Friday, August 19, 2011

MISS CHINESE COSMOS SOUTHEAST ASIA FINALS ON 13 AUGUST AT PALACE OF GOLDEN HORSES

kee@fswmag.com
READ MY STORY AND OOGLE AT THE PHOTOS---WHO DO YOU THINK DESERVE TO WIN BASED ON THE PHOTOS? I NEED YOUR COMMENTS!

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The winners! left, 2nd Runner-up Wendy Gong from Thailand, the new 2011 Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia Natalie Chiaw from Malaysia and 1st Runner-up Jennifer Foh from Malaysia
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A winning kiss from the 2 'losers'! No, all are winners in their own right but we all know for the first and second runners-up, it is a case of so near and yet so far!
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The new Miss Chinese Cosmos 2011 Natalie Chiaw giving the royal wave amid a burst of pyrotechnics fireworks!
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All 3 winners in a blaze of glory!
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The 3 winners waving at me!
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IN! The 2011 winners
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OUT! The 2010 winners...Teresa Zhang Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia 2010, 1st Runner-up Phuntip from Thailand and 2nd Runner-up Agnes Wong from Malaysia.
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Feng Ling Siong should have won! Even I cannot do this!

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Carrie Lee, the organiser, producer and franchise holder of Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia and the first and only Malaysian to win the international title in Hong Kong in 2004.


THE MOST EXCITING CHINESE BEAUTY CONTEST CONCLUDED WITH THE CROWNING OF YET ANOTHER MALAYSIAN (SHOWS WE PRODUCE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE) NATALIE CHIAW AS THE NEW MISS CHINESE COSMOS SOUTHEAST ASIA, FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER MALAYSIAN JENNIFER FOH FROM MALAYSIA AS FIRST RUNNER-UP AND THAI BEAUTY WENDY GONG AS SECOND-RUNNER-UP.

THE MAIN SPONSORS WERE PLATINUM VICTORY DEVELOPMENT AND MAGNUM SP KUDOS TO THEM FOR MAKING THE SHOW POSSIBLE.
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Winner Natalie Chiaw receiving her award from Chan Chee Fai, Head of Branch Operations of Magnum and Alex Tan, director of Platinum Victory Face development which is constructing the fabulous 5-star condo behind Renaissance hotel along Jalan Sultan Ismail.
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Left; Benjamin Toong, Teresa Zhang, Carrie Lee, Kee Hua Chee, Lee Chui Ting, Keith Kee and Kelly Jagan
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Esther TanTan and yes, this is apparently her name but I wouldn't want to be known as KeeKee and by coincidence TanTan is wearing a scarlet red carpet gown by KK as in Keith Kee!
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Rennee Chong, Xenia Tiong and Esther TanTan
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Rennee, Xenia, Esther TanTan and KeeKee
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I canot believe I am just as tall as them! The wonder of high heels
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left; Irene Wong, Mrs Classic Malaysia 2010 Lim Siew Cheng, Beverly Tan, leading pageant promoter from Singapore and owner of several regional beauty titles and Jessie Yu Wei
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Left; Mrs Lim Siew Cheng, Kee Hua Chee, Beverly Tan, Jessie Yu Wei, June Yap and Irene Wong
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Two terrific beauties; Mrs Classic Malaysia 2010 Mrs Lim Siew Cheng and top Singapore pageant organiser and producer Beverly Tan
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Beauty queen Chloe Ong
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Beauty queen Chloe Ong and king designer Keith Kee
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Beauty queens and top models; left, Sanny Lee, Chloe Ong, Esther TanTan, Kathy Tu, Xenia Tiong, Franklene Chong and Kelly Jagan
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Beauty queens galore: left, Agnes Wong, Teresa Zhang, Carrie Lee, Chloe Ong, Phuntip and Lee Chui Ting
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Even the dancers wore tiaras! I think I will wear a tiara next year just so I don't feel left out...
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Keith Kee the leading king designer with last year's winners Teresa, Phuntip and Agnes
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Teresa Zhang, Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia 2010
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Phuntip, Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia 2010 1st Runner-up. I concentrated on her cleavage which must have been one of the reasons she won.

