Lifestyle Asia KL wrapped its annual The Z List with another bangin’ party to celebrate its awardees, this time at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur with a defining theme: cyberpunk.
Futuristic, gothic, cyborg, monochrome, darkwear, techwear, astrocore, ‘warcore’ — welcome to cyberpunk!
Last Tuesday, in what is quite fittingly an uninhabited space within the building adjacent to the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, the Lifestyle Asia KL team hosted what has become one of its buzziest events: The Z List Award Party. Those on the guestlist — brand partners, friends of LSA and not forgetting of course our celebrated stars of the night, The Z List Class of 2024 — were instructed to arrive in their best ‘cyberpunk’ inspired looks.
Whether the inspiration in question is from classic films such as The Matrix, Blade Runner and The Terminator or Japanese media Ghost in the Shell and Battle Angel Alita, or perhaps more modern interpretations such as the recent video game Cyberpunk 2077 or LISA’s music video for her latest record-breaking single “Rockstar”, guests certainly turned up in their cyberpunk best.
Hariz Hamdan opted for a standout ‘astrocore’ look with a giant red and black puffer jacket complemented by a sleek pair of space boots, while Claudia Tan wore a metallic pink puffer jacket over a cute corset dress à la Zenon from Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. Yazmin Aziz wore a glossy silver dress with belts that encircled most of her lower torso, and Lucas Lau went the hardcore route in a mesh top and techwear jacket, complete with gloves and a pair of futuristic glasses. (Lucas also took home the Best Dressed award.)
Attendees pulled up to the venue from around 7.00PM. After wafting down the walkway where this year’s The Z List awardees are displayed, guests were ushered to the triple-decked backdrop where they posed for the camera. Right off the bat they were welcomed by the team at 1664 Blanc, offering the new 1664 BRUT — delicate and refreshing as it infuses the crisp, dry, sparkling finish of a French Brut. Affixed next to the beer station are 1980s-style arcade game machines where guests can engage in battle be it racing or fighting games.
Smack dab in the centre of the event space was an experiential setup by OPPO, where guests were able to play with the newly released devices from the OPPO Reno12 Series, as well as get their photos taken with the glittering backdrop that went perfectly with their cyberpunk looks.
For the food, the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur went all out with its catering of canapés: California maki with spicy tuna mayo, teriyaki chicken pinwheel served with tortilla bread and togarashi, seawater shrimp ball with mango aioli, tofu katsu for the veggie lovers, as well as an array of cheesecakes and brownies for dessert. In addition, there was also an on-theme mocktail served, the Cyber Elixir — a refreshing blend of lemongrass, pandan, ginger, blue pea and tea.
Like your typical star-studded party, the ‘seating’ was informal: highboy tables scattered everywhere, and everyone grabbed a bite at their leisure instead of staying seated in one spot. Drinks were free-flowing all night. Jim Beam® came through with its creative pair of cocktails, “Slus-sheesh Highball” and “Millennial Martin Highball”, crafted with Beam whiskey, soda, ice and a dash of yuzu or lemon respectively. Penfolds also brought its A game all night with servings of ONE, whether in Red Blend or Chardonnay.
Presenting the awards to the respective The Z List awardees was Martin Teo, Editor-in-Chief of Lifestyle Asia KL. (The Z List 2024 award ceremony witnessed a group of awardees that includes beauty queen and The Miss Globe 2023 champion Aanvi Kher, Ironman triathlete Esther Joy, actor Hariz Hamdan, content creator and entrepreneur Nicole Tan, badminton coach and ballet dancer Sean Ng, basketball player Tan Chi Sheng, actor Tracie Sinidol, photographer and content creator William Seng, singer-songwriter Yazmin Aziz, and content creator Zi Xuen.) The honourees each received a framed portrait of their best photo from our The Z List shoot, as well as a beautifully arranged bouquet crafted by BloomThis each. All throughout the night, local foodie and lifestyle vlogger — and full-time comedy king — Ceddy Ang performed as our emcee. While he was not in the running for Best Dressed, he showed up in true cyberpunk style with a literal electrical board as the centrepiece of his outfit, as his corset.
And because Lifestyle Asia KL has a crew of friends from the world of music — even now among The Z List — once again, the party’s entertainment did not disappoint. Kicking off the party was Irvine Quek, coffee enthusiast and The Z List 2021 alumnus who made his DJ debut that very night. Then first on stage was The Z List 2023 alumnus Claudia, who performed three dancefloor mash-ups to hype up the crowd before performing her hit songs “Toast” and “Oh My God!” from her debut album Love, Again, which was released earlier this year. Next up came Yazmin Aziz as she wowed the crowd with her rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”. The singer was later joined by Aisha Retno, in a surprise duet performance, as they put on a grand show with an upbeat cyberpunk remix of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow” from the film A Star Is Born.
Yet another beloved tradition of Lifestyle Asia KL parties is the lucky draw. All of the guests went wild as soon as Ceddy announced that a lucky draw was in session. The prizes? Two dining vouchers courtesy of the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, and a brand-new OPPO Reno12 Pro 5G as the grand prize. All guests held their breaths and were kept on their toes as Editor-in-Chief Martin Teo and Senior Writer Ronn Tan pulled out the lucky numbers from the deciding box of fortune.
Come 10.00PM, the “nightclub” portion of our Club Z evening kicked off. The entire event space was awash in a blue hue for 1664 Blanc’s “Blue Hour” — more bottles of the 1664 BRUT are served to the guests still rocking it on the dance floor, and DJ Daalia took over the set of decks for the rest of the evening. As they departed, all guests walked home with beauty goodies from Kiehl’s, which included the Calendula Herbal-Extract Alcohol Free Toner.
Lifestyle Asia KL would like to thank everyone for making The Z List 2024 Award Party a huge success and a truly memorable event. The Z List 2024 Award Party is brought to you by OPPO, Kiehl’s, and the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur.
Learn more about The Z List Class of 2024 HERE.
(Photography by Saufi Nadzri)
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Written by
Puteri Yasmin Suraya
Senior Writer, Features and Tech
Hailing from an English Literature & Creative Writing background, Yasmin has a deep love for fiction and poetry. When she’s not reading or café-hopping, she spends most of her time in the comfort of her own room binge-watching period romances, (badly) belting out show tunes, and curating Spotify playlists to match her mood for the week.
