Ever wondered what goes on behind-the-scenes to secure an outfit for the Star Awards?

Stylist: Johnny Khoo
Zoe's Outfit: Oscar De la Renta from Vestiare Collective

Tell us about the outfit.
I chose the look because it is beautiful, regal and fit for our First Lady of Mediacorp.

Was it based on her vision? Or did you work together on that?
It's my vision every year. She pretty much leaves it to me. We've been best friends for decades and nobody understands her more than me. We will fit her in several gowns and throughout the fitting, she doesn't have a mirror in front of her but she's totally cool with it as she leaves the decision to me. Trust and confidence! I respect her for that!

So how did you finally decide on this gorgeous dress?
I have always wanted to dress her in something vintage. I mean, I dressed her in vintage Givenchy (sourced from the early 70s') for her wedding. This Oscar de la Renta look is not vintage but it just fits so gorgeously on her that we knew it was the one. My second gown was a vintage Christian Lacroix. I love Lacroix, Mugler, Gaultier. In this day and age, designers hardly make clothes like those anymore...

Was it challenging to secure the look?
I looked at 1stdibs, Vestiaire and some other vintage sites. I would have bought a dress for her if I saw something I liked. I have done that many times before. But Vestiaire eventually worked with me and got in two gowns for me.

Stylist: Hiro Ye
Ying Ying's Outfit: LaQuan Smith

Tell us about the outfit.
We wanted something unconventional. And she has been working out really hard at the gym so what better time to show off her hard work than in this sexy two-piece?

Was it based on her vision? Or did you work together on that?
It was a reference to a look we experimented with last year.

So how did you finally decide on this gorgeous dress?
Ying Ying has been nothing but trusting towards me. She gives me full creative freedom in curating her looks each time.

Was it challenging to secure the look? 
I actually bought it. Ying Ying has the habit of buying pieces for some important events to commemorate certain milestones in her life. So far, we have bought quite a few, and currently, we both love American designer LaQuan Smith which is why we bought this dress for Star Awards.

Stylist: Donson Chan
Chantalle's Outfit: Denise Chong

Tell us about the outfit.
We wanted a more futuristic look with a touch of sensuality. This custom piece was created by local designer Denise Chong. It is hand-beaded and took 150 hours to complete.

Was it based on her vision? Or did you work together on that?
We wanted to try something different this year. And I really wanted to support local, so I suggested securing one look from a fashion house and working with a local designer for the second look. After I shared with Chantalle about Denise Chong’s beaded craft, she loved it so much that she said “Let’s just wear Denise Chong for the red carpet and not do any outfit changes!"

Was it challenging to secure the look? 
I texted Denise and asked if she was keen to work on a custom piece for Chantalle. And here we are.

Any last-minute hiccups?
Well, I actually ordered a custom set of "press-on nails" to go with Chantalle’s look. Just before the show, the index nail with a ball chain dropped into the toilet bowl! Before she could react, it auto-flushed. So there was no cute nail art but the dress was still intact and fabulous!

Stylist: Kelly Hsu
Bonnie's Outfit: Monot

Tell us about the outfit.
Our goal for this year was to experiment and have a little fun with her appearance, seeking a style that would enhance her small stature and slender build while being both daring and refined.

Was it based on her vision? Or did you work together on that?
During our discussion, I shared my vision and she provided me with some guidelines to follow, such as avoiding short dresses, and specific colours, and ensuring the gown wasn't too heavy.

So how did you finally decide on this gorgeous dress?
During the fitting process, we had seven other options, but ultimately tried on this particular dress three times. Interestingly, it wasn't our initial choice, but when she tried it on, it fit perfectly and she knew it was the right choice for her this year.

Any last-minute hiccups?
Due to Bonnie being a size US 0, certain adjustments were necessary to ensure that the dress fitted her perfectly. However, even after alterations, the dress didn't fit properly. We had to make some last-minute adjustments in the holding area just two minutes before she walked the red carpet.

Stylist: Neo Lirong
Jesseca's Outfit: Isabel Sanchi from Pois

Tell us about the outfit.
When I was gown sourcing for Jesseca 2 months ago, my go-to place would be Pois Boutique. They carry the most amazing red carpet pieces, and it remains as one of the OG fashion boutiques in Singapore. This Isabel Sanchi number gown was the 1st one I spotted and I knew right away that's the gown for Jesseca. I set my eyes on that gown from the start! Along the way, a number of brands approached Jesseca, however, none of the pieces caught my eye as much as this number.

