3 crowned best dressed in search for Singapore's next fashion stars

SINGAPORE - Three stylish head-turners walked away winners at the finals of Female magazine's search for Singapore's next fashion stars last Thursday. The title's annual 50 Gorgeous People competition, which is in its 20th year, rebranded itself to become FemaleGP: The Best Dressed Edition last year.

Businessman and education consultant Darren Loke, 26, won the title for Best Dressed Male, and model manager Parveen Hassanbhai, 28, took home the title of Best Dressed Female. For the first time, a Most Popular category was created with Isabella Chan, 25, a digital marketer, as its inaugural winner.

20 finalists -10 male and 10 female - were shortlisted from over 1,000 Instagram entries, with the crowning moment taking place at Cherry Discotheque.

Hosted by TV presenter Liv Lo, the event included a screening of the finalists' video interviews and a montage clip showcasing the past contest finalists from over the years.

The results were based on the finalists' OOTD posts on Instagram; an editorial spread from the November 2016 issue of Female; and a brief video interview in which they shared their personal opinions about fashion. The Most Popular award was decided by the highest accumulated votes from all the OOTDs posted on the femalegp.sg website.

Female's 50 Gorgeous People has served as an influential platform for discovering individuals with star power and charisma, some of whom have progressed to become today's well-known personalities, including actor Pierre Png, musician Benjamin Kheng, and founder of Collate The Label, Velda Tan.

Noelle Loh, Editor of Female, said: "All the winners were deserving - for their individualistic takes on style, for not blindly follow trends and expressing their personalities through what they wear, and for setting the bar on what it means to be stylish in Singapore."

The Best Dressed Male and Female winners each went home with $2,600 worth of prizes, while the Most Popular winner received $1,600 worth of prizes, including a staycation at W Singapore. They will also have the opportunity to be featured in an upcoming issue of Female.

candicec@sph.com.sg