After nearly six weeks of criss-crossing the island in search of the most stylish female and male, with check-ins in Kingston, May Pen and Montego Bay, the inaugural staging of the Campari Pop Style series reached a fashionable climax on Saturday, November 11, under the starry skies at the waterfront in downtown Kingston. With anticipation at fever pitch among the parish winners from the preceding Pop Style pit stops, where each of six victors had been awarded $75,000-cheques, the time was nigh for all comers to deliver a home run in the style department if they wanted to claim not just the gender-split quarter-million-dollar prize winnings, but bragging rights, too.

At the close of the affair emceed by Khadine ‘Miss Kitty’ Hylton (which also saw an onstage judging panel of menswear designers Phillip ‘Balla Shawn’ Reid and Carlton Brown, J Wray & Nephew Brand Public Relations Manager Alison ‘Alykhat’ Moss-Solomon and guest judge and performer Beenie Man), stylist and e-commerce retailer Kristia Franklin — turning heads with her red patent leather, safety-pin themed ensemble — trumped Britney Carby, Tisshawn Willis, Vanessa Dacosta and Shannon Dixon for the Most Stylish Female title.

Meanwhile, fashion designer Orville ‘Tony Krash’ Lewis’s red tafetta shirt and blue velvet suiting earned him his just desserts, from his disappointment of a second-place finish in the Kingston semi-final leg of the competition to the unbridled enthusiasm of the crowd who chose him their style champ over his competitors Andre Burke, Sulliman Brown, Lucien McIntosh and Nino Broun.

Revealing to SO that Campari gave away $1 million in cash and prizes over the course of the four-event series, J Wray & Nephew Marketing Manager Nadia Kiffin-Green said she was mightily pleased with the competition’s warm reception.

“We had great support from our consumers, especially considering this is the first event of its kind. Campari Pop Style 2018 will be back at the same time as this year,” she divulged.

Kiffin-Green added, “We are very happy. Kristia popped in Kingston and she outdid herself at the finals. Tony Krash did not win in Kingston and was very grateful to be given a second chance as judge Alykhat’s wild card and he showed it. He came out better than he did in Kingston and made sure he was a contender. Our judges at finals agreed with the audience for both winners, and so do we. They both proved to Jamaica just how stylish they are.”

With a throbbing DJ Kurt Riley soundtrack as our ear candy and a sea of chic patrons catching our eye, SO toasts Campari’s Popping Style.

— Omar Tomlinson