When Chic Hits the Fan...Chic Happens

LOOS-ING IT

2011-05-01T17:50:00.003+08:00

HONG KONG---Unlike the 1.999 billion people who tuned into the royal wedding, my husband who is British (and not just- plain-British -but -Old- Etonian-British), seemed not to be remotely interested. Growing up in a historical city like London makes him take landmark buildings for granted. Until a few years ago, he had never set foot in places such as Westminster Abbey, founded by Edward the Confessor in 1066. He is 50, born and raised in London. (Me: You've NEVAH been to Westminster? Him: No. Maybe because well, it's always just THERE.) He has also never been to Buckingham Palace while I go every summer for one exhibit or another. If it's not the Queen's dresses, it's the garden, etc....

So when the currently-happy royal couple went to sign their marriage documents in a 'room from the time of Edward the Confessor," I was impressed and he wasn't. (this was the room at the back of the altar where no cameras were allowed)

Me: Wow--I wonder what's in that Edward the Confessor Room...I bet it's really something!

Him: It's probably come scuzzy room or old office that holds vestments and crap. Maybe there's a loo in there. Mind you, I don't know how she's gonna go in that dress. I know for sure there is someone in THAT church who is dying for a pee since they had to wait so long.

Now I remember what he said when we went to Eton:

Me: (touching the desks) Wow--it must have been something to sit on these desks with all that history from the 14-1500s....I bet the wood and graffiti have lots to tell.

Him: Can you imagine centuries of germs festering in those things? Kids fall asleep and drool, wipe their noses, stick all sorts of things...

Me: If you could kill germs the way you kill romance....(we'd be living in a villa in Monaco now)

WHEN ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH

2011-04-19T20:08:00.004+08:00

Today's quote: If beauty is a 10, nine of it is dressing.

HONG KONG ---People often ask me why I buy multiples of certain things such as Roger Vivier buckle shoes, Alaia flats,Belgian shoes, Kotur Wallace and Anya Hindmarch Ebury bags....The reason is that they work with my lifestyle and my style of dress. But sometimes I have bought them knowing they didn't work and I bought by default (ie I was suckered!!)

This is me and Tallulah Butthead II in HER DOG HOUSE in Hong Kong. Yes. When people ask me, "Are you in the doghouse now/tonight?" I answer "Yes!" Literally. (See? The bitch is asking me to get off her sofa) Speaking of.... I have two of these silk Dries beaded tops. A glitzy one for blingy Hong Kong and an emerald green one in Tokyo to match my glow when I turn green from radiation.
NOW HERE is the root of all evil dressed in Swarovski crystals and satin finery (badder than a bad dog or bad robot) ....An animal (print) walks among us. Although I love their leather and patent shoes, my relationship with RV satins (definitely not the RVs Bible-reading and gun-toting America travels in) is like divorce for a serial monogamist: Just like divorce, the first was painful and expensive and the succeeding marriages were just expensive.

NOW THESE TWO I LOVE!!! Just like a co-dependent, I bought these two pairs knowing how painful the first pair was. My reason? Or rather the shop girl's retail logic, "They are the last pairs and (wait for it...) they are YOUR SIZE. After this, Out of stock la..."

Should I buy these two even if the last one hurt me?

(And here is why you end up doing multiple purchases or end up falling in love again for whatever reason, just don't charge me for it)

"Yes because this is a completely different style (or insert name of new love interest here). You have room at the sides." (sometimes just having a room will make people happy)

They have indeed turned out to be really comfortable, practical and beautiful...Something like my relationship with...ME!!

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A funny thing happened to us at the HK Dog Rescue. For some reason, after making a trip by taxi, MTR and on foot, we arrived at the HKDR kennels not only not to be welcomed but to also walk away with the impression that we did not deserve to get a dog. Hmph!!

The other night, a jeweller told me that the famous Paris jeweller JAR (Joel A Rosenthal) was not really a snob as most people think but someone who is particular about who he sells to knowing he does not need to compromise or put up with having to sell keyrings.

JAR has been known to turn down some of the most famous people for whatever reason.

I guess these clients felt the same way I did at the HKDR.

One of my greatest dreams is to own something by JAR but I don't think that's going to happen having been turned down at the HKDR, a low point in the food chain.

The Fourth F--Fukuya

2011-04-19T18:41:00.005+08:00

HONG KONG--The thing about a place like FUKUYA is that I can't look for photos on Google seeing as I don't even know where to look except maybe in Japanese Google which is too advanced for me. I can walk there from my flat but I can't give anyone clear directions. As part of my lessons, my Japanese teacher asked me to give her the directions in Japanese. I told her I couldn't manage it because I couldn't even give them in English. "But why don't we just do directions to the American Club? That I can do..."

I found FUKUYA because I never leave my neighborhood except to go to Yohji or Uniqlo in Ginza (and that is a day trip). It happens to be 'on the way to the American Club." Fukuya is my neighborhood beauty emporium that sells top end Shiseido (Benfiance, Cle de Peau, SKII), Albion and Kanebo products. The closest I can compare it to in terms of service and sales is Zitomer or Clyde's, both on the Upper East Side in New York. It is similar to those two places because a) it serves mostly the neighborhood and b) the sales people seem to be long serving employees (ie not contractual). But that's where the similarity ends.

Fukuya has several points better than any store I have been to:

1) There is no hard sell. I was discouraged from buying a concealer because it would make me look older. I told them I bought Shiseido\'s new foundation brush already the day before at Tomod's, a drug store chain and what did I get "Arigatoo Gozaimasu, SANK-YU very much-u." What would I get anywhere else ESPECIALLY in Hong Kong? "You should have gotten it here. I would have given you a sample... we have a promo...I bet you paid too much...' (I bought two brushes at Tomod's simply because they looked nice. Little did I know they would be the best things I've ever used."

2) Whether you buy an eyeshadow or an entire skincare programme, you are treated the same way. VERY WELL. First there is the tray and the tea but the tea doesn't come in the tray. The tray is where they put all your products before carrying the thing to 'your seat' which brings me to my next point. You take 'a seat literally at a beauty bar where they 'serve you products and tea' but not before taking your bag (not to steal it but to store it) and tying a bib on you so you don't ruin your outfit.

The only other retail beauty experience that made me feel this lucky to be a woman is PARFUMERIE MEGEVE in Megeve (where else?) which sells top of the line European cosmetics and lingerie.

THIS WEEK's 3 F'S

2011-04-19T17:33:00.004+08:00

HONG KONG-I thought it would be a good time to mention 3Fs --fashion, (non) fiction and face.

(NON) FICTION - "The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It" by Tilar Mazzeo is short, chatty but factual considering how little material the author had to go on concerning women entrepreneurs in Napoleonic and post-N France. In it we find out that Marie-Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin was also a Ruinart, THE original champagne making family with links to the legendary Dom Pierre Perignon (and everything we know is really legend because champagne was funny enough, developed in England). She was to blaze the trail for other female producers of bubbly we know and love---such as Lily Bollinger and Mathilde-Emile Laurent-Perrier. Before The Donald there was 'The Veuve' (widow) Cliquot who is known to be the first celebrity businesswoman and marketer par excellence---she created her own bottles to the shape we know today, 'branded' and physically labelled her products for distinction but it was her immediate successor who chose the bright colour, that of yolks from the eggs of Bresse chickens, that we know and love today.

