What will the cast of Emerald Hill be wearing to the Star Awards 2025?

It’s not nominated this year, as its release date fell just outside the eligibility window,  but Emerald Hill is still the show everyone’s watched heading into the Star Awards 2025 come July 6. The stylised, slow-burn drama made history earlier this year as the first Channel 8 series to top Netflix Singapore’s most-watched list, and now, its cast is expected to arrive at the ceremony with the kind of momentum even a nomination can’t guarantee.

Themed “Walking Through Time Together,” the Star Awards 2025 is set to be both a retrospective and a reset—a celebration of 30 years, with all the emotion (and pageantry) that entails. Expect nods to the classics, quiet statements of arrival, and more than a few curveballs from the stylists working behind the scenes to shape what Singapore’s red carpet will look like next.

Ahead, we look back at the style journeys of Emerald Hill’s cast members when it comes to the local entertainment scene’s biggest night of the year, and get a sneak peek into what their stylists are planning for.

Zoe Tay

Tay, who plays Zhang family matriarch Liu Xiu Niang, has long mastered the art of presence both on screen and on the red carpet. In 2013, she wore a canary yellow Gucci gown, and a year later, it was a studded Gucci dress with the ease of a tee. In recent years, her choices have felt more deliberate: a vintage Tom Ford gown from his first collection in 2024 (she also wore Ford in 2019), and a Carolina Herrera gown sourced from Vestiaire Collective in 2023, quietly ahead of the curve on fashion’s archival fixation.

Zoe’s long-time stylist, Johnny Khoo, who’s dressed her for over two decades, is never one for gimmicks as he believes in “dressing my subject based on their personality and what is suitable.” Adding on that “Zoe is a good subject because she is very carefree, and she really trusts me”, Khoo would previously dress Tay in bold looks like a Versace chain mini dress. But now, he leans into what he calls her “commanding ah jie status”, that’s more graceful, and which befits outfits that aren’t “over-the-top or screaming for attention.”

At the Star Awards 2025, their direction is pared-back and intentional: Think “understated, simple, elegant and classic, semi-couture with handwork,” Khoo says.

Style tip: “Dress to the occasion and your personality. There is no need to try to dress to get attention. If you dress well and on point, the attention will come to you.”

Zhang Ze Tong

Zhang, who plays Huang Zu Ye — Yueniang’s adopted son and Zhang Xinniang’s love interest — is beginning to find his footing in red carpet dressing. His 2024 look, styled by Daryll Alexius Yeo, marked a turning point: a rose-taupe Emporio Armani ensemble that paired drawstring trousers with a fluid zippered top. It was soft but sculptural, with just enough sheen to signal intention. 

Yeo, who began working with Zhang in early 2024, describes their approach as “capturing contrast in harmony.” He leans heavily into tailoring as a foundation, as “it sharpens one’s silhouette and instantly injects presence”, but allows room for movement and ease—a philosophy that suits Zhang’s grounded-but-expressive energy. “For Ze Tong, it’s important to me that he always feels like himself, just turned up slightly, but with a wink of something unexpected.”

This year’s Star Awards look continues that thread. Expect something monochromatic and sharply tailored, but designed to move, according to Yeo. “Youthful, but grown-up all at once. Leading man off-duty, with a sophisticated touch”, as Yeo puts it. “You can expect a look that will frame his body, with that hint of movement and ease.”

Style tip: “Don’t just dress up, but dress with a direction. I always find that creating a simple visual moodboard for the aesthetic you’re looking for helps me focus on pulling together the final look. That said, a well-cut suit or a monochrome look can say everything without trying too hard. For me, confidence on the red carpet comes from clarity, and not over-styling.”

Chantalle Ng

Ng, who plays the calculating Zhang Anna in Emerald Hill, has built a red carpet track record that leans high-gloss and high-risk, a rare combination among her peers. Her first Star Awards appearance with her stylist Donson Chan in 2022 set the tone: a slick, red sequinned gown from Bottega Veneta with long sleeves and a puddle hem, equal parts polish and restraint. 

In 2023, she pivoted hard in a custom chainmail two-piece by Denise Chong—a strapless, draped bandeau and slashed column skirt held together by side rings. Then came 2024: a shredded white Sportmax dress layered with thigh-high boot sandals, styled with hair extensions, and enough pearls to rattle.

Chan, who’s worked with Ng since 2021 and has styled her for every Star Awards since, mentions that he tries “to explore new directions every year so she can present a different side of herself,” and it shows. As for this year? No fittings have happened yet, but Chan says their direction is simple, which is a complete style swerve for Ng: they’re both going for glam.

Style tip: “I think you have to be comfortable in your own skin.”

Tyler Ten

Ten, who plays an orphaned gangster and resident heart-throb Bai Ah Li, has been steadily loosening up for the Star Awards, and his outfits are starting to show it. In 2023, he wore a sharp black Dior tuxedo with a crisp white shirt, bow tie, and nothing out of place—the kind of classic you can’t fault. But in 2024, the mood shifted. He showed up in a deep oxblood leather suit by Versace with wide lapels and matching trousers, a bold move that suggested he’s not afraid of a little chaos or colour.

This year marks his first Star Awards appearance with stylist Donson Chan, who started working with him just last August. Chan has always dressed Ten in off-awards-season appearances with a focus “on proportion and a slight twist to menswear classics and masculinity”, a formula that suits Ten’s build and public persona. Thus, Ten’s styling has been getting steadily more confident, with the kind of details that reward a second look.

As for his Star Awards 2025 look? Chan is still in the sourcing phase, but the goal is something “formal, fresh, and self-assured.” A considered pivot from Ten’s rough-edged character in Emerald Hill, and a reminder that polish doesn’t always have to mean playing it safe.

Tasha Low

Low, who plays Zhang Xinniang — the adopted daughter of Zhang Jin He and Li Shu Qin, and emotional anchor of Emerald Hill — is quickly becoming one to watch on the red carpet. At the Star Awards 2023, she leaned sultry in a plunging black dress by Pinko, with gathered ruching, a high slit, and cut-out mesh stockings that hinted at something tougher beneath the gloss. In 2024, she wore a sculptural dress from Vietnamese label Das La Vie featuring tiers of crimson satin bows. The strapless silhouette and tiered construction gave it a pop-art charm: polished, playful, and just this side of kitsch.

Her stylist Xueli Wong, who’s worked with Low since 2022, with their first Star Awards being in 2023, describes their styling approach as a balance between elegance and edge. It’s a quiet formula, but one that’s been evolving. “We try to let her natural grace meet the occasion,” Wong adds. “Her personality always comes through in the details.”

This year’s look is still under wraps, but Wong promises it’ll stay true to form, a nod to Low’s nature, which is “delicate but with strength”.

Style tip: “Confidence over everything.”