The
Electric New Paper, 26 July 2006
Stunning gown made me stand
out
Miss Singapore looks stunning in bikini but her
evening gown draws flak for being 'slutty' and unflattering.
She hits back at critics and says she was praised for daring
choice
By Celine Lim and Ho Lian-Yi
LIKE a toss-up between 'cabaret' and 'stripper'.
That's just one of the many unkind comments made online about Carol
Cheong's evening gown at the Miss Universe 2006 presentation
show.
It was held a few days before the main event yesterday, in which
Miss Puerto Rico emerged victorious.
Carol, 25, Singapore's representative at the event, failed to make
the top 20.
She was not shown wearing that dress on TV, but there was a picture
posted on the Miss Universe 2006 website.
It showed her in what looked like a black bra and an ultra
miniskirt covered by what looked like a sheer, lacy dress that had
its front cut out.
Among the many critical comments posted by local bloggers were: The
outfit was 'slutty' and looked more like a night gown than an
evening gown.
But Carol was surprised at the criticism as her gown had drawn lots
of positive comments in Los Angeles, where the pageant was
held.
Speaking to The New Paper over the phone last night, she said: 'At
the post-party, quite a few people came up to me and told me that
my evening gown was stunning and different.
'They said I stood out from the rest of the girls.'
She said her evening gown had been designed for the Miss Universe
contest by her main sponsor, designer Anthea Chan of Perfect in
Black.
The outfit consists of a tube top, a satin miniskirt and a
full-length lace robe which was studded all over with customised
Swarovski crystals.
While Carol had 'no idea' how much the gown costs, she was certain
it set her apart from many of the contestants who wore 'white
gowns' in 'typical designs'.
And, no, she did not get the chills wearing the revealing black
gown as it was 'quite warm on stage in LA as compared to at
Mediacorp'.
After the glowing feedback she received, Carol was naturally
surprised when The New Paper told her about the negative comments
directed at her black evening gown.
Her retort?
'Singaporeans are way too conservative. All they want to see is
conventional evening wear.'
She added: 'They should be more supportive of their own delegates
and stop putting their representatives down as they have over the
past few years.
'I hope Singaporeans will change their mindset because there is a
lot of hard work put in by the delegates at international contests
like Miss Universe.'
A stronger response came from Mr Errol Pang, the local organiser of
the pageant, who exploded with anger when told of the unkind
remarks.
'Tell them to mind their own business,'
he shot back.
'Everybody here in LA praised the outfit,' said the president of
Derrol Stepenny Promotions, which has organised the Miss
Singapore/Universe pageant for the past 34 years.
Carol's unusual outfit drew much creative vitriol from members of
the so-called 'blogosphere'.
One blog, alexds69.blogspot.com, listed it as among the worst in
evening gown in the preliminaries, writing: 'No, Miss Singapore.
This is the evening GOWN competition, not the evening SLUT
competition.'
A local blog, angeliatay.livejournal.com, also posted about the
dress, with the heading 'Yeucks!'
One user on the blog, by the name alisonrae, commented archly: 'I
think the designer wanted to make a kebaya but ran out of
fabric.'
Another, nicknamed e rambler, complained: 'She must have thought it
was night gown competition, not evening gown. So no class the
outfit! What were the dressers thinking when they picked her
outfits?'
Even members of Singapore's fashion community were taken aback by
what they saw.
One of them, fashion photographer Geoff Ang, said it was supposed
to look like a (Peranakan) outfit, but it looked like 'she stepped
out from the movie set of The Addams Family'.
Did it turn him off?
'Not so much a turn-off, that miniskirt kind of made it a turn-on,
but it's wrong from a traditional (Peranakan) outfit point of
view!' he said.
He felt the designer tried too hard with the miniskirt.
'And that V-cut at the belly opening may not be the most
flattering.'
Fashion stylist Bruce Chin thought the dress was trying to create
individuality, but it might not have been a good idea to try it
during the Miss Universe pageant, which is still a conventional
affair.
'It's nice on its own, but it's not 'evening-ish' enough,' he
said.
For him, the top piece was 'fantastic', but the bottom part made
her legs look short.
Couture designer Frederick Lee, who has designed for eight Miss
Singapore Universe beauties, including Nuraliza Osman, Bernice Wong
and Alice Lim, had created another evening gown for Carol, a
typically classy, long-skirted red outfit, which also appeared on
the website.
Mr Lee, who was designer of the year at Singapore Fashion Awards
2004, would not dress a Miss Universe contestant in a short skirt,
as it was, after all, unnecessary.
'If you want to show legs, the swimwear segment is best,' he
said.
Celebrity stylist Kenneth Lee said that while he thought the gown
was not suitable for her - it made her stomach protrude and
'squashed her short' - he wasn't sure whether it was because of the
gown, the photography or Carol herself.
He thought the gown itself was fine. It was ultimately about how a
person carries the dress. A person has to know if she can carry a
dress or not.
'If you can't, you lose points,' he said.
