So The Ultimatum, which ended its run on Tuesday, did not get the kind of buzz it was hoping for.

Instead of drawing viewers by capitalising on the long-rumoured rivalry between leading ladies Zoe Tay and Fann Wong, the Channel 8 blockbuster drama series drew flak for its cliched plot, stilted acting and poorer ratings than those for MediaCorp's last blockbuster, The Little Nyonya.

The show, which features Fann and Tay playing characters who were switched at birth, does have one advantage over The Little Nyonya though: Its stars are both former models who know how to work a glamorous look.

Poh Shae Ching, 37, the senior image director of MediaCorp, tells Urban that it was not at all stressful to come up with outfits for the two Ah Jies (Mandarin term meaning Big Sister).

'Getting the characters to look beautiful is always easy and they are both very professional and easy to work with,' says the veteran stylist and designer.

'It's stressful only when you cannot come up with something to make the characters stand out.'

For Tay's character Ye Yuchen, who starts out as a rich man's daughter, Poh decided to use a wide variety of outfits to underline her wealthy background.

'She changes into a new outfit for almost every scene,' she says. Brands featured on Tay, 41, included Anteprima, BCBG, Burberry, Gucci and Flower Diamond jewellery.

It was also Poh who decided that Tay's character should sport a short crop.

'I have always liked her in short hair because it makes her features stand out,' she says.

Fann, 38, plays Fang Songqiao, a lawyer. However, Poh wanted to stray a little from the obvious legal eagle get-ups of prim and proper suits.

'I didn't want her to look so typical,' she says. 'Fann asked if we could try to get ck as a sponsor for her character's wardrobe because she likes the label and we managed to do so.'

ck Calvin Klein is the lower-priced bridge label for American label Calvin Klein. Its clean-cut structured jackets and blouses in crisp greys, whites and yellows lent the character a touch of style.

Then again, it is not difficult to make Fann look good, says Poh.

'I've seen her wear everything from basketball jerseys to Yohji Yamamoto maxi dresses. She is very adventurous when it comes to fashion and she can pull anything off.'

For sharp-eyed viewers who noticed that both characters sported a dizzying array of It bags and designer shoes, Poh says those belong to the actresses.

'Fann often likes to wear her own shoes for shooting because she finds them more comfortable and Zoe just wanted to add to the variety of her character's wardrobe.'

Urban checked with the managers of both actresses, but Tay and Fann declined to comment on what brands they pulled from their personal stash for the show.

For an indication of how posh their private tastes are, however, here is what their celebrity hairstylist David Gan wrote on his blog: 'I just want to say that both Zoe and Fann look amazing. Their styling is what I look forward to every time I tune in to the series.

'They not only wore things that the wardrobe department gave them but also added their own personal pieces to enhance the overall look and character of the parts they were playing. I must say that those pieces that they added are so expensive that, put together, they could produce half the series.'