Applause for the young and the talented

The Tri-Factor Glam Night received all-round praise after being held recently at at the Life Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Guests gave the thumbs-up to this unique fashion competition in the local fashion scene that combined the disciplines of design, photography and modelling.

Event organiser, Adrian Puan who is president and founder of Event Managing Club of HELP University College said, “The three-in-one fashion competition is unique as it brings together three main skill components of the fashion world namely, modelling, fashion designing and fashion photography, in order for participants to compete equally for honours.

“It’s a first of its kind in the world,” he claimed, adding, “We have seen a lot of fashion design competitions like Project Runway and modelling competitions and photography contests, but none has actually combined all three fashion elements into a single competition, so we thought to take up the challenge.”

Each category was judged separately by professionals and their total scoring determined the team champion at the end of the Grand Finale.

“Initially, we were worried this concept wouldn’t work but the models, designers and photographers bonded so closely and brought out the best in each other,” revealed Puan.

“We don’t want to stereotype our models [as unsmiling types so] we went for a fun and energetic kind of modelling. We want to introduce fashion as something fun, not just the community of fashion designers but for everyone.”

It was a spectacularly hot night of fashion and music that was well attended and underscored the success of the talented people of the Event Managing Club.

Of the ten team finalists, Team No.10 consisting of model Tan Chye Lynn, photographer Felina Hung Bt Samri Hung and fashion designer Elaine Hong impressed the judges to win the Tri-Factor Glam Night champion title and RM10,000 cash prize.

Sitting on the panel of judges were the president of Malaysian Official Designers Association (MODA) Gillian Hung, Asian supermodel Eleen Yong and fashion designer Michael Ong.

As the models walked the runway to the delight of the enthusiastic audience, the likes of Ning Baizura, Iqwal, Tom Mystarz and rock band Beat The System kept the atmosphere of a live concert that had a section of the crowd on its feet.

Gillian Hung said: “Credit should be given to this young generation for putting up this concert on their own and finding their own sponsors. This is great. I am very proud of them… Now we know the new generation likes to beat the system to do something good for the community.

On the show, she said: “There’s still much room to grow and much they still  need to learn. Me and Michael, we [think] it’s very important they’re not discouraged by our comments. We as veterans should lend them a hand.”

And now, for the winner: “I could not believe my ears when I heard I’d won. It was well worth the effort. I’ll give my cash prize to my parents who are here and very happy and proud of me,” said Hong Ee Laine, a final-year fashion design student at IFTC International Academy of Fashion & Design located in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

Hong, 19, from Subang Jaya, added: “A lot went wrong on our progress to the final. I had to come out with eight designs in two months and worked day and night to meet the deadline.”

Her motto: “Never give up, just follow your dream, go for it!”

And here is part-time model, Tan Chai Lynn, 20, from Klang, a first-year Accountancy student of Segi College: ‘I am interested in modelling but never had the chance to participate. This was my first time modelling.” She sailed through the audition and made it to the Top 10.

Felina Hung Bt Samri Hung, 24, from Kuala Lumpur, who is of Malay-Chinese parentage, is a self-taught fashion photographer who learned her skills and techniques from Youtube.

“It was quite hard for me to convince my parents that I want to do fashion photography but after tonight’s win, hopefully they will change their minds,” said Hung, an accountancy graduate of Taylor’s College. Her win means she can now afford to upgrade her Canon DSLR camera and accessories.

Roll of Honour:

Champions: Team 10
Model: Tan Chai Lynn
Photographer: Felina Hung Bt Samri Hung
Fashion Designer: Hong Ee Laine

First Runner-up: Team 8
Model: Evelyn Tay
Photographer: Kamarul Azwan
Fashion Designer: Bishrel Byambajau

Second Runner-up: Team 2
Model: Zainora binti Abdullah
Photographer: Meng Fang
Fashion Designer: Carryn Goh

Best Model: Sharminidevi AP Parameispran
Best Fashion Designer: Carryn Goh
Best Photographer: Jeremy Choy

Tickets for the grand finale were sold at RM50 for students, RM80 for the public and RM300 for VIP seats.