Playful silhouettes and wacky menswear were the order of the day on the red carpet at the Golden Melody Awards on Saturday night. Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun (孫燕姿) stole headlines with her “black swan” Dsquared gown, but it wasn’t her heavily feathered bodice that got the press’ attention. It was the slit on her slinky black skirt, which was high enough to induce a nosebleed in spectators and looked like it probably necessitated a bikini wax on the morning of the awards.
If Sun’s dress was top-heavy, then Taiwanese singer Senda Aisa (千田愛紗) went in the opposite direction. The extremely puffy skirt of the Da Mouth vocalist’s hot pink mini-dress was layered with row upon row of large and tightly gathered horizontal ruffles, making her look like a cross between a flamingo, a topiary and Marilyn Monroe.
Other offbeat silhouettes included best Taiwanese Female Singer winner Huang Yi-ling's (黃乙玲) deep purple bubble dress with a sloping hemline and Singaporean singer Tanya Chua’s (蔡健雅) short tomato red Lanvin number, which was ruched and gathered into a giant, loose rosette over her left shoulder. Best Mandarin Female Singer winner Sandee Chen’s (陳珊妮) rock-inspired Vivienne Westwood gown was a counterpoint to all the girliness. The black metallic fabric was draped and gathered around her body in artfully haphazard folds and accentuated with a pair of heavy black gladiator sandals.
Despite all the playful looks, many stars still reached for surefire goddess gowns, including Taiwanese television host Matilda Tao’s (陶晶瑩) gleaming pewter MaxMara dress with a low sweetheart neckline, Taiwanese actress Tian Xin’s (天心) elegant lavender Dior and Chan Ya-wen’s (詹雅雯) custom-made toga dress with a jeweled shoulder strap.
The prize for craziest menswear arguably went to Best Mandarin Album winner Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) tuxedo, which seemed to be inspired by ballet costumes. The Hong Kong singer’s jacket flared into an A-line at his waist, with layers of baby pink tulle peeping out from underneath. His shortened trousers, black-and-white striped anklet socks and bright red shoes, on the other hand, would have made Ronald McDonald green with envy.
Malaysian singer Gary Cao (曹格) combined a checked grey-and-black sleeveless jacket with a knee-length tunic and black trousers with one leg rolled up, like an old-school rapper. Taiwanese singer Alan Luo (羅志祥) said that his self-designed outfit was inspired by Indian saris, but the snazzy black sharkskin knickerbockers, short cutaway jacket, tall boots and swath of fabric wrapped around his torso made him look more Little Lord Fauntleroy than Bollywood.
Unlike many of the attendees, Taiwanese singer Ricky Hsiao (蕭煌奇) wore an outfit by a Taiwanese designer. The visually impaired star’s oversized tuxedo jacket had giant sequined eyeballs marching down the front and was designed by an artist and performance artist named (surprise, surprise) Mr Eyeball (眼球先生). It made the schoolboy-on-crack striped blazer, matching shirt and white shorts worn by Best New Artist and Best Composer winner, Crowd Lu (盧廣仲), look positively tame in comparison.
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