photos..


Anyway the best part came. Hunny Madu came on stage. With The Goodfellas. And their band. They ROCKED the mall. The models came on too for a 2nd catwalk!


By then, the crowd was relaxed, more chatty & less uptight. Which was just right for another lucky draw.. and the finale performance by Reshmonu! He performed on minus-1.


The event ended with a finale catwalk with the models holding up banners of the fashion award winners..


Daphne, Henry & Reshmonu closed the event at about 10pm..


Hair & make-up for the event was sponsored by Herbal Essences & Maybelline New York while Fly fm & 8TV were the official partners. It was an exciting musical event in my opinion. In terms of the awards giving, it was at the minimum which to me defeats the whole theme. However, it was a brand new approach altogether and I'll give credit for that.

Event Rating: 4.5/5

That rating means:
1/5 - Should have stayed home to watch LOST.
2/5 - Thank god for the finger food.
3/5 - Should have invited more friends!
4/5 - Why were YOU not there?
5/5 - Totally Experiential

Shell Malaysia Goes Bond

This was an interesting event. It was well planned, creatively designed & smoothly executed.

After their big success with the Ferrari racing models Shell Malaysia Trading S/B recently launched a set of 4 Bond car models in conjunction with the soon-to-be-released 'Quantum of Solace' 007 movie. The event was held at one of the 'late' NTV7 studios from 11am to 1pm last 22 October.

The host was none other than a Bond-Girl potential, an actor & TV host extraordinaire, Aishah Sinclair, who is also Malaysia's OLAY Total Effect spokesperson.

Guests (consisting of Shell's business associates & the news media) started arriving at 11am sharp. Having to following the theme, Bond girls / guys(?) dressed in black dresses & tux served refreshments and ushered the guests to theater-like seats. When all guests have been seated the studio blacks out..

In came the bond dancers..

Then the mysterious Bond silhouette..


.. who turns out to be the VIP! Lights go on & Dato' Mohzani gives his opening speech. Very brief. I like that. Next the opening gambit. My eyes popped. An Aston Martin V8 Vantage squeezed out from the right backdrop!



























Nice!

Aishah ushers Dato' to the Vantage for a photo session with the media. Although many photos were taken with the V8, the highlight was on the other Bond cars, of course. .


After an extended photo opp the Bond girls ushers VIP to his seat & the emcee in a gorgeous Versace dress announces the video playback where the "Cars of Bond" TV commercial is shown for the first time. I expected to see the movie trailer as part of the video presentation but, nope.. wasn't part of the show.


That's it! Aishah's job was done for the day! A short press conference was then conducted by Dato' Mohzani Abdul Wahab (Managing Director) & Vivek Kumar (Head of Regional Retail Marketing) before everyone headed out for lunch.

Personal comments:
An entertaining 'theme' event, for sure! Simple & brief. The only thing i didn't like was the fact that the rehearsal was still running when the media guests arrived & the launch started late. However, Im pretty sure they didn't mind when they found out that part of the lunch treat was a lorry-load of durians specially requested by Dato' after a favourable response from Shell's previous event!

(Aishah with the Event Organiser, Selin.. Good job guys!!!)

Event Rating: 3/5

That rating means:
1/5 - Should have stayed home to watch LOST.
2/5 - Thank god for the finger food.
3/5 - Should have invited more friends!
4/5 - Why were YOU not there?
5/5 - Totally Experiential