Some of the sexiest female personalities descended on Valkyrie Night Club on Tuesday night for the annual FHM 100 Sexiest Women Victory Party.
From the magazine’s July cover girl Rhian Ramos, who finally agreed to appear in the magazine’s spread after a seven-year courtship, to its first issue cover girl Sunshine Cruz, the popular men’s glossy had staged a night full of firsts including three-time Sexiest Woman Marian Rivera being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Noticeably, this year’s Victory Party was a lot more tamed compared to last year’s BroCon and to the previous years that FHM celebrated the so-called sexiest convention. But the extravaganza did not run out of models and performers wearing economically challenged dresses and costumes that left almost nothing to our imagination. Most of the personalities who graced the event to accept their 100 Sexiest Women trophy were dressed in a way that the male dominated crowd did not expect.
The big names were no longer bedecked in lingerie. The women who made it to this year’s sexiest list walked to the center of the stage wearing elegant dresses rather than revealing bikinis.
This made us remember what Rhian Ramos told us in an interview: “I just feel like the readers of FHM now are just the kind of guys that I would want to put myself in front of. I love their content, it’s intelligent and you could learn a lot. They’ve really shifted more for what the millennials will find sexy.”
According to FHM’s Allan Hernandez, the magazine has been around for 16 years and they feel that its imperative to tweak the magazine—it’s general content—to embody smarter and sharper philosophy.
Although most of the names that made it to the top 10, like last year’s no. 1 and this year’s no. 2, Jennylyn Mercado, top 3 and top 4 finishers Nadine Lustre and Angel Locsin, were all no show, the Victory Party was still a star-studded affair.
Some of the recognizable names and definitely crowd favorites were model and TV host Kim Domingo, volleyball star Rachel Anne Daquis, former beauty queen Queenrich Rehman, Brazilian model Daiana Menezes, former PBB housemate Dawn Chang, dancers Arny Ross and Rochelle Pangilinan, Kapuso darling Sam Pinto and Kapamilya star Bangs Garcia.
But time almost stopped when the program reached its culmination—the announcement of this year’s “Queen of Sexy.”
Clad in a fiery red one-piece ensemble, led the women who stunned the crowd with their appearances and performances of Rhiana’s “This Is What You Came For,” Jessy Mendiola amazed the crowd and literally made everyone fix their eyes on her the whole time she was on the stage.
The 23-year-old ABS-CBN star led this year’s poll with 589,792 votes, after placing 23rd last year.
Feeling dumbfounded, she addressed the crowd, “I can’t believe this has happened. Kung si Pia Wurtzbach eh confidently beautiful with a heart, tayo ay confidently sexy with a heart,” referring to the reigning Miss Universe’s, who also made it to the top 20, iconic answer in the prestigious pageant.
The sexiest women title almost came as Jessy’s reward after all the body shaming she experienced on social media of late. Some netizens and trolls call her fat and undeserving of the title.
In an interview with Manila Standard, the actress just expressed her gratitude and called her victory a testament that sexiness is subjective and confidence and self-love are arguably the sexiest quality a woman can have, and that a woman should still feel beautiful and appealing no matter what her shape is.