Another book I highly recommend but have not finished (I have 95 more nights to go) is the one below. The title is self-explanatory and because of the tiny size of my brain, I am reading one item every night while I am here in HK. It is amazing how in retrospect we really can sort of 'predict' what will happen by referring to history and yet history 'repeats itself' (not quite) because WE NEVER LEARN when all the answers have been thawed after the last Ice Age but I leave David Attenborough and National Geographic to tell you about that....

FASHION: SUPER A MARKET located behind Issey Miyake in Tokyo's most fashionable area, Minami-Aoyama (read: home to the Prada beehive igloo, Comme and Yohji). Super A is not a shop, it is an experience. The ground floor is laid out and edited like the dressing room of a chic European with casual style. You will find masstige labels like YSL, Balenciaga, Marc Jacobs chosen with a great eye and merchandised together with fashion insider favourites with limited distribution like Thom Brown, Viktor and Rolf, John Smedley, Dries van Noten and Jean Paul Knott (whose clothes I dreamt about--and regretted not buying decades ago at Linda Dresner (now closed) in New York--- before I encountered this fabulous find of a shop)

If the ground floor is European, the second level is rich Californian hippie. Think Malibu,. Laurel Canyon and an attitude more Fred Segal than Fred Segal, Melrose and Sta Monica combined which only the Japanese can do. American vintage clothing and Rag and Bone, Acne, James Perse are laid out and styled more stylishly and more casually American that only, yes, the Japanese can do.

Super A Market (affiliated with Tomorrowland, www.tomorrowland.jp)

3-18-9 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku 107-0062

www.superamarket.jp

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FACE: In my search for the best foundation, I must have at least 10 foundations of varying shades, textures and formula in every place I live. On top of them (literally) are the sponges and applicators ready for mold and amoeba experiments. But since discovering this miniscule tube (25 g, not enough for some people's coke habits) of CLE DE PEAU CREAM FOUNDATION, my next task is to bring myself to throw out every other foundation I own. (I apply it with a new slanted brush from Shiseido but I think any foundation brush will work just as well) I have also never used a loose powder finer and with a better texture than that of Cle de Peau. You only need to powder your face once (at the start after the foundation and before spackling on anything else) when you do your make-up. Years ago, I bought a top of the line Kanebo from Japan and thought that was the best but I guess the best was yet to come----last month at the fabulous Fukuya (more on that later plus the photo of this product--thanks to my technical ineptness).

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL YOUR LIFE?

2011-04-04T08:19:00.002+08:00

TOKYO----For most people, blogging is a medium to connect with the public---every activity, even getting out of bed, becomes an event. For me, blogging happens only when life doesn't keep me busy enough. Unfortunately I've been busy since the autumn, mostly travelling and helping my husband with his world tour of 50th birthday parties spanning 2 continents and 3 cities. Our to-ing and fro-ing had reached such a crescendo that when we arrived in Tokyo in the second week of March and were welcomed by the earthquake and tsunami, we decided to stay put and take our chances because we didn't want to uproot ourselves again. (We also found out that current radiation levels in Hong Kong and Rome are higher than Tokyo's) Since we moved to Tokyo in July last year, I had only lived here a total of 6 weeks until this March. Since January, I had not been here at all. I had all sorts of éxcuses'' not to be here--death and disease; and when disaster struck (literally one of the biggest in the world), I chose that time to ''make a commitment" to my new home which I have grown to respect, if not love (yet). And so life goes on with less electricity in a city which used to be lit up like Vegas everyday. But for this town, using less electricity is normal use in the rest of the free world. We haven't given up heated toilet seats. Weeks after the disaster, I had to search for one thing or another--bread, water, milk, etc. But there was no real shortage. Rations were reasonable--1 bag of rice per person per day, 2 cartons of milk, 1 liter of water, etc. Discretionary spending (including dining out) is at an all time low because the public feel they should not be celebrating or enjoying at such a difficult time. It is their way of showing emotional support for disaster victims and thier families. Sakura parties have been discouraged by the government for the same reason. (Although yesterday I saw so many people 'breaking the law') This is the complete opposite of how westerners would behave and I don't know who has the right attitude. On the one hand you want to stimulate the economy with spending but on the other you can understand their sense of community, the same one that got them through the Second World War, the Kobe earthquake, post-Eighties heyday and everything in that mix. Meanwhile, I just thought of doing an entry while I am not busy (hahaha!!) hoping to jump start this blog again for the Nth time. I constantly wonder about the thin line between blogging about one's life and merely 'showing off." Perhaps it's about time? Or perhaps you can join me vicariously in my next entry as I look for a possible outfit to wear to a wedding in Singapore in two weeks. Right now I have the following choices: a) a Lanvin gold silk dress (I have to be T-H-I-N!) b) a Body Amr chocolate chiffon caftan (v Studio 54) and c) a black Ports velvet dress which has been very reliable for everything else but I think would not be a good choice for a wedding in a garden setting. Shoes: 2 pairs of Manolo Blahnik heels--a) peep-toe black patent and b) nude peau de soie which have yet to be worn. I am leaving for Hong Kong on Wednesday and I could go shopping there since I could use a new outfit not only for this wedding but for another one in London in June and my husband's final 50th, also in London in June. Now, can you see why I haven't found time for blogging?

COME FLY WITH ME

2011-01-24T19:01:00.002+08:00

In October, I blogged about another blogger who was engaged in credit card scamming to support a shopping habit. I was supposed to do a part 3 or part 4 but failed technologically. In the tradition of 'I left my homework at home, I really did--in one of them and I couldn't remember which. Now I have found it and MORE.....

Above is a photo of a certain bboy777 from creditboards.com in 2004. Because I am technologically inept, I couldn't post the entire thread about this wallet and its contents on my blog. In the creditboard thread, bboy777 is addressed as 'bryan' (How many Bryans do we know?)

Meanwhile, a little bird sent me the piece de resistance or the icing on the cake:

My pie in the sky tell me that in March 2001, CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS filed a case against FRANCIS BRYAN YAMBAO and a JASON ROBERT MCGINNIS for making fraudulent on-line orders of plane tickets using fraudulently acquired credit cards. The case agaisnt the two is filed before the Paranaque City Prosecutors Office.

Go check it out!

Could Francis Bryan Yambao be Bryan Boy of bryanboy.com?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Oh--and I have more on Francis Bryan Yambao being on a list if "non-preferred travel agents" defined as 'negative feedback regarding service or truthfulness of the companies and persons listed.'

I'm Chinese so my math has got to be good:

CX+fraudulent credit cards+non-preferred travel agents=Bryan Boy

STARTING OVER

2010-10-22T10:03:00.003+08:00

TOKYO---Do you know what made me feel young again? (You'll never guess because I never expected it either!!)

A small flat in the middle of town.

I saw a real estate ad for an 825 sq ft NYC flat in the west 50s off the park and thought about how our tiny dog flat in Hong Kong had made me young again.
(A Manhattan flat will not hurt either!!)

I spent a few weeks in our completed dog flat in Hong Kong and perhaps because of the location and size, it has made me feel like a kid out of university. We really bought this place for the dogs and maids to live in while we spend time in Japan. Of course they had to give me a room!

I used to live in a flat three times its size in Repluse Bay where we faced the ocean and were surrounded by mountains and greenery. Had to take a taxi everywhere which is not bad considering a 20 minute taxi ride in HK is 'long."

