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Phlethora of emotions sanny @ 12:27 AM


And my shopping spree is officially over. The past two days this weekend has seen me spend an amount that, say, will DEFINITELY make my Dad reprimand me. Huh-huh. This (the splurge) is because I've just recently been informed by my prof that my research earnings will be deposited to my account, hence, the induced spending spree. Anyway, it's also because just last Saturday all the so-called big fashion houses started having their Summer Sale.

So after my Japanese class I met my sis Niki to window-shop and at the same time look out for nice men's patented leather shoes for Father's Day. It has to be patented leather because so far papi hasn't gotten any of those, and it has to be fabulous because our dad doesn't deserve anything less. Niki and I anyway were dressed in cheap clothings if you want to ask (I was wearing Niki's top which at the end of the day left some black stains caused by stray threads on my upper arms because of humidity), but even so that didn't stop us from entering the boutiques, just because it's Sale time and there were more people than usual in those shops so we felt less self-conscious, haha. Basically our shopping trip is something like what Jodie Kidd and her friend(s) do in every episode of Fashion Avenue (those lucky tourists!) - shop with a specific budget.

Our first stop was the DFS Gallery (Duty-free) - Mar, I saw the Anna Sui white compact mirror! But it's bundled together with the normal black one. And juicy tubes sets were going on discounts! Wooohh...but I'm going to get those some other day, probably next Friday. They're not going to disappear as fast 'cos there are more stocks available. Niki took a pic of the Louis Vuitton display bag so she could show those to *ahem* you-know-who at ITC.....they're really nice by the way. But other than giving our eyes and legs and arms some warm-up exercise (mostly bags, and bags are way out of our budgets), the trip to DFS Gallery churned out nada. niente. I think this is only the 2nd time in so many years since I stepped in there.

So after that we went to the Plaza Senayan of Orchard Road, a.k.a. The mall where we only go to for visits to Dr Poon & co. on normal days a.k.a. Paragon. As we were looking for men's shoes, we went to Ferragamo first. Gucci has waaayyy too many shoppers. In all the Gucci outlets we passed by (we only went inside the DFS branch I think), there were actually QUEUES outside the store as they had to limit the number of shoppers inside the boutiques...Anyway, in the Ferragamo store we spotted this absolutely gorgeous pair of suede-patented leather shoes....and it's on 30% discount (still expensive obviously, but it still counts). So we set our eyes on those and decided that if we didn't see anything better we'd get those for papi. We did see some of the ladies' shoes but as our feet were too big (laterally) for the on-sale items we didn't bother.

Next we stopped in at the eateries below to eat some dumplings and other yummies to build up energy for the rest of the day (well, not quite - it's already 6 plus by the time we finished eating).

Our next stop was PRADA, my favourite designer's store (not to say that she designs the nicest clothes everytime but she's my favourite designer.) Alas, the men's section does not have any patented leather shoes so we gave it a miss. We browsed through some dresses just to see the price tags. My gosh. Where would all those money go? OMG. So we passed.

Next we went to miu miu, where we spotted this freakingly cute canvas flats. Unfortunately, it's not on sale as it's a new arrival. But, the model is only available here Asia-wise and they only stock one pair for each size. Both of us tried it on (with oohhs & ahhhs)...I waited and waited and pondered and pondered (while looking at the items on sale there - arrgh!)...and finally, I decided to get those. It costs about the price of normal PRADA shoes but on sale (miu miu is slightly cheaper. slightly). So I decided to part with a portion of my budget for these pair. My first pair of expensive shoes (excluding sneakers) which I bought myself! By the way, either by influence of our mother or otherwise, the girls in our family are believers of buying expensive shoes; not because we're snobbish but because our feet cannot fit snugly or comfortably into most shoes. And you can be dressed in designer garb but if your footwear is under-par it'll show. On the other hand, you can wear bargain apparel but if your footwear's classy it will make the whole outfit so many times better. I know guys' theory being that they never look at girls' feet but the point is girls buy shoes not to impress guys; more to fulfill their vanity needs and pride.

Anyway Niki also tried on another pair of miu miu heels which are on sale (I like it too but no way am I buying another miu miu shoes for myself on the same day)...but owing to our budget constraint, we decided to 'see-see-look-look' first before committing to anything else. The staff offered us the tax refund option so naturally we filled in our dad's name as he'll be coming here a few days later (oops, cue to clean the messy lair that is our home here).

Next on, it's back to 'wash eyes - translate to Bahasa Indonesia'. After surveying TOD's and Hugo Boss, YSL, Ralph Lauren etc for men's footwear (seriously, never in one day without our parents or elders have we dared to enter so many boutiques as if we've just robbed a bank), we saw another contender for our Father's Day gift. Showing off on its display window, the Hugo Boss shoes seem to radiate some mantra in the air 'come in and look at me (and my label)'. It has a very smooth finish and after visiting so many stores we sort of forgot how the Ferragamo pair looked like so we thought that this pair looked more elegant (with a heftier price tag). But just to make sure it's not some hot air that got into our heads, we decided to re-check later with the other pair of shoes, if only to refresh our memory.

