Or baby sling. Whatever it was, Ritchie Koh on the red carpet of Star Awards 2025 definitely did not have any lofty togas in mind

One of the co-hosts of the Walk fo Fame, Herman Keh, interviewing Ritchie Koh (right) off the red carpet

In a Mothership report of the Star Awards 2025 red carpet looks, titled “A very honest review of celeb outfits”, the news site captioned the image of the garb of Ritchie Koh (许瑞奇, Xu Ruiqi): “When you have a toga party at 5pm but an important career milestone at 7pm.” In their bemused honesty, the writers were very kind to acknowledge Mr Koh’s sense of historicism, but we were not so certain he was blessed with any notion of a sophisticated, intellectual, or classical reference. The co-writers of the Mothership editorial did not only take an extra step with their “toga party”; they practically circumnavigated the globe to get there.

There was really no toga. Or semblance of one. A toga is a complete garment. It is a specific Roman dress, not a general term for any piece of draped fabric. Mr Koh wore a custom, grey, broad, double-breasted suit by Q Menswear, with a pleated fabric that could have been a discard on the cutting floor hung diagonally across his upper body from the left shoulder to the right side of the natural waist, where it was secured, leaving the rest of the fabric to hang down to his ankle. When he emerged from the BYD car to strut his stuff on the red carpet or, more accurately, Walk of Fame, we thought he was wearing a baby sling, without the baby. A closer look suggested a skinny selendang (in Malay dress, generally a scarf), still getting to know the suit. The outfit really looked like it lost the fight with Malaysia’s ethnic label of the day, Behati.

Ritchie Koh with his partner of the night Hong Ling on the red carpet

Q Menswear is especially popular with MediaCorp’s male stars unable to score sponsorships with an international luxury brand. Founder Chong Han San (张瀚山, Zhang Hanshan) is ever eager to create looks for his celebrity clients that will allow them to stick out, rather than stand out at events, such as the Walk of Fame. On this day, he achieved his mission. As a pocket-sized parcel of pulchritude, Mr Koh probably had very little input on how statuesque he could really look. His suit was not tailored; it was a hostile takeover. Curiously, Mr Chong, who also made Mr Koh’s suit for last year’s event, gave his star-client such voluminous and long pants that the latter appeared to have a very personal relationship with the ground. Yardage can be better loved.

Given his over-reliance on his stylist and the likelihood that the latter didn’t intend to evoke classical Roman imagery with that draped fabric, Richie Koh might be over the moon that his red carpet look generated editorial comparison to a garment of antiquity, even when we saw something else earlier. The most charitable interpretation would be that the writers were aiming for a widely recognized, even if vague, idea of draped fabric associated with ancient times. It is, however, lazy reporting, just as it is insipid journalism. This linguistic sloppiness is unfortunately the product of content produced quickly by generalists for a broad audience to encourage a quick chuckle, rather than appreciation of accuracy. And right on cue, the punchline-as-performer made his grand, swishy entrance.

Screen shots: mediacorpentertainment/YouTube