Comme comme Thursday...

Today was a public holiday. It's Cultural Day.

I'm really grateful because it enabled me to spend the entire day with Edsel before he flies out for Manila tomorrow. The day started at Tokyo Skytree and ended at Shinjuku. It was a long, tiring day but it was defo a fun one.

We agreed to meet at 11 at Skytree. He needed to go to the Ghibli shop to buy some Totoro stuff toys. I've seen Totoro a few times but I don't really know much about it. Cute stuff toy though.

From Skytree, we took the Hanzomon line to Omotesando. We spent the next 5 hours in Aoyama and Omotesando. Haha! I thought it was impossible but we managed to do it. Lol!

After getting lunch at an omurice place I visited before, we went to Aoyama to check out the Comme des Garcons store. It's no secret I'm a huge fan of Comme so visiting the Aoyama store is always a happy time for me. Sigh, I wish Rei Kawakubo, Junya Watanabe, and every designer under the Comme family will live forever. Haha! I really do think Kawakubo-san is amazing.

There were many highlights during the day but one of the main highlight was Edsel finding a man skirt he's been looking for. We went to one of the shops I visited before. And there we found this superb Comme des Garcons Homme Plus man skirt. Edsel was super happy! We went to another shop and we found another Comme des Garcons Homme Plus man skirt. He kept on telling me to get the piece, but I decided to skip it. It's still haunting me now though. Haha! What we have is just a photo of that man skirt.

I loooove it!

Tbh, I pictured myself wearing a Comme piece like this. I didn't think it would happen so soon. Sigh, I hope I find a smimilar piece again sometime soon.

Nice Wednesday...

Today was a good Wednesday.

In the morning, I decided to go to Waseda to check out another Japanese class run by volunteers.

So far, this was the best class I've attended. There are two of us in the group. The other student - a British lady - was about the same level as I am. That was great because our pace was in sync. Aside from that, the teacher was awesome. She was patient. She adjusted her speed of speech to our level. She used a variety of teaching techniques to go through the lesson.

I will defo go back next Wednesday.

After the lesson, I took the train to Kudanshita and walked to nearby Jimbocho. This was the other highlight of the day.

One of the people I follow on Instagram is @garcons_shi. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon his IG account. What I do know is that I followed him as soon as I saw how much of a CDG fan he is.

A few days ago, I messaged him on IG to ask if he was up for lunch. I didn't expect a reply because first, we don't really know each other; second, why would he want to meet up with me. LOL! So, I was really surprised when he agreed to meet up.

He's a nice guy. Of course, he noticed that I was wearing CDG Shirt. I had to wear one because I was meeting him. And besides, why else did I buy all these shirts if I won't wear them.

Anyway, we walked over to a curry rice place nearby. It turns out it was his fave. This is one good thing about being friends with locals. They always know where to go. We had a nice lunch.

The only downside was that we had a limited convo because my Japanese is soo bad. I wanted to ask him so many things and tell him how much I adore CDG but I had to make do with the few Japanese words that I know. Of course, he was also apologetic about his own English language skills.

Still, it was a good meetup. It strengthened my desire to learn the language faster and it also made me want to meet more people, I hope I do.

Come already Comme...

As I get older, and I went out into the world, I realised that it wasn't a very friendly place to be, and I thought, "We need armour..." - DG

Current mood. I really wish that day when I can buy the main line of Comme would already come.

CDG and MBMJ: Up for grabs on Ebay and Gumtree...

After years and years of being on the buyer side, I've finally set up today a seller account for Ebay. Hehe!

The first items I've put up for sale are two much-loved items.

In the last quarter of 2012, I kind of went on a Comme des Garcons phase.

The phase was partly influenced by good friend I-van and partly by the good offer by Club21 then.

The result, I have two extra Comme des Garcons tees and two extra Marc by Marc Jacobs tees that have been hanging in my closet since.

All four have never seen the light of day (lol!) and I feel that I won't be going to put them on anytime soon.

That's why I decided that I should probably put them up for sale at insanely discounted prices and let someone else (hopefully, a CDG or Rei Kawakubo or Junya Watanabe or Marc Jacobs fan) enjoy the pieces.

Asking price for the CDGs is $50 each. Asking price for the Marc by Marc shirts is $40 each. And because I am come from an archipelago where haggling is an art, prices are negotiable. Hehe!

Hopefully, some fan will stumble upon the items. Hehe!

Also, planning to put them up on Gumtree. Whee!

The Club 21 Bazaar experience...

As mentioned in a recent post, I went to the legendary Club 21 Bazaar over the weekend hoping to score some good buys.

And score good buys I did as I walked away from the bazaar.

The bazaar opened to the public last Friday. Club 21 members and Citibank cardholders had a preview the day before. Mon and I were initially tempted to take a leave for the preview, but decided against it. Haha! Tempting as it was, I decided not to give in to temptation and went to work.

On Friday, I left home at 8 so that I can reach the venue by 9. The bazaar was opening at 10, but I was expecting there would be a queue.

