WINNIE SIN OF RAFFLESIA PEARL CENTRE HOSTED AN EXQUISITE EVENING ENJOYED BY SOME 50 GUESTS IN AN ELITIST, EXCLUSIVE AND VERY EXPENSIVE EXTRAVAGANZA AT LE MERIDIEN HOTEL AT FAVOLA ON THE 8TH FLOOR.
THE SOIREE WAS HELD IN HONOUR OF PUAN SRI NORAINEE, THE UTTERLY CHARMING AND LOVELY WIFE OF DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER TAN SRI MUHYIDDIN YASSIN WHO ARRIVED IN A PROTON PERDANA. I COMMENTED "I NOTICE PUAN SRI IS SUPPORTING OUR NATIONAL CAR."
SHE ANSWERED WITH A SMILE, "OH YES, I DO. I SUPPORT MALAYSIAN PROJECTS WHENEVER I CAN. MY CLOTHES ARE MALAYSIAN, MY SHOES ARE MALAYSIAN AND MY JEWELS ARE MALAYSIAN!" OBVIOUSLY SHE WAS REFERRING TO HER HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTEST WINNIE SIN WHO THREW THE LAVISH FETE IN HER HONOUR.
PUAN SRI NORAINEE STOPPED TO CHECK OUT MY DRAGON BLING AND COULD HARDLY BELIEVE I COULD WEAR SOMETHING SO BIG AND HEAVY AROUND MY NECK AND WRISTS. SHE TURNED TO ASK WINNIE SIN IF SHE MADE THESE STATEMENT BLING FOR ME. SMILED WINNIE SIN, "NO I DIDN'T BUT I CAN DESIGN AND CREATE ANYTHING FOR YOU, PUAN SRI."
PUAN SRI NORAINEE ABDUL RAHMAN WAS WELCOMED BY WINNIE SIN, HER HUSBAND SIN CHEANG LOONG, HAJJAH ZURAINAH MUSA AND DATUK PROFESSOR JIMMY CHOO.
Top jeweller Winnie Sin welcoming Puan Sri Norainee, wife of Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Hajja Zurainah Musa, executive director of Berjaya Corporation seems hugely happy
Puan Sri Norainee smiling at me and my dragon jewels in honour of the Year of the Dragon
Sin Cheang Loong, Datuk Jimmy Choo, Winnie Sin, Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman, Puan Sri Susan Cheah and Hajjah Zurainah Musa
Sin Cheang Loong, Datuk Jimmy Choo, Puan Sri Norainee, Winnie Sin and Russian ambassador HE Lyudmila Vorobyeva
Left; Princess Norodom Arunrasmy, Cambodian ambassador and sister of His Majesty the King of Cambodia King Sihamoni, HE Serap Ataay ambassador of Turkey, HE Martine Dorance ambassador of France, Yvonne Chia Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of Hong Leong Bank and HE Maria Bassols ambassador of Spain
Puan Sri Esther Tan, Dato Anne Eu and Chryseis Tan
Puan Sri Datin Seri Dr Susan Cheah of Sunway Group, the best Malaysian owned hotel, resort and theme park group and Lee Lee Loh of Lord's Tailor, the best menswear tailor in Malaysia
Raja Dato Nordiana Zainal Shah of Malaysia Airlines, Puan Sri Cecilia Lim of Genting Group and Hajjah Zurainah Musa
All together now
Winnie Sin and Puan Sri Norainee, wife of the Deputy Prime Minister with 8 lady ambassadors
Chryseis Tan, Winnie Sin of Rafflesia Pearl Centre and Puan Sri Esther Tan
Flanked by Datuk Jimmy Choo and the Russian ambassador, VIP Guest of Honour Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman enjoys chatting with fellow powerful game-changers Yvonne Chia of Hong Leong Bank, the French ambassador and Puan Sri Cecilia Lim of Genting Group
HE the Spanish ambassador Maria Bassols, HE the Turkish ambassador Serap Ataay and HE the Iraqi ambassdor Dr Amal M Hussain
Winnie Sin, the Russian ambassador HE Lyudmila Vorobyeva, Puan Sri Norainee and Sin Cheang Loong
Winnie Sin, Spanish ambassador HE Maria Bassols, Puan Sri Norainee and Sin Cheang Loong
Winnie Sin, Turkish ambassador HE Serap Ataay, Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman and Sin Cheang Loong
Winnie Sin, Iraqi ambassador Dr Amal Hussain, Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman and Sin Cheang Loong
Winnie Sin, Austrian ambassador HE Andrea Wicke, Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman and Sin Cheang Loong
Winnie Sin, Argentinan ambassador HE Maria Isabel Rendon, Puan Sri Norainee and Sin Cheang Loong
Winnie Sin, Ecuadorian ambassador HE Lourdes Puma Puma. Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman and Sin Cheang Loong
Winnie Sin, French ambassador Martine Dorance, Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman and Sin Cheang Loong
A peck on Winnie's lucky cheek!
