VMSM 2015 - Celebrating Beauty with Style

As much of regret that I have for procrastinating about writing this piece, it makes me more excited to finally be able to share my experience of the night we got our Veet Miss Super Model for the year 2015. As I write about the night, I feel a hint of remorse too at not taking any pictures of myself there, nevertheless I took plenty to corroborate my account of the event and for you to enjoy.

Azfer Rehman hosting the grande finale

 Sana Bucha on the Pink Carpet
                                                  

The depilatory brand hosted the grande finale of VMSM 2015 last week at The Palm, Karachi. The pink & white themed evening began with the red carpet challenge hosted by news anchor, Sana Bucha where some of the questions asked to the top contestants towards the end of the show were given by the attendees comprising of a few reputed journalists, and personalities from the fashion fraternity such as Shanaz Ramzi, Sumeha Khalid, Saadia Qamar, Raheel Rao and Zurain Imam. 

The show, hosted by the feisty and refreshingly charming Azfar Rehman, started with a majestic opening introducing the contestants with their mentors, Cybil Chaudry, Faiza Ansari and Mehwish Hayat, and the judges panel comprising of veterans Nabila, Rizwan Beyg and Tapu Javeri. After the introductions, the audience was presented with enchanting live performances by Gohar Mumtaz followed by Zoe Viccaji while the participants flaunted some gorgeous pieces by Ali Xeeshan on the ramp ending the presentation with the mentors making a grand entrance in their breath-taking attires.

The show proceeded towards the final question and answer round after showcasing highlights of the contest journey so far. The entire season, consisting of 10 episodes, has been shot in Thailand where participants took part in different tasks and underwent challenges to fight off each other for the title under the guidance of their respective mentors that included coaching the 12 contestants in skills in presentation, grooming, catwalk, confidence and other essential attributes required in the fashion industry today. The questions consisted of cliches like 'Would you change anything about yourself?' and 'What would you do if you won the VMSM title?' and some unusual ones like 'Which field of modelling would you pursue and why?' and 'What changes would you like to introduce in the field?'. While the answers contained some not-so-unheard-of thoughts like 'I would like to be a role model for all the young girls out there' answers like 'I would like to change the perception that short girls can't be models' (because the finalist was short) put an interesting spin on the round.

 The mentors and judges were then invited on the stage along with last year's winner Beenish Khan to crown Jasmine Kayani (from Mehwish Hayat's team) the winner of Veet Miss Super Model contest 2015.

The Highs

This was my first collaboration with BodyBeat pr team and I was so pleasantly surprised at the way they organised everything. I met with Hassan (Rizvi) too who was so humble and appreciated my presence at the event. I faced a minor glitch at the entrance for which I contacted Muznah (Siddiqui) from their team and the issue was resolved effortlessly in no time. It is really quite refreshing to see a team of young, energetic and well mannered individuals doing their job efficiently when some other pr firms have started thinking themselves to be bigger than the industry itself and indispensable. I see a long and bright future for them. Kudos!




This season definitely seemed better what with being shot at beautiful locations in Thailand and having such beautiful and successful mentors on board. Even the finalists seemed fit to have come so far; the young girls owned the ramp as if they were born cat walking and were impressive in their demeanour. Unlike other reality contests where professionals from unrelated fields are seen judging participants, even the judges panel seemed perfect for their seats. It is only testament to the platform's betterment which I certainly see increasing in seasons to follow.

Veet also presented its success stories so far as a form of encouragement and evidence of its successful philosophy. Abeer Rizvi and Areeba Habib walked the ramp looking amazing and proving that this platform works for every beauty who dreams to have a good channel to enter this field and do quality work.

Zoe Viccaji's performance was one of the best parts of the evening. You had to be there to know what I am talking about. Need I say more?


The Lows

As for most other events, of course this one too started later than the time given but here I am talking about a good 2 to 2½ hours of difference. Hardly the responsibility on the organisers' part, it is really astounding to me still that media personalities have such little regard for someone else's time and arrive at their own sweet pace knowing full well that this will result in the event being held up. When are people going to practise basic manners and show decency..sigh

Gohar Mumtaz's performance, albeit enjoyable, was as good as listening to the tracks on the music system. He was very clearly lip syncing but that became even more evident when he started moving his lips to a voice that he could not possibly had sung. He should have left that part of the song out. Deception over deception, but the second one just made feel like the audience is being made a fool out of and is expected to buy it because we might not be sharp or bothered enough.

I was almost impressed by the other two finalists, both named Hira; they carried themselves well and spoke even better which is a combination not often seen together. I was confident that Hira from Faiza's team would win and wanted the one from Cybil's team to be the runner-up. But to my dismay, the girl from Mehwish's team took the winner's title. A clear case of misjudgement, favouritism and politics, it was saddening to see such a twist after everything else had been nearly perfect so far. Talent and hard work speak for itself and the time to come will prove this. Hopefully, this will be one of the things to get better with future seasons.