I now take the bus to Central, which takes about 10 mins, because ít stops in front of our building. There are so many shops and restaurants on my street that I don't really need to leave my 'hood except to go to yoga, shop at Dries, Roger Vivier and Rick Owens. (More reasons to overfill my already tiny, cramped closets in the dog flat)

The great thing about 'playing house and pretending to be young" (take note PRETEND) is that I can still come home to dogs that have been walked, fed and brushed plus have home cooked meals that I don't have to prepare myself because I hate cooking.

Of course the cost of a flat will drain your bank account so not only will you feel young, you'll be broke which is just like it was when you were young!!

When I start feeling old in Tokyo and there is the tendency feel that way because everyone IS OLD and so polite, I can always decamp to Hong Kong. And when I feel Hong Kong is too uncivilised and dirty, I can always come back to Tokyo where garbage trucks are so clean they can be pale blue and garbage collectors wear matching jumpsuits (yes!! pale blue---amidst all that garbage!!)

Perhaps when we leave Tokyo a small flat in town would continue to keep me young...
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The Japanese lesson that has left me speechless:
It is not enough for Chinese and Japanese to have articles like 'the'' ,'"a"or ""an"". They have to make learning their language so difficult there are modifiers/measure words for everything from dogs, sheep, shoes, houses, cars, trees, people, etc...

RO-PON(G)-GI simply translates as 6 trees. PON is the measure word for anything long (trees, pens, ties, sticks, bottles) which does not exist in Anglo-Saxon and Romance languages (if you think un, une, den, der, dem is bad enough...)

The thing with Japanese, is the answer has nothing to do with the question. This is where Lost in Translation plays a bigger part than Suntory did in the movie.

Q: Nan (how many)----biki (measure word for 'smore animars)? (dogs and cats)
A: Everything from piki to hiki but only one ends in biki.

Q: Nan--bon (the ófficial' measure word for long things--see Roponggi example above)
A: Everything from PON to HON but only one bon.

Q: Nan ---ba (measure word for 'smore birlds"")
A: Wa, Pa but not Ba.

So I asked my tutor if there was an easier way to learn this system.
"Äh..that is Japanese counting. So answer is no."

The money is also so difficult to phrase (aside from count!) that the Bank of Japan is probably still counting money from the 80s. I'm afraid that they will find out that there will not be enough for everyone to buy a Chanel bag.

THE LONG AND THE SNORT OF IT

2010-10-18T15:41:00.003+08:00

TOKYO --- In the last few years, American fashion has seen the rise of young designers from the Chinese-American community:

Jason Wu who created Michelle Obama's inaugural gown which was so frothy that you didn't know whether she was wearing the White House's ration of whipped cream or was going to the prom.

Alexander Wang who has smartly divided his business into main line ready-to-wear and a tee shirt line, T by Alexander Wang without diluting his brand.

And oh yes...there is one more known for....

uuhh..uhh...I have one of his jackets...spending his nights snorting coke and downing champagne till 6AM in Beijing that he didn't show up for media interviews?

Not a good look considering he's not exactly an established fashion superstar.

Might be time to look at the P n L statements.....

In the lines of 'The dog ate my homework," I saved Part 4's further credit scamming info in my other computer which is in the Hong Kong doghouse. I'll have to search through my emails or it will have to wait until I get back to Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, I leave you with this wonderful quote by Auberon Waugh in defense of notorious UK gossip columnist Nigel Dempster:

"If, as a famous person, you are in the habit of doing things which would make you ashamed if they were more widely known, then you have a clear choice. Change your habits, change your attitude to them or retreat from the public stage. The other course of action is to cross your fingers and hope Nigel Dempster never finds out."

2010-10-17T16:04:00.002+08:00

TOKYO--I saw this hilarous film on the plane from Hong Kong. I don't really like the very bourgeois subject matter of kids 'learning to embrace life'" before they even move out of the house. In fact, I hate anything that has to do with émbracing life'" such as Eat, Pray, Gag.
(I think I enjoy mine too much to look for something better)

Do you really have to go to India and not stay at the Imperial?

I also hate anything having to do with cheap travel, dirt and ugly clothes, all of which Eat,Pray, Gag and Cemetery Junction have. A Single Man this is not. But I LOVED Cemetery Junction because of the dialogue and how an otherwise bourgeois idea usually for sappy rom-coms turned into something funny and honest.

The film is directed by Ricky Gervais and written with Stephen Merchant--great British music from the 70s and because it is a 'period' film, it makes a great opportunity to be politically incorrect-- smoking, drinking, racial, social and sexual prejudice ---which makes great dialogue.

"....think about pulling all the foreign birds. They won't understand a word you're saying..."

"Why would I want to go to Africa? It's full of black people...""

"French eat snails, horses, etc.The only thing they won't put in their mouths is a toothbrush."

It is far from the Mad Men screenplay which is not accurate to the times and (I am convinced)was created only for booze and cigarette sponsorship and for retail advertising catering to fat-ish, anti-fashion figures who need Spanx. In other words, the moderate missy market who think that the size 12-16-girls Dove commercials are aspirational.

If you don't aspire to a size zero, what future do you have with Alaia? OMG!! Life without Alaia?? Bury me in Lanvin!

If you want accurate dialogue and costumes, watch Julian Fellowes'' Downton Abbey, Cranford or Lark Rise to Candleford. If you want stupidity, watch Gervais' and Merchant's new TV series Än Idiot Goes Abroad." Hilarious even to those not well-travelled.

ABOUT A BBBOY 3 (of MAY-BE 4)

2010-10-10T23:29:00.016+08:00

Whose wallet is this? Is it possible for a Philippine resident with no net worth to acquire all these cards? (Just asking...)

I didn't think there was going to be so much material on this one lousy tip. This is what happens when research is involved. I know some people think it's better to be a fool than a cheat but I wouldn't want to be either.

WWW.CHIKATIME.COM

For a few months, this extremely lively anonymous gossip site was the daily guilty pleasure of many people from the Philippines. I loved it, everyone I knew loved it and you would have loved it until you became a target of humiliation and Perez Hilton-pilfered scrawls and robotic, computerized moves.

But the joy of bitching came to an acrimonious end when one minor local stylist challenged chikatime's identity on her blog and another local Philippine site http://www.donavictorina.blogspot.com/ blew his cover. Politicians, socialites and celebrities all wanted to sue him (maybe they did!).

Before this identity crisis, anyone who had an axe to grind with anyone went to chikatime and got their story published. One source downloaded everything on the Boy connecting him to credit card reports and scams and turned over all this evidence to chikatime not knowing he WAS chikatime!!

I can only compare this to turning over photos of Anna Wintour on a bad hair day and trying to get them uploaded on style.com. Needless to say it was over between the Boy and the Scout before you could even swipe your Visa. I'm sure the paperwork was not recycled. It's probably locked up somewhere like in the prison next door to his house.

BRAND IDENTITY

You have to start somewhere SOOO....

Like Darwin's theory it had to start down under at Australian Fashion Week where his plane ticket (business class, I believe) was paid for by another blogger who was already broke yet still got blackmailed. I wish I knew how to take advantage of people like that.

At that time, I remember telling the Boy that doing this particular fashion week would be good for his profile and 'worth the expense' but I didn't think he would do it at the expense of someone else!!