Was it based on her vision? Or did you work together on that?
I guess it's a deep, meaningful chemistry built over working together for the past 10 years. I appreciate her trust in me, always allowing me to try on different looks on her. Shaun Lee, the makeup artist and Gary Low, the hairstylist from Passion Hair Salon played a huge part in putting Jesseca look together last night. I'm really honoured to be working with the industry's best people — it helps styling Jesseca Liu like a breeze.

Was it challenging to secure the look? 
Mdm Lee from Pois Boutique is always super supportive of Jesseca and I so it was a breeze! We greatly appreciate the teamwork!

Any last-minute hiccups?
The next day after we confirmed the look, I spotted Jisoo from Blackpink wearing it in her music video. In the back of my mind, I thought, would it backfire? But we still went ahead and I am glad we made this look happen!

But a few months back, something dramatic did happen! Jesseca went shopping for a table at Ikea and a table accidentally dropped on her feet! She was unable to walk or stand for long — so high heels were out of the question! Obviously walking the red carpet in high heels was a definite no! (FYI: that red carpet is really long). But she knew to make the look work perfectly, high heels were a must so she insisted she will go with high heels to complete the full look. I truly respect her for being such a trooper! She braved the pain by getting on sky-high heels and walked down that super long red carpet. Honestly, I was feeling her pain watching her walk down that red carpet. I guess lots of painkillers and the support from fans helped to distract her pain from the feet.

Stylist: Wei Lun Tok
Carrie's Outfit: David Koma

Tell us about the outfit.
I knew I wanted something that conveyed modern glamour with a clean silhouette. From there, I literally went through all the runway collections and started shortlisting brands. That’s how I came across the David Koma dress we selected for Carrie. From there, we looked at jewellery options and decided to go with Tiffany & Co. I have always been obsessed with the Elsa Peretti Bone cuffs and finally found the perfect dress and occasion to style it with!

Was it based on her vision? Or did you work together on that?
Both of us had many open discussions over the course of four to six months leading up to the event. Initially, we were quite fixated on securing a full white look as we haven’t really tried something like that before and had a champagne satin slip dress option from the beginning. All of that changed and we dropped all other options when we had confirmation on the David Koma dress. For me personally, the matching runway boots sealed the deal for me.

Was it challenging to secure the look? 
It was actually very easy and fuss-free with the lovely help of the David Koma HQ team in London. I’ve reached out directly to them with a pull request and immediately within the day, they readily replied and agreed to dress Carrie.

Any last-minute hiccups?
We almost didn’t get the dress as the London office was extremely busy with other committed dressings prior to ours. They couldn’t promise that they would be able to send something down for the award show. So I had to look for backups but a week before the show, they came back with good news and confirmed my first option (I shortlisted 3).

The next dilemma we had was whether to keep to the boots as we were worried they might clash with the jewellery. Plus, the boots were a little tight too. We did have a heel option as well. It all came down to show day and we only decided to keep them after she had a full glam on and jewellery. We decided to keep the best of both worlds and used the boots for the red carpet and the heels for the award ceremony.

Stylist: Martin Wong
Jasmine's Outfit: Celine

Tell us about the outfit.
I had a vision that I wanted her to be very sleek and chic. I was talking about something with a plunging neckline when we were discussing her Star Awards outfit. Amazingly this Celine dress was presented to me and it fits her personality perfectly. She also wanted to be comfortable and didn’t want to be weighed down by a heavy gown.

Was it challenging to secure the look? 
This request was actually made over casual banter at an event. I made a request to get approval to dress her. People might not know this but getting approval to dress a celebrity in Celine is not easy as all requests have to go through the Paris HQ for approval and they look at the Instagram accounts and profiles to consider if they are suitable for the brand. So needless to say Jasmine and I were both thrilled when the brand told us that she was approved and we could go ahead with her dressing.

Any last-minute hiccups?
The approval actually only came in on Tuesday night (5 days away from Star Awards) and we had to work swiftly with the brand to secure the outfit and do a fitting.