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Agnes Wong, Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia 2010 2nd Runner-up
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All 3 together for a final shot before relinquishing their crowns
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Carrie Lee arranging the sequence of entry. My place was behind Agnes Wong, last year's second runner-up.
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I was to sit next to Agnes Wong which explains why I had to walk into Palace of Golden Horses's ballroom holding hands with her.
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I was shocked this professional pixman took a badly angled photo! Was he trying to include his fellow photographer with me or what? He was supposed to take a simple photo showing me and the rest of the VIPs at the main table! Only shows even a pro pixman can be really blur
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I wanted something like this to show I was seated at Head Table so I took the picture myself la
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Every Miss Chinese Cosmos pageant opens with all the contestants wearing white
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A bit of harmless fireworks did no harm
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Vestal virgins
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They look like white fairies----no wonder Carrie Lee named her company White Fairy! Now I know!


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Each finalist had to introduce herself. I wonder what this Indian gentleman (left) was doing there
as everything was conducted in Mandarin. Maybe he is Mandarin language lecturer at Oxford.
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An exuberant pose in Key Ng daywear
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Feng Ling Siong deserved to win the title outright as her vertical split brought the house down! The normal horizontal split is more common but would not allow those sitting at the back to see her skill as she would have disappeared from sight when doing the split on the floor! This was truly astounding and imagine the cheers when she does this at the finals in Hong Kong! I will have to query the judges why they did not choose her? Could it be jealousy as none of the judges could not do this?
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For the Talent Contest, a finalist could do solo or form a group. What a novel idea! Here all 3 finalists from Thailand joined forces to perform a classical Thai dance replete with lovely costumes.
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A beautiful dance but what is the lamp doing there to distract attention?

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This magician still could not compete with Criss Angel but at least she entertained the crowd
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Belly dancing or back to back dancing?
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The ugly lamp really ruined the picture! It did not work and did not improve the decor. Instead it spoiled the ambiance and everyone wondered why it was placed there.
The two belly dancers were Michelle Fong and Sabrina Ye

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Outgoing Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia 2010 had to sit alone in solitary splendour as she waited for the new queen to be crowned by her.
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Carrie Lee came to say hello to the outgoing queen
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The dramatic finale of a dance showing the dancer wearing a humungous skirt
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But when the skirt was lowered, voila! All the finalists were behind
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Dancing queens
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In daywear by Key Ng
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A pregnant look by Indonesian designer Fonny Tunggal and the dress is not even funny
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This Fonny Tunggal gown I like
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Fonny Tunggal creations
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Subsidiary winner
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These are the kind of gowns worthy of beauty queens. By Keith Kee of course
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The Top 8 in Keith Kee Couture
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Carrie Lee in a grand shocking pink gown prays to Buddha and Kuan Yin for another successful pageant


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Finalists parading in stunning gowns by Keith Kee
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Who is the fairest of them all?
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Second runner-up Wendy Gong from Thailand receiving cash and prizes worth RM 40,000
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The winner being crowned by Teresa Zhang the outgoing queen
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The 2 main sponsors Magnum and Platinum Victory Face Development represented by Chan Chee Fai and Alex Tan
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The cash prize is RM 30,000 which is a lot!
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The first and second runners-up appear to be kissing each other instead of the winner!
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They stopped kissing to pose for the camera
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Top model Esther TanTan kissing the winner
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Only Esther TanTan got to sit apart from the new Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia 2011!
That's strange...
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Close-up of the winners and former winners
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Dazzling beauties
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More lovelies
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More beautiful people
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A candid shot! Finally I managed to get a relaxed, non-posed photo!











THE LINE-UP WAS ALMOST SIMILAR AS LAST YEAR'S WINNERS; MALAYSIAN TERESA ZHANG WAS MISS CHINESE COSMOS SOUTHEAST ASIA 2010 AND FIRST RUNNER-UP WAS PHUNTIP FROM THAILAND AND SECOND RUNNER-UP WAS AGNES WONG FROM MALAYSIA! SEEMS THESE TWO COUNTRIES ARE THE ONES CAPABLE OF PRODUCING PAGEANT WINNERS AND WHY NOT? I AM FROM MALAYSIA, WHAT!

THE SHOW WAS PRODUCED BY WHITE FAIRY (WHAT A MAGICAL, PRISTINE SOUNDING NAME) WHICH IS OWNED BY FAMOUS BEAUTY QUEEN CARRIE LEE WHO IS THE FIRST MALAYSIAN TO WIN THE INTERNATIONAL MISS CHINESE COSMOS IN HONG KONG IN 2004. SINCE THEN, NO MALAYSIAN HAS BROUGHT HOME THE CROWN SO NO WONDER PHOENIX TV GAVE THE FRANCHISE TO HER TO RUN THIS LEG OF THE PAGEANT.