In between fashion weeks, parties and sweetie-dahhlinks there was the odd 'I forgot my wallet can you lend me 20 bucks' or 'I got pick pocketed can you lend me a 100'--and I'll wire you the money. But a) the money either never came, b) check bounced and he never spoke to lender again.

BUT he still seemed to be able to 'get around.'

Many are wondering..How does he manage to travel so much now?

(Credit cards only get you so far--maybe that's why he has card albums full of them?? He himself claims that 'you can only use stolen cards once or twice..." Aha--so THAT'S the secret!!)

For someone who knows the fashion media, the answer is easy. The brands pay. Getting to every party, every show, every event is paid for by brands and PR companies if they are guaranteed exposure. You can even luxury hotel-hop on brand expense accounts. This does not happen only for fashion but in the watch and jewelery sector where they do Paris, Basel and Geneva.

But remember the Boy had to do all of the above before he got to this point where he is today.

(Have you had a Balenciaga charge today?)

Check out this link and put your Barbara Kaminski straw hat on:

http://indiaforensic.com/creditcardfraud.htm

Let's say Dior flies you to Paris first or business class and puts you up at Le Bristol. LV will call and say you can come to the show and they'll move you to Crillon. Or some PR company/group will cover your plane fare and hotel and ask you to attend all the shows of its clients. All food and parties are also fully paid for. Then there are the free clothes and the heavily discounted items. As in HEAVILY. I have bought things selling at retail for USD 10-20,000 for a mere USD 1-3,000.

The beauty of this arrangement is that not only do you get to fly for free but you accrue air miles which you can then use for your personal travel. A round trip from Asia to Europe or America gets you a free flight within Asia. So it is really not impossible for a working and travelling couple to take their entire family (plus servants) on summer and ski vacations AND hang in the first class lounge. My vote goes to the one by Marc Newson for Qantas in the Sydney airport. Beautiful Oz light and looks like a hotel lobby.

I met some netrepreneurs who told me that it is virtually impossible to generate any advertising revenue through blogs because they are merely 'single pages.' Advertising is profitable only via online media where they have multiple pages. Real money, of course is made through merchant websites or 'aggregates,' that is, links between merchants and consumers.

There is also talk that being very tech-savvy, he manipulates the number of hits on his website. But what do I know? I'm merely a messenger.

I'm still trying to figure out whether or not and how to break Part 4 to ya because I have some images and screen shots that I can't use due to copyright laws.

I'm not looking for anyone to believe me but no one believed Harry Markopolos, either.

To those who wonder if I am jealous, I suggest you find out more about me. While I don't like to discuss my lifestyle (and parade my closet and travels) publicly, you can always call me and I'll tell you what my life (as a bitch) is like. I MIGHT tell you what skeletons I have in my closet/s. Very likely clothes from the days when I was as thin as a skeleton.

You can also ask my friends. Or my enemies.

Why, you COULD even ask the Boy himself. He'll tell ya!

ABOUT A BBBOY 2 of 3

2010-10-10T14:09:00.006+08:00

Don't you wonder where people REALLY get their money? (I DO!) Because there seems to be a hell of a lot sloshing around. To this day, some money comes from work, marriage, inheritance and/or investments. Lately it seems to be credit (good, bad or lose your house Uggly) and the reliable-as-long-as-you-don't-get-caught scamming.

I'm not saying every blogger is into scamming, okay. Just some. Okay, maybe ONE.

IN THE BEGINNING....

Knowing what you know now about The Boy's living conditions (and by no means do I look down on him for this), let me take you back several years (circa 2003-2008?) before Dolce and Marc came calling.

He set up an online travel agency which has since been de-listed by IATA. At around this time he did single trips to New York (where he stayed with a criminally not sexually handcuffed Marc Jacobs staffer), China (Great Wall), France (LV, Eiffel), Russia, wherever!

(Not very much travel in my opinion. I know people who travel long haul and/or 6-8 hour trips every other week)

He could have done this with his travel agency or he could have done this at the expense of clients of his then-agency. (There was a time when online and phone sales at Saks and Amazon were flagged because customer cards were compromised. It happens to the best of us)

According to www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/creditcard.asp, credit fraud is very easy to do. All you need is a phone (to harrass people with) and a computer with internet connection (the better to 'harvest' emails and credit and identity info with, my dear..). I can't tell you more but you can go on snopes.com then give me the one-page executive summary.

And everyone knows hackers are based in third world countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe but cards scammed are from developed countries where credit lines are larger.

PROJECT RUN-AWAY

A style spy said that after the taping of Philippine Project Runway, he invited a designer and two models to an upmarket local restaurant and proceeded to order several bottles of wine which the Philippine production company was not prepared to pay for since they ain't NBC. The Boy stuck them with a bill of close to USD 1,000 which was a fierce bill to swallow even for the wealthy and especially bitter if you were planing on buying fierce Givenchy heels. It must have been a slow day for credit scamming.

The network sent him marching in Crocs after that.

When he was a little known blogger, he flew three members of the Philippine media to HK in exchange for a spread in the country's biggest paper. They were put up in a boutique hotel and he went on a major shopping spree which included a new Birkin.

He used a credit card to pay for it.

It didn't bear his name.

Thank Gawd it didn't bear mine, either.
Yours, perhaps?

YOU'VE GOT MAIL!!!...from India.

Then there was, as one source said, "..all that mail from India..."
They certainly weren't invites to the Taj Mahal, I can tell you that.
Project Runway India, perhaps?

LET'S SHOP!!!
Despite his living conditions, he always managed to stay in the best hotels, paid for expensive meals and booze (except in the case of Project Run-Away). Meanwhile, he was extremely rude to people who were recipients of his 'largesse.' It was as if his ill-gotten generosity warranted him some kind of subservience from his then-friends.

One of my sources who travelled with him unearthed (take note, BY MISTAKE!!) a clear card book full of credit cards from various institutions issued under different names. I, meanwhile, noticed that his cards were not from first tier institutions like HSBC, American Express, etc. and what I saw were all from state-run American banks.

The source who went shopping with him noted that shopping was done as soon as boutiques opened and the whole spree would be over before noon. I have no logical reason behind this practice but I can guess. MANY GUESSES.

I do have a question which I pose to you discerning readers: How can a Philippine resident with no net worth acquire so many American credit cards?

May I introduce you to one Albert Gonzalez (please be my guest at Google and Wikipedia), a Cuban national of modest means who threw himself a USD 75,000 birthday party, had 15 credit cards and btw was the biggest fish in the ocean of credit fraud?

I'm telling you, I'm in the wrong business. There's no business like fraud business.

Later this week (if I get so frustrated because they don't have my size at Dries) ...Find out how anonymity bred animosity and how he really sweats glitter NOW.

Don't worry kids, the answer to all your questions in Part I will soon be answered!

Baboosh!!

About a BBBoy

2010-10-05T15:55:00.001+08:00

No one wants to be seen as a poor judge of character so why didn't anyone in the fashion media bother to research? We are lucky to live in a time when Google has replaced the Dewey Decimal System yet when someone from the fashionable set (Marc Jacobs, are you there?) deems someone or something cool, no one checks.

The fashion pack is indeed a herd. Take the shearling aviator jacket this season--an 'investment buy' even if it makes you look like Quasimodo in an Elizabethan collar made of carpet remnants.