Crazy as it may sound, I was feeling very excited as I walked from Promenade station to the F1 Pit building. I dunno. I guess I was just really excited by the whole thing because it was my first time to attend the legendary event.

When I reached the venue, there were already about 4 people in queue. I was so glad I decided to come early because more people started arriving as 10AM neared.

There were two queues though - one for Club 21 members and another for the public.

Once the clock struck 10, the doors opened and the Club 21 members were let in first. Boo! Haha! After a few minutes, they let the rest of us in.

Upon entry, a Club 21 staff was handing out huge plastic bags to shoppers. I got one and immediately headed in.

The bazaar occupied two main halls. Club 21 was efficient enough to publish a layout of the bazaar so I already knew where I wanted to go. DKNY was at this area. CK was at that area. D&G, Lanvin and CDG were on the other side. Club 21 Men were next to it, and so on.

I'm really no newbie to these kinds of sales. I already have a strategy of my own. Dress comfortably. Dun bring a bag (which was a great idea because they asked shoppers with bags to deposit the bags. Precious shopping time taken away! LOL!)  Collect and select. When you see something that you like, grab it immediately and decide later if you really want it. Otherwise, someone else might snap it and then how, you cry, ah?

Also, I already had in mind a list of things I was hoping to get and a list of brands I wanted to check out. This was important especially because I had limited time.

After going through the pieces I was looking for, I went around just to check the other items on sale. I am still amazed at how low the prices were. Pieces of clothing that were originally thousands of dollars are now down to a few hundred bucks. Those that sold for hundred of bucks were down to less than a hundred. It was really one of the rare opportunities to snatch a designer item.

By the time I decided to hit the cashier, the crowd has increased and it was already a circus. It was quite amusing to watch actually. All around, there was so much action going on. People were digging through piles of clothing and going through racks and racks of designerwear. Those who were early at the bazaar were at their own little corners sorting the items in their shopping bags. The kids, I have no idea why some adults brought their kids, were all sitting on the floor along the hallway playing with their iPads and iPhones while their parents shopped. Haha!

I was going to meet PG Boy at Plaza Sing by 1PM so I had to stick to my schedule. This was great because I was able to plan my trip to the bazaar quite efficiently. It was almost 12 noon when I paid for my items and luckily, the queue to the cashier was not yet long. I managed to chat a bit with the friendly lady behind the register telling her how awesome the sale was.

When I reached home in the afternoon, I proudly showed PG Boy my loot from the sale. He found it amusing how crazy I can get over a sale. (See! Not every homo is into designer stuff. LOL!) I surprised with a nice collared Calvin Klein shirt and a bunch of DKNY innerwear. Hehe!

Hmm, my fave pieces that I got were two Junya Watanabe for Comme des Garcon tees. They were the last pieces. And I was very lucky that they were in medium and that I was quick enough to spot and snap up the items before the guys beside me did. The original price of the tees were SGD260 each. (I would never fork out that amount for a tee! LOL!) I got each for just SGD50.

I was also happy that I did not overspend. I was able to stick to the budget I had in mind. I also like to think that I did save a lot because on an ordinary day, the items that I got would have already cost a thousand over. No way will I spend like that for shopping (not just yet. LOL!).

So, yay Club 21! I think for next year, I will not shop the entire year and just save and wait for the bazaar. Once the bazaar comes, break open the bazaar fund and shop. LOL!

Comme to Daddy...

Despite getting home at 5AM on a Sunday from tugs with Chris, Ian, Tipz, RKGreg, MkSurf8, Makii and Ahmer, I was still up at 930AM. (It's the damn body clock curse. Haha!)

Thankfully, there was no hangover. However, I did miss my supposed meet up with Jeaners. I had a slight headache and I couldn't make it to Outram Park in time to see her.

Initially, I was tempted to just stay at home and "recover." However, I decided I didn't want my entire Sunday to go to waste. I was still okay anyway.

So I thought of things to do while WhatsApping with Pg Boy (who was at Maine at that time I think).

First, I thought of going to the National Museum to check out an exhibit I've been planning to check out. Then I thought why not catch the Taiwanese film GF*BF. Anyway, the NSM exhibit will run until end of the month.

Having decided that, I went online and booked myself a ticket for the 1:25 screening. I left home around 11 so I can go jalan jalan from Orchard to Somerset.

I didn't get to do the leisurely stroll. In fact, I had to do some brisk walking from Ion to Cathay Cineleisure just to catch the movie.

The cause of the almost delay?

I stumbled upon a happy place somewhere and I spent almost an hour or so at the happy place. Haha!

Been wanting to get a CDG shirt for the longest time but I'm too stingy with myself. I just couldn't bring myself to shell out a certain amount for a tee, even if it's CDG. In fact, I haven't really bought any clothes for myself for the longest time.

That's why I was really glad when I walked into this happy place. My heart was racing seriously. That's the effect. Haha!

I kept on checking my watch for the time. There were other pieces that caught my eye but I had to leave already. It was good because otherwise, I would've prolly been damn broke. Eeesch!

Anyway, really happy with the new tees. Birthday came quite early lah! LOL!