Anyway, instead of lingering at Paragon, we crossed the road to Takashimaya and sifted through various items like DKNY (okay but not worth it - this season's collection I mean), Diane von Furstenberg (lovely but quite auntie imo) etc. We came to On Pedder, which stocks up on labels such as Jimmy Choo (no flagship store here yet), Marc Jacobs (same) and such. And we spotted the perfect (taking into account natural leather creasing etc and the fact that our wallet's on a leash) black and white MJ pumps. Unfortunately for Niki, it's the last pair they have (for the size), and only sizes 37 and 41 are left. It's just nice for me (size 37), so Niki went on to try on a pair of lovely bronze ballet pumps from MJ as well (sweet but impractical, but we just wanted to try on nice shoes...hehehe)...the store auntie was very friendly and kept pointing out how good a bargain the shoes are. Niki wanted to say to her, if it's really so, why don't you sponsor us. Because it looks perfect and because it's only the first day of sale and so many people are already hawking over the goods and because the auntie kept egging us and because both Niki and I agreed we should not, should not, miss this buy, I bought the MJ pumps. I feel very sinful, yet inside me there's an inexplicable sense of...glee? The strange strange relationship between girls and shopping.

Well I know it's ridiculous: instead of actually buying a gift, I ended up buying stuff for meself. By the way, just out of curiosity we also visited the LV flagship store at Takashimaya as well as the Chanel's. There are all these vintage LV luggages (of which there are 'legends' vouching for their durability - they indeed look very heavy and immovable)...There were heaps of Indonesians in the store, some sitting in unsightly poses (imagine Tukang Becak) as spotted by Niki. I went in to Chanel just to see how much the dresses cost, with no intention of buying them even if they're on sale whatsoever. My gawd, it's even more ridiculous than the PRADAs and the LVs...I guess price tag for price tag only Hermes can match the length of the strung-up numerals.

Satisfied with all that we've looked, Niki seemed not to be able to get the miu miu heels out of her mind, so off we scurried again to Paragon. We went in to PRADA again, yes, because we wanted to try on the sickeningly pretty shoes. I can fit in this super sleek red heels but as, again, they don't have it in Niki's size, and since I won't splurge on shoes after the previous buys, I let Niki try on other designs. But anyway let's just say the shoes are designed for people with dainty feet. So next we went inside to Ferragamo to inquire about the men's shoes. On second look and after so many stores, we really did finalise our decision that THIS is the one we want. Niki tried on the smallest size (European size 7) and it's still a bit loose and as we weren't sure what papi's shoe size is we decided to enquire him over the phone that night.

After which, we visited miu miu once again. The staff there recognized us and cooed, "Ooouu, you came back"...we just smiled sheepishly like some dodos. But she was very nice and invited me to seat on the sofa after walking for hours (very cute leather sofa at that) while Niki try on the shoes. I had offered to buy Niki the heels if she really like it as her birthday present. My wallet is bleeding, so I said I'll come back again next morning (since I would anyway, to buy the Ferragamo shoes after asking papi his size) to get it.

Luckily, our dad's shoe size is just right so on Sunday I finished what I had to do...I ended up with many shopping bags (and a depleted savings account) 'cos I also did some shopping for myself (normal clothes with only 2 numbers for price) and I bought the most endearing book, "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" by Kate DiCamillo. I finished it already (it's a children's book much like The Little Prince) and am so touched...I was so engrossed I did not even pay much attention to the Holland-Serbia Montenegro match on TV.

Speaking of World Cup, Mar, you are so going to want to watch it here. Because there are 4 dedicated channels, two of the channels are PlayerCam channels, which means the camera only zooms in on a particular player on a rotational basis from each team for a specific amount of time throughout the match. During the England-Paraguay match (we started watching late during the 2nd half) we turned to the England PlayerCam and guess what? Steven Gerrard was the featured player! So the camera just followed him around and we didn't know what the hell was going on in the game (reportedly it's boring) but we're quite amused feeling like stalkers watching him on TV, haha.

Anyway, for me, that's it for the sale season and moving on to the World Cup. I shall check out the PlayerCams from time to time because it's so amusing! (Niki even figured out a way to take screenshots from the TV, though since we don't know how to save it, it's practically a waste of temporary TV memory) though I feel it's a bit...stalker-ish...hahah. I wonder how the cameraman must feel ("What am I doing zooming in on guys instead of capturing the match coverage...eyuuck...just to amuse some people in the living room...") ...Well I hope this tournament will be a great one for the teams I support and for the cuties!