Enough ranting. Now for my story....

Before this fashion blogger from the Philippines was hosted by fashion brands and had a Marc Jacobs bag named after him, he had to position himself in cyberspace society and shop until his friends dropped him.

Like Bernie Madoff and Ken Starr, he used other people's money. Maybe he still does!!!

Like many of us, the Boy doesn't carry cash and always uses credit cards but the cards are not (quite) his. They could be yours, though.
He manages to use numerous credit cards under different names and has even blackmailed someone into paying for his first trip to Australian Fashion Week because the organizers weren't willing to fork over the cost for him to go down under.

He is a member of creditboards.com, a site for people with bad credit or those who want to acquire credit without collateral or a job. Or rich parents. He was active in one forum on "Getting a Sears credit card..." Last time I checked, there ain't no Lanvin at Sears. Maybe HnM.

Like Bernie Madoff and Ken Starr at the height of their popularity and wealth, he is sought after.

BBbbut things didn't start off that way...
He anonymously started a local Philippine gossip site called chikatime.com, got caught and had to close it down due to insistent public demand, insults and lawsuits that were hurled at him. Also "due to insistent public demand," Nokia pulled out of an advertising campaign. He was removed from the Philippine edition of Project Runway before its first season was ovah!

If that's not last season enough....

Unlike Bernie Madoff and Ken Starr, he is not smart enough to manipulate funds to finance multiple homes, yachts, art, jewels and dodgy investments. He merely spends on bags, shoes and incidental travel. Okay, small time. (If you steal, wouldn't you have to steal big 'because you're worth it?" How you gonna "sweat glitter?")

You would think he would want a lot more because of where he came from. I guess his Momma didn't teach him that you have to reach for the moon because if you miss it, at least you'll end up with stars.
(Mind you, I admire people who have no education and manage to go from rags to riches through hard work and not credit card scamming. After all, it is the success story of many immigrant familes)

He may have Globe Trotter luggage but a globe trotter and fashion connoisseur he is not.

His family is so far from rich that they not only live in the outskirts of Manila but in one of the poorest outskirts of the Philippine capital--think close to homeless, probably without a proper address. The Philippines is 80% poor and he falls into that category. And this is not 'a good look.'

The Boy is so poor that he lives in a shack made of aluminum siding (if it has not been washed away by recent floods) near the national maximum security prison.

His sister was so happy when she got an internship at a local radio station because they had a food allowance. Apparently, in their household, they have no money for food.

But they have LOTS of handbags. So how does he finance la vida nada?

Wait for my next post.

Baboosh!

WADDID I TELL YA??

2010-09-09T16:36:00.003+08:00

No one likes being a Cassandra but what Cassadras LOVE more than anything in the world is to be PROVEN RIGHT! Cassandras like me live for this moment and right now I'm having a ball because I don't even have to do any research. Why, I don't even Google. I don't even ASK! The material keeps coming. (Well, some of the material has been taken off cyberspace but there's loads where this came from. The cyberuniverse--not to mention the Twittering classes--- has infinite material and people only too happy to dish out dirt)

The risk of being a Cassandra is you go against the herd. The problem with the herd is that no one will admit to anything because no one wants to be a seen as a poor judge of character.

As much as a Cassandra likes being proven right, the herd is terrified of admitting to being the ones 'who got duped.' Witness how none of Madoff's or Ken Starr's clients are willing to come forward.

Today I have an interview with Divine Lee with pep.ph posted on 01 September 2010...Why she did it at the height of embezzlement accusations, I don't know (Calling Peggy Siegel and Max Clifford).....

Excerpts and my side comments in parenthesis:

"I just came from Europe, so we went to the beach...." (sic)

(I guess she didn't know about the case because she was 'at the beach.." getting her brains fried)

On her crocodile Birkin, Giambattista Valli dress and Fendi shoes:
She said, "Binili ko 'yan...Pinaghirapan ko talaga" (I bought them...I worked hard for them)
(Pinaghirapan dahil sa "Pag-Ibig"---I worked hard for 'love'--ironically, the name of the fund her company shafted)

And how does she maintain her svelte figure?
"I started running, so I might join a marathon soon...."
(The only running I can see her doing is running from the law)

"It's confidence, she would say in her magazine interviews."
(No kidding! You need a lot of it to slurp USD 150 million and you're going to need as much as you can muster in court. But I think she'll need more of a sense of humor)

Okay that's it kids because I, too, have to go on my European vacation not Greece but grease because I have to face a newly remodelled kitchen and closet. (Honest to God, we already paid for the work in full!)

BRINGING HOME THE BACON...UH..BIRKIN?

2010-09-07T18:25:00.002+08:00

I didn't think I'd have such a DIVINE time with the item about Globe Asiatique (with a froglais Q-U-E no less) until the staff at www.donavictorina.blogspot.com quoted her Cosmopolitan Philippines interview. There's more where that came from:
Cosmo: Where did you get your business savvy?
(this is really good....)
Divine Lee:
I started working when I was really young...I was too shy to ask for money...I liked a lot of things...I was so shy to ask for money from my dad because I knew he worked so hard.
(It REALLY is hard to steal 150 million USD from poor people. I can't imagine doing such a difficult job myself)
So I decided to make a little money on the side so I could buy the things that I want. It just started from there.
( You mean the embezzling?)

Cosmo: You're really close to your father (Delfin Lee of Global Asiatique) (there goes that unchic spelling again!) What are the most important lessons you've learned from him?

Divine Lee: Well, number one is we're all here for a reason. And the reason I think, for me and what I do is I'm here to improve the lives of people.....
(Ya think? So they now have to work harder to get their money back?)
So at least I'm giving them livelihood, I'm giving them something they can feed their family (sic)....(you mean bullshit?)
(Can you still say that now? The only feeding that's gonna happen is the feeding of evidence at court is all I can say!)

....That's my main focus now, education.
(Where do I sign up for the Lee, Madoff and Starr Advanced Business Accounting Method?)

Cosmo: What makes you fun and what makes you fearless?
Divine Lee:.....But one thing with me is I always have this positivity. I don't take myself too seriously. I laugh at myself.
(The only laughing you're going to be doing is all the way to the bank. If not you'll need all the sense of humor you can get in jail)
As for fearless, I'm not afraid to try new things. I believe I'll never know if I don't try.
(Such as new accounting methods?)

COSMO: What do you think is your greatest achievement so far?
(I think we really don't want to get into that this week)

Don't worry, kids, The Lees are not the first to give glowing interviews while sweeping cash under the ABC (123) carpet. Think: Conrad Black, Bernie Madoff, Ken Starr....One HK private equity head supposedly siphoned off about (maybe over) USD 100 million,too! But that was over 10 years. He does the major charity, business and society circuits then moves his family to London, works as director of an old folks home in Cheshire and gives an interview to the Guardian where he says, (I paraphrase and hold on to your Zimmer frames...) "The most important thing about leadership is transparency..."

These people are smart. Like I always say, "Make sure you steal enough so you wouldn't need any friends."

At USD 100 million, who needs friends?

Up next, someone not so Divine but also with all the qualities of a thief.