THE WINNER OF MISS CHINESE COSMOS SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE FIRST AND SECOND RUNNERS-UP OBVIOUSLY WILL REPRESENT THIS REGION IN THE FIRST STAGE OF THE SEMI-FINALS IN GUANGZHOU ON 17 AUGUST. EIGHTEEN CONTESTANTS WILL BE SELECTED, FOLLOWED BY A TRIP TO USA. THE GRAND FINALS WILL BE HELD IN HONG KONG ON 22 OCTOBER.
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Teresa Zhang, last year's winner of Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia 2011, Carrie Lee, Miss Chinese Cosmos international winner 2004, runway model Daphne Chua and Lee Chui Ting, first runner-up 2007
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Top Malaysian haute couturier Carven Ong who is touted as one of Malaysia's top 3 designers with Kino
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I was seated at the VVIP Head Table next to the outgoing Miss Chinese Cosmos SE Asia Teresa Zhang who was seated at the head of the V shaped table. The judges were local artiste Chan Mei Ngor and Aenie Wong, Assistant Head of HK Phoenix Channel Gao Yan, Indonesian artiste Jilian Goh, Grace Universal Cosmetics director Jason Tan from Singapore Chaiwat Phancahipol from Thailand who has been running Miss Thailand Chinese Cosmos for the last 3 years.

The 20 finalists came from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Philippines. As per tradition, all 20 appeared on stage dressed entirely in white with each grasping a one of a kind bouquet which was extremely pretty and fetching. The Keith Kee dresses made them look like vestal virgins too.

They then took the stage by storm by performing a famous Korean contemporary dance 'Gee' in Key Ng outfits. The talentime was wonderful as each finalist could perform solo as is the norm but this contest allowed group performances! So we saw all 3 Thai contestants performed a classical Thai dance replete with classical costumes. Two Malaysians did a belly dance. One did a magic show and another did a vertical split standing on one leg with the other straight up into the air like a flagpole. I thought she deserved to win based on this feat! Imagine the tsunami of excitement she would cause at the grand finals in Hong Kong! Doing the normal, horizontal split with both legs on the floor is more common but a vertical version is more titillating as even those seated at the back could see whereas a horizontal split means the girl would instantly vanish from sight to those at the back of the ballroom!

All past winners and runners-up were present to show support and show off their fabulous gowns designed mostly by Keith Kee (who also sponsored the evening wear) and Carven Ong. These two simply 'sapu' (monopolised) the glam cards that night! I wore a Keith Kee outfit too. He is a Kee after all and we must be related since we are both Kee and supremely talented and cute.

The first round of evening wear was by Indonesian designer Fonny Tunggal which was neither here nor there. Some were pretty but most were forgettable. Fonny snapped photos of her clothes with her camera but when the models changed into Keith Kee Couture, she spent most of the time texting. Strange. I always thought designers all make a point to see each other's shows to check out the competition and see what their compatriots are up to or at least be curious enough to see the fashions.

Fashionistas will swear the fashion highlight was Keith Kee's cheongsam collection. Keith demonstrated the many ways this classic outfit could be transmuted and the results were stunning. Truly fit for a beauty queen and everyone else for that matter!

The winner Natalie Chiaw Mei Yen had bigtime supporters who bought a big table and held up banners screeching "We Love You Natalie Chiaw Number 9" so the rest of the audience would know which number they were supporting. Well, they backed the right horse as Natalie romped home! Some folks complained to me this was unfair as Natalie's supporters could sway the vote but I said this was nonsense as it could backfire badly---the judges might be pissed Natalie's supporters were so noisy and blatant and reduce her marks!

This sort of accusation is as bad as accusing the winner of bribing the judges or sleeping with them. In all my years of judging, no one has ever offered me ringgit (or any other currency) nor their bodies. Either they think I am pure as the driven snow and cannot be corrupted or I have no sex appeal...

Natalie Chiaw won RM 200,000 worth of prizes including RM 30,000 cash. The first runner-up Jennifer Foh won RM 45,000 worth of prizes including RM 5,000 cash and second runner-up Wendy Gong got RM 40,000 worth of prizes including RM 5,000 cash.

The 10 subsidiary titles included Miss Prestige sponsored by Platinum Victory which went to Singapore beauty Luo Wei Qi and Miss Personality sponsored by Magnum which went to winner Natalie Chiaw who also won Miss Charming (sponsored by Hai-O) and Miss Talent (sponsored by White Fairy which she co-won with Feng Ling Song for their belly dance. First runner-up Jennifer Foh from Pahang also won Miss Body Beautiful sponsored by Zenoctil. I was given some Zenoctil slimming tablets which I am now taking as I need to lose 2 kg to make me happy!

THE END










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