* text by Joe Kwan, pix by SweetEe *
Having freshly descended upon dry land, SweetEe and myself were faced with a conundrum in the form of invites for Esquire’s Best Dressed Real Man 2014, held at Capricorn KL. Joyce, as usual, was unavailable to attend so it was up to us. [Joyce: Oi… i had a pre-wedding dinner la ok]
The conundrum being, everyone in the office was BADLY hit with SWS (:read) and the last thing we wanted was to attend another party, having gone ALL OUT for 5 days straight. But consider this: in life, when offered the chance to openly ogle at sharply dressed men in a swanky environment amongst other sharply dressed people… RUN WITH IT.
So we tucked whatever form of SWS we had away into a deep corner and schlepped ourselves to Capricorn. Before I proceed, I’m going to need ya’ll to strap on your safety belts because this is going to be one SWOON-WORTHY post.
Swanky it was indeed. Complete with a long runway snaking down the middle.
Ridduan a.k.a. TTFGA is responsible for all the cool cover shots of the finalists. Majorly geeked out as I’ve been a fan of his work for quite some time!
Couldn’t miss a photo-op with the adorable Ai Chiin, who just started Cuevolution.com, check it out!
Host and actress Sazzy, check out her online store Street Fashion KL
The ladies did not disappoint either. The glam factor was definitely present and very much on point.
The vibe was entirely different from the sort of “partying” we were accustomed to on the high seas. The crowd was highly sophisticated and uber cool, mingling amongst each other in the dim setting of the venue, music thumping in a steady but relaxed beat. SweetEe and I tried our best to assimilate. Fake it til’ you make it!
And then the music stopped. And the ogling commenced!
Before we proceed, let me introduce the 5 finalists of Esquire’s Best Dressed Real Man 2014 (pictures courtesy of Esquire Malaysia):
Shahzeeq Shahren, 25, account manager. (also ex-blog manager for KinkyBlueFairy a few years back!)
Fairul Ishak, 32, graphic designer. (extra points for rocking a manskirt!)
Julian Khoo, 25, operations manager.
Joshua Desmond, 28, PR consultant and digital strategist.
Affendy Ali, 26, legal and PR advisor. (I speak for the entire KBF team when I say he’s our favourite… y’know, for general swoon factor)
[Joyce: Sorry, i gotta say that my favourite is Shah :D]
After a brief stint on the catwalk, the finalists were invited up on stage for a short but tough interview from Nadia Heng, the emcee for the night.
Looking into my soul.
And then one by one, names were annouced and prizes were given away by Sam Coleman, Editor-in-Chief of Esquire. This is Affendy accepting this prize for runner-up. SO CLOSE.
But anyway, the winner is…
The room was silent as we waited for the results with bated breath. Felt like we were on the set of a reality show!
Congratulations to Julian Khoo, Esquire’s Best Dressed Real Man 2014!
Look at that! Shah has smile with the most megawatts, hands down