BORROWED FROM THE BOYS..the poor boys, that is

2010-09-07T11:19:00.003+08:00

HONG KONG---Things are not what they seem in the Manila massive in the Philippines.
The last two weeks saw:
A) ---a bungled (how do I screw up, let me count the ways...) hostage rescue operation of Hong Kong tourists by poorly trained and equipped local policemen headed by an unqualifed chief of police whose armed forces chief (yes, that's you Mr. Philippine President Noy Noy Aquino) did not even pick-up a phone call from Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang. Rumour has it he was really busy being either a) asleep, b) playing X-box, c) in a real meeting, d) in a so-called closed door meeting (which can be anything, really) or e) any and/or all of the above;
B) ---a scandal involving a local government fund, ironically called Pag-Ibig (meaning 'love' in Filipino) where Delfin Lee, a local Chinese self-proclaimed tycoon (of course this term is relative compared to HK, NY, London, Riyadh..wherevah!) has siphoned 7 billion PhPesos (about 150 million USD). No love lost there, I can tell you that.

It wouldn't be SO BAD ---
a) if his family did not throw themselves at the media beginning with a 3-day birthday society coming-out-of-sorts event for his daughter. Then she proceeds to come out on national television showing off her expensive shoes and bags (multiple Birkins, anyone?) and discussing prices, etc. (To put this into persective: this show was broadcast in a country where the average annual salary is WAY less than 1000 USD A YEAR! An assistant to a magazine publisher would probably make 300 USD a month, a bank branch manager about 1000 USD a month)

b) and no one would have cared if she bought flats for her Brazilian boy toys or treated her friends out to an evening at the theatre where she would take out the whole place and MAYBE no one would even care if.....
the Pag-Ibig fund was just some government utility fund or some general investment fund but NHHHOOO----it is a fund specifically set up for financial services and loans to POOR PEOPLE!!!

c) if the company, Globe Asiatique did not use the unchic spelling Q-U-E for Asia-tique which they probably thought sounded classy but will merely be pronounced as Asia-'tick' as in 'flea and tick' spray.

I KNEW something was UP!! But I guess now they are DOWN because they've been UP to NO GOOD!

I AM (SO NOT) LOVE

2010-08-12T16:41:00.005+08:00

How can you give this up?

HONG KONG---- I saw I AM LOVE on the plane from Tokyo (Just as well since my husband wasn't planning on buying the DVD because it's a 'pouf's film') The people and the main house are SOO CHIIC....that is, until Tilda Swinton falls in love with the cook and goes to his shack in such a God-forsaken location that even the cook's father knows that opening a restaurant there is a bad business idea.
(The film itself was a bad idea not only because she became unchic when she started the affair but because there was a whole sepia-toned scene on a field straight from 70s porn that was so long that when I came back from the loo and stealing chocolate, it was STILL going on. I would be happier if they replaced that scene with something in a cafe or anywhere as long as Marissa Berenson and Tilda Swinton are in CHIC CLOTHING---even if they are pulling each other's hair out.)

Waddap with the grey sweats and bandana? As she falls deeper in love with the cook (her son's friend) she starts dressing worse and worse until you get to the final outfit----some kind of tracksuit not even a Chinese construction worker would be caught wearing on top of a bamboo scaffolding!

The opening frame shows Swinton in her beautiful, traditional Italian kitchen in a camel coloured V-neck sweater (might be Jil Sander or Loro Piana). You could tell she was wearing clothes of excellent quality. In walks her good looking son in an equally well-cut suit, greeting the staff, the major doma passes thru wearing a twin set, etc. The first scene already established that this movie is beyond chic, chic, chic--wealth (in their case, losing it), close knit family, beautiful surroundings....You know the look---think: Ralph Lauren but Italian, therefore 1000x chicer. Tod's campaign but older family.

The rest of the family arrives and her mother-in-law, played by Marissa Berenson ups the chic-o-meter even more when she removes a full length (maybe sable) fur which the maid takes away. She is wearing a silk shirt and well-cut trousers, which is the current trend this autumn.

The ground floor of the house has an entry hall that leads into a library, that leads into a sitting room that leads into a grand dining room. Her bathroom is carrerra marble. She has a gorgeous and chic family (they seem nice, too!), a beautiful garden, a good looking husband who may or may not be loyal (but hey, he's Italian), chic clothes, beautiful jewellery, loyal and efficient staff (you should see how the family dinner is served and conducted from the kitchen. Valentino would be proud).

And she leaves all that for a young COOK!!! A cook who lived in a SHACK and didn't have even have a hotdog stand. Jamie or chef Gordon would not even hire the guy for a reality show. Plus, the cook might not even be that good looking because I don't remember what he looks like now.
(If I were her, I would have just paid a rent boy for a week or so)

This is similar to the way Eat, Pray, Love left her husband for an adventure of heat, food, camping and hippie clothes---the things I hate most---(if she didn't cough up a bestseller out of that experience she will merely be a statistic of the unemployed in America today)

If this is love then I don't want any part of it. In fact, I want to run really far away from it!! FAST!

Maybe I haven't fallen in love deeply enough (or maybe I am not chic enough to become noticeably unchic overnight) but I wonder...

Why is this 'running away from your husband' theme so popular?

Am I the only happy person in this world? (Happy but not content, okay? I could use another flat, more Verdura baubles, more dogs, new china sets, new Italian sheets, etc.)

Maybe I'M THE ONE who is CRAZY!!???

On that note, I have two reasons why I LOVE HK, why I can't possibly bring myself to leave completely:
1) Dries Van Noten
2) Rick Owens
Each one with a boutique. Side by side. At the Landmark. Opening mid-August! About the same time I move into my dogs' new flat!

Japan-o-pile

2010-08-02T14:26:00.002+08:00

Today's quote: A city is not a city without sleaze. (a favourite line from my textile production teacher in --where else?--New York City)

TOKYO--Before I leave for the sleaze, heat and discord of Hong Kong this week, I would like to mention a few observations I have on the civility of Japanese government and society.

Only in Japan---

1)...are emergency services polite. Ambulance sirens produce a 'tune' (similar to that of France) instead of a jarring noise. Everyone in cars, being polite, gives way. No exceptions. But the Japanese win the grand prize for politeness using a louspeaker, ". (I guess the Japanese for move over)..kudasai....Arrigato gozaimas..." In other countries which shall remain nameless, that would be translated as, "Get da fuck ow dof da way!"
Of course, the ambulance was probably rushing over to save someone who couldn't take politeness anymore and decided to kill himself. That or he was too polite to bother the postman...

2)...speaking of Japan Post, where else do they offer you free candy when you enter the post office, ATM service and pick-up service for oversized parcels. (I think this is why they are broke)

3)....does City Hall have a toy repair service every month. So THAT'S where our tax money goes!!

4) ...did someone ask me, "Do your Toto toilets at home have a 'tune?" What tune did you pick?""
Let me explain this exciting loo concept to those inexperienced in the ways of Japanese elimination. Japan is a country populated by Larry Davids in complete denial of toilet habits; therefore not only do they not touch each other (they bow), they do not touch anything remotely connected to using the toilet --a) they pioneered the no-touch flush (no news there) and b) when they use the loo, they get so embarrassed that you can press a musical button and it plays a tune or produces a flushing sound. That's so the person in the next stall will not know if you're having a pee (which he can hear) or a poo (which will either be silent or a Nagasaki bomb).
There are also washlets and dryers but that's another story.

To answer that question, it is, unfortunately 'No" because you will be 100% alone in that toilet behind a soundproof door with sandalwood scented toilet paper within easy reach. Of course, if I had a choice of a tune, perhaps I would choose, "When the going gets tough...." Ugh!!