Winnie Sin, Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman, wife of Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk JImmy Choo with the 8 lady ambassadors
One for the record
Amber Chia in Keith Kee Kouture and Datuk Jimmy Choo in Lord's Tailor
Raja Dato Nordiana Zainal Shah, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Marketing and Loyaty Program
Miss Tourism International Gabriella Robinson and designer Salikin Sidek
The super talented Kees; Keith Kee and Kee Hua Chee
Two Kees; Keith Kee and Kee Hua Chee in Keith Kee Kouture
The 2 Super Kees! Best designer Keith Kee and best writer Kee Hua Chee, both in Keith Kee Kouture
Keith Kee and Jonathan Tong
Super glam couple; Winnie Sin top jeweller and Kee Hua Chee top writer
Still looking divine!
Upstairs at Favola, the guests had assembled to wait for Puan Sri Norainee and they were pretty important guests too as they included 8 female ambassadors as the Austrian ambassador was delayed. HE Andrea Wicke the Austrian ambassador came late while HE Princess Norodom Arunrasmy of Cambodia left early.
There were also powerful and successful women like Puan Sri Cecilia Lim, director of Star Cruises and wife of Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman and CEO of Genting Group, Puan Sri Datin Sri Dr Susan Cheah, a chartered accountant and wife of Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah of Sunway Group, Puan Sri Esther Tan wife of Tan Sri Vincent Tan the boss of Berjaya Group, Yvonne Chia group MD and Chief Executive of Hong Leong Bank, Dato Ann Eu chairman of Eu Yan Sang the Chinese pharmacy group, Raja Dato' Nordiana Zainal Shah as well as the wives of the (male) ambassadors of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan who did not attend. Also present were Robert Loh and Lee Lee Loh who own Lord's Tailor, the best menswear tailor in Malaysia. Even Datuk Jimmy Choo in his speech mentioned Lord's Tailor as the best and he should know, being in the fashion industry and knowing all the top menswear designers in London.
A surprise and most welcome guest who came a bit late was Tan Sri Vincent Tan who looked relaxed and happy to be with his wife Puan Sri Esther and eldest daughter Chryseis Tan. Of course I had to ask Tan Sri Vincent what he was going to do with his windfall of RM 42o million (at least) from his Facebook shares as he had the foresight to demand shares in Facebook instead of cash when he sold certain patents to Mark Zuckerberg! Grinned Tan Sri Vincent, "I will buy bling like what you are wearing but not for me to wear."
As I could barely spell his darling daughter's name Chryseis, I demanded to know what kind of name is that as it sounded like 'chrysalis' or something cocoonish like that! Someone told me it was for feng shui reasons. Explained the owner of the name, "Oh Dad chose this name for me and I love it as it is unique though I spend a lot of time spelling it! In Latin, 'Chryseis' means 'Golden Child' as obviously my father thought I was one!"
Chryseis Tan is now studying Business in Tokyo after a year in England so I guess I won't be seeing much of her but maybe I will as she is a clone of her mum Puan Sri Esther Tan! Indeed they looked like sisters and Chryseis looked exactly like her mum when Puan Sri Esther was her age!
The 9 lady ambassadors were from Russia, Spain, Turkey, Iraq, Austria, Argentina, Ecuador, Cambodia and France who had just taken up her new position. Missing was the ambassador from Lesotho but she is accredited to several countries and is often out of Kuala Lumpur. Alas, none of the group photos show all 9 lady ambassadors! The group photo taken in the holding room does not have the Austrian ambassador as she arrived late and the group photo in the dining room does not have the Cambodian ambassador as she had to leave early! So in both cases, one ambassador was missing---either the Cambodian or Austrian!
Says Bill Bora the event co-ordinator, "It is such a pity each time we took a group photo, one ambassador was missing! But in the holding room, we could not wait for the Austrian ambassador as Puan Sri Norainee had to be seated in the dining hall and we were not sure if the Austrian ambassador would arrive in 5 minutes or half an hour!"
Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman was gracious enough to pose with all the ambassadors and VIPs who asked to be photographed with her. In fact, Puan Sri was so affable and approachable even singers Iman Armani and Izzlyn and designer Keith Kee found courage to ask if they could be photographed with her. No wonder UMNO wins so many votes with supporting spouses like Puan Sri Norainee and of course Datin Sri Rosmah Mansor the wife of the Prime Minister!
Everyone thronged round Puan Sri Norainee and at one stage it almost felt like a ceramah! The air of camaraderie was palpable and host Winnie Sin made sure everyone was comfortable and happy as she has a knack of placing like-minded people so there was plenty of friendly chatter.
Malay designer Salikin Sidek showed off 4 songket gowns to acclaim and ditto for Keith Kee whose flamboyant and exquisite cheongsam-inspired gowns drew gasps of admiration from the VIPs. Each designer showed only 4 dresses, inbetween entertainment provided by Izzlyn and Amanda Imani.
The 4 models were the cream of the crop as they were truly the top 4 most successful and powerful models----supermodel Amber Chia, Kelly Jagan winner of Ford Supermodel 2010, Wafa de Korte winner of AMFA Best Model 2012 and Gabriella Robinson Miss Tourism International 2012.
Six Malay musicians played live music and the specially created menu was called Pahlawan or 'Warrior', a rare Malay cuisine culled from ages past so the foreign ambassadors could enjoy a condensed and brief cultural trip showcasing the best of 1Malaysia!
Winnie Sin's party was a veritable feast of Malaysian fashion, food and friendship! What a bridge among nations as the mood was so cosmopolitan as it felt like a mini-United Nations with representatives from over a dozen nations!
THE END
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