Richie Koh may have escaped dipping himself in bandung at the Star Awards 2024, but that did not mean he was not able to avoid a very 2023 pink

Pretty in Pink? (Left) Richie Koh at the Star Awards 2024. Photo: richiekrq/Instagram. (Right) Ryan Gosling at the Barbie Los Angeles premiere. Photo: Getty Images

It is now close to a year since the pink-saturated film Barbie hit the big screen and its male star Ryan Gosling attended the movie’s premiere at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Mr Gosling’s appeared in a single shade of pink: a Gucci ensemble that was as groundbreaking as any other guy in a suit, if not for the colour. But given the overarching pinkness of the film and the effect it had on fashion then, perhaps Mr Gosling’s chromatic choice was understandable. We have officially left the year of Barbie and the year of Pantone’s Viva Magenta (which Mr Gosling adopted for this year’s Oscars in his rousing performance of I’m Just Ken), but some of us have not left pink behind. Or should that be can’t?

At the Star Awards (红星大奖) ceremony last Sunday, we saw what genius it was to wear pink on the red carpet. Current Mediacorp darling Richie Koh (许瑞奇) accepted not only to wear a shade that was so associated with last year, he approved of the shirt, suit, and shoes that were near identical to what Mr Gosling wore some nine months ago. 照猫画虎 (zhaomao huahu)? Uninspired imitation? Nothing inherently wrong with that, perhaps, but why is it that our male stars would only adopt styles that others already have—and visibly so, from going shirtless under a suit a la Timothée Chalamet to wearing a knitted vest (on the red carpet!) that Tom Daley could have knitted for himself? Or, was Mr Koh merely following a regrettable Walk of Fame (红星大道) modern tradition?

Why is it that our male stars would only adopt styles that others already have?

To be sure, Mr Koh did not look bad. The actor avoided getting into a sartorial fix akin to the 2021 bandung controversy that Elvin Ng (黄俊雄) was mired in. But he did appear too obvious, a caricature. The suit is by MediaCorp’s favourite tailor Q Menswear (they basically dominated what many of the guys wore on the red carpet this year) and is a close clone of what Mr Gosling donned to that premiere, except that the blazer made for Mr Koh had shawl lapels instead of notched, and the pair of pants was high-waisted (to elongate his limps?) and is roomier through the thighs and is flared down at the ankles. However, as with Mr Gosling’s Gucci slacks, there was an extended waistband (beltless) and a flat front. Like the Hollywood star, Mr Koh wore an unbuttoned-down-the-chest shirt (pink too) and was shod in pinkish, pointy-toe leather shoes.

The recipient of this year’s Bioskin Most Charismatic Award (魅力四射奖, which has gone to male actors since its curious inception in 2017 after it dropped the lame Bioskin Flawless Skin Award or 完美肌肤奖), Ritchie Koh’s fans thought his pink suit heightened his chances of winning. That he was already reputed to be sweet and has been endearing to both male and female; young and, especially, old audiences only augmented his appeal (clearly not lost to the women at Bioskin). But, the need to style him after a Hollywood movie star who played a muscular himbo was almost obliteration of his boy-next-door appeal. Perhaps, that Sunday afternoon, we really couldn’t feel the Kenergy.