2010-07-28T09:08:00.002+08:00

TOKYO---And now for the entry you have been waiting for. The restaurant guide to Tokyo. Well, not exactly. More like Hiro-O and vicinity since I don't like to go very far. I am proud to say, though, that we have 2 Michelin star restaurants in our 'hood. But I'm not reviewing those.

My favourite, which I have lunch at twice a week before I go to the supermarket is GINZA DAISHIN (in fact, I'm going there later), a restaurant (if you can call it that) the size of my bathroom in Tokyo which seats SEVEN--as in seven people, not seven tables--along a sushi counter. They are open for lunch everyday during the week. For dinner and weekends, you have to call a day ahead. Tempura is cooked one at a time for freshness. Sometimes I feel bad when I'm sitting there reading the paper and the guy has to wait until I find out how the British NHS is going to survive.

There is no 'sizzling'sound when the tempura is frying because get this---'sizzling'tempura, except for scallops, means there is a lot of water in the produce which is not a good thing.
phone: +81(3)3443-0314, (03)3473-3280
address: 5-16-11 minami azabu next to post office, near 100 yen store, fruit market and spa/beauty shop

Two restaurants that debunk the vegetarian reputation of rabbit food are EAT MORE GREENS in Azabujuban and J Restaurant and Bar which has a French-trained Japanese chef who specializes in preparing vegetables.

Eat More Greens has a seasonally-based menu and believes, in true Japanese hippy manner, áll you need is love and vegetables.' (Did Yoko Ono say that?) I has a great Indian red curry with black (not red) rice and chocolate cake. But going to Eat More Greens does not limit you to healthy living. You can always sit on the terrace, drink and smoke like the two Japanese salarymen I saw who smoked an ashtray-ful of cigarettes in the hour that I was there.

J is in my 'hood and surprise, surprise...is down the street from the tempura place (above wine store Enoteca)! With a fish marinade with green tomato gazpacho at 2400 yen (close to 30USD) to Gastroback Duckling in Orange sauce at 4600 yen, this is not exactly where you would bring 'the kids'or eat at everyday (but they have lunch plates for 1500 yen which is cheaper than the tempura place at 2200 yen). But it's a great gastronomical experience especially for the vegetarian simply because of they way veggies are prepared and presented (Like the way they do meat and seafood at what-we-think-is-naff-but-what-our-parents-thought-was-classy ''old people' restaurants with wood and green chairs. You know the ones).

I love how the Japanese are the Frenchy-iest of Asians in that they 'know how to live." ENOTECA has a very charming terrace and patio where they have 'Happy Hour' during the week from 2-4Pm when you can sample their wines and champagnes. It's an excellent marketing scheme and for the customer, a chance to engage with the staff and try new wines. Unfortunately I have not tried it yet because grocery shopping and their speedy delivery always get in the way. The way they present, market (and of course price) wines is certainly worth a look--"on tap", in cold storage by year and by price, 'samplers'' on jumble sale, etc..

Meanwhile, at the Tokyo American Club, there is a "wine buffet'' every week where they offer wines by theme or terroir such as Öld World", New World, Western Australia, etc..You get to drink as much as you want (or can) for 2 hours for 3000 yen and and extra 1500 yen for every additional hour.

www.eatmoregreens.jp
J : phone +81 (3)5798-9070; www.msinter.co.jp/j/
Enoteca: +81(3)3280-3634

HOMEWORK'S (with an apostrophe S no less) is my go-to restaurant after yoga and after I get my hair done (at the place that uses cold water and mint shampoo) or if I am just lazy and want food delivered. It is known for its burgers and sandwiches. I order either the vegetarian or falafel burger. They also do great fries and yummy onion rings. Forget the coleslaw. They also have a branch in Azabujuban and they own The Pantry (I'm told same menu) in Marunouchi and Roppongi Hills (I hate going there but we usually take the airport bus from Grand Hyatt...prefer Midtown).

DO NOT go to Priya, the Indian place near Homework's. It was not only the worst Indian meal I've ever had, the most expensive if 'pro-rated' (980 yen including 4 beers) but the worst meal evah!! (but there were LOTS of Indians--maybe they don't have a choice in Tokyo) ANY Indian joint in London would have done better, hands down, at half the price. Plus the dryer in their Toto toilet didn't work and we didn't get any change (no tipping in Japan, remember?). A bad sign for me amidst Tokyo's perfection.

www.homeworks-1.com
www.thepantry.jp

Being 100% vegetarian is very difficult in Japan because a) they have such great produce and b) it's a pain to go thru watashi wa vegetarian-u and only order tamago (egg) and takwan (yellow radish) and cucumber. The only place that I did not feel bad about ordering quail was at LACHERIR, a tiny French restaurant that seats at most 20 people. It is secreted on a residential street in Shirogane. Menus are only in French and Japanese yet the couple who run the place don't speak French. Husband is the chef and wife the hostess. The French menu (since I don't read Japanese) seemed pretty correct except for the use of selon for seleccion (?? selection?) but what do I know since my French ain't great either.

There is hardly any info on this place in English. The only review I read was written by someone who found it while ''jogging' which is exactly how my husbanmd found it.

The amuse-bouche of mint and carrot "soup"" and ávant dessert of something like an affogato were very pleasant surprises but we are certainly going to be back for the food---quail and leeks for me. I forgot what my husband had but I remember he paid the bill which was---95000++ yen (okay, 10x more than the Indian place but look!!!)---ncluding fizzy water and Chateau Gloria 2002. Obviously not a 'family restaurant.''

www.lacherir.jp
phone +81(3)5789-4450

BLOWN FREE

2010-07-13T16:51:00.004+08:00

TOKYO---Although there are many cheap and cheerful things in Japan such as discount drug store Matsumoto-kiyoshi and 100 Yen shops, as a rule, Japan has moved away from its dark days of manufacturing when 'Made in Japan' meant cheap. Today, what they achieved as a nation would be called a successful re-invention or a spin-job.

Cheap is such a bad word in certain places like mobile phone provider, SoftBank who hired Cameron Diaz as a local image model.

This was what happened last week at SoftBank:
Me: (who is a techno-phobe and would rather spend on clothes) I would like a cheap phone, please. The CHEAPEST. No roaming, only call and text. No internet.
SoftBank salesgirl: Ah, hmm. Soh des, unfortunately we have no cheap phone.
Me: WHAT!!?? You can't make me buy an i=phone or any of those that can do tricks, walk the dog, call Saturn and internet. I don't know how to use those things. What is your CHEAPEST. Most yasui.
SS: We don't have cheap phone. Only free. Only call, text only to other Softbank.
Me: That's better. I'll take that.
SS: Do you need charger?
Me: (thinking: I know Japan is high-tech but....What do you think I'm going to charge this phone with? Brainwaves?) YES!
SS: Charger not free. It is 1500 yen.
(So I guess the phone ain't 100% free)

Meanwhile, hair salons don't come cheap (or free). My husband said that a gauge of how wealthy a neighborurhood is, is by the number of hair salons. And Hiro-O has tons! (So do many expensive neighbourhoods around the world if you will only notice)

I tried a hair salon on top of a supermarket, not exactly the most glamorous of locations. No one in there was under 65. No service in there was under 65 USD, either! A shampoo and blow dry was about 60, the cheapest service. Half leg wax was----get this Hotel Crillon of the 200 USD manicure--100 USD. But the shampoo was great!! They covered my eyes (all Japanese salons do) maybe so I don't see the prices and they gave me such a good head massage, I fell asleep.

I found another place that charges about 10 USD less, luckily next to the 100 yen shop so I can spend money on my hair and save on kitchen supplies. Aside from the usual shampoo and blow dry, the guy gives you a little trim just to keep your hair in shape.

The place I went to yesterday (conveniently located on the same street as my yoga studio and neighbourhood bath house) was yet another 10 USD less and they washed my hair in cold water with a minty shampoo then put a hot towel on my head. Before the blow dry using both dryer and curling iron, I had a head and back massage. (Plus in the land of service, they put my jewelery on a tray)

Now you know what I've been up to in Tokyo all week.
Tomorrow we will be back in the uncivilized world of Hong Kong for a few days. Thank God for a life of contrasts. Too much perfection can kill you.

The Good and the Bag (or no bag)

2010-07-08T10:43:00.002+08:00

Now I know why Tokyo is every fashion pouf's idea of heaven...Konichiwa, Tom Ford and Tyler Brulee.
Perfection in Japan is not an art form. It is a lifestyle. It starts with grocery delivery within one hour of purchase. (ONE HOUR! I better get home before the truck arrives. Or maybe..I can hitch a ride with my groceries) Fish and meat wrapping is already impressive but they top it with delivery packed so well ou don't even know all perishables are packed with dry ice when suddenly, your hand is glued to a plastic bag that is steaming.

In HK, which was always good enough for me, you choose a delivery time for later in the day or the next day if you shop late in the afternoon. Then the delivery boys bang on your door then dump everything inside your doorstep if you are lucky. In Tokyo, they ring the bell POLITELY then bring everything in. Of course, I don't have to tell them to remove their shoes because that happens everywhere including in some toilets.

Where else but Tokyo do you get a USD 300 bottle of wine as a 'gift'with purchase of a wine cave ? Or where a plumber takes photos of a leak that is NOT causing a flood. In any other city, esp. New York or London, no one will show up. Maybe the police when you start flooding your downstairs neighbor.

It is funny that a city so keen on recycling, still doesn't 'get it'' in some ways. I went to Tomod's for toothpaste (but as usual ended up with over 200 USD worth of useless but extremely kawai merchandise such as key/phone chain lipgloss from Bourjois) and said , 'No bag.'

They wrapped everything in a small bag and said, "For your security..." (From what? In a country where people at McDonald's return your i-phone?)

It was for my security that the stuff doesn't fall out into the rest of my handbag.

Their idea of "No bag' is 'no bag with handles."

In the Black

2010-07-01T15:54:00.004+08:00

Today's quote:
"....You think you cannot go on: you find that you have no alternative but to do so. You have to live. Caring about what you wear is one small but not entirely insignificant dimension of existence."
-from "The Thoughtful Dresser: The Art of Adornment, the Pleasure of Shopping, and Why Clothes Matter" by Linda Grant (this is a great book!)

Hong Kong --- One fashion belief that I have held since I stopped being a rebellious teenager is: All -black ensembles and black bags are not for the tropics. The colour is heavy on the eye and makes you feel warmer than you already are.

However, since I returned to HK from Europe in April, I wore nothing but black even in the scorching heat. Normally I would wear colourful Indian kaftans with light cotton trousers and vibrantly hued patent Roger Vivier shoes.

Not this year. It was Yohji black all the way. So determined was I to wear black that in Tokyo, I insanely bought three new Yohji black #9 jackets and a pair of trousers in March plus, as if I was dressing for a funeral, a black shirt. Everytime I laid out colourful clothes I would change my mind and pick one of the new or old Yohjis.

I thought it was my "homage' a Japon. Indeed it was but in a bad way.

I discussed this subconscious change in colour choice with my meditation teacher and she said that someone like me who usually wears colour then radically changes to wearing all black needs 'emotional support.'

She didn't say I was mourning or that I was depressed but she did say that in colour theory and therapy, black or white is worn at funerals for a reason. It is because the wearer is undergoing an emotionally difficult time.

Okay--I was depressed. AND in mourning. For leaving Hong Kong. That was then, when I was told we were leaving on 3 July and had no definite return date. Even in a suicidal state, I had to dress well.

That was then. Two weeks ago, my husband told me we were coming back on 14 July. My clothing choices gradually changed. I started wearing dark multi-coloured kurtas (healing has to start somewhere) with black trousers. I don't normally like to talk about what I buy but I bought the paint splattered denim Alexander McQueen jacket pictured above. I also went overboard and bought two identical sparkly grid-embroidered Dries van Noten silk tops (gold and emerald) and several sets of Agent Provocateur brightly coloured underwear.

But the rainbow of fashion joy will be short-lived. Everything I packed for Tokyo is Yohji and black. Except for the new McQueen jacket and a new Rick Owens t-shirt which is grey.

BTW--I got an email. Yohji is on sale.

Konichi-wa, ah so..Fatso!

2010-06-24T12:20:00.005+08:00

Tokyo Toweru: Tor-rer than the I-fer Toweru

HONG KONG--Next week, my husband and I will be moving to Japan. Yes kids, the land of Hello Kitty and Hara-kiri that has gone through 4 prime ministers in four years. If Zsa Zsa Gabor's and Liz Taylor's married lives were countries, they could not beat Japan.

One of my dear friends so thoughtfully sent a practical and lovely gift from Amazon of ---a bi-lingual Tokyo map (very use-foor), a 2010 Michellin Guide (4 restaurants are walking distance from our future beautiful flat) and a Moleskine Tokyo notebook (da best!!).

With her gift, she enclosed a card that said ".......for civilized living in Japan...."

(Un)Fortunately Japan is already the most civilized place I know. That is, not counting the South Pole where there are no people. Residents say people are so civilized that unlike NRA-card and gun-toting Americans who just take out the object of their ire with a single gunshot, the Japanese are SO POLITE that
a) you end up walking away and wanting to kill yourself (thus committing hara-kiri in its country of origin)
b) THEY end up walking away and REALLY killing themselves or
c) they simply poison an entire subway system

Nice! Having said that, it is STILL THE SAFEST place on earth.

Unlike Jakarta where people are even afraid to leave their expensive shoes outside homes or in Japanese restaurants, in Japan, I can leave my Manolos anywhere any time.

No one will steal my shoes. Or even my clothes.

That's because they are too big. (As Yukiko-san at the Yohji store always says to me "Ah, no large. Medium is largest size..." or two doors down at Commes des Garcons, "You tried that last week and it was too small. Today still small....."

Arigato gozaimas.

I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR

2010-05-12T13:29:00.002+08:00

Is it me or is it the state of retail?

A friend and I were lamenting last weekend that we are very disappointed with what is currently available in the shops. This is a woman who lives in Asia, Paris and London and she still can't find anything worth opening her wallet for.

(Although I have to say, generally, the retail business in Hong Kong is very good and in certain stores with niche clients, lots of merchandise have been pre-paid before delivery, you can barely get sizes or even get on a wait list)

I was in London two times early this year and found clothing selections uninspiring (but Liberty the store looks great!). THIS is LONDON?? Rupert Sanderson did not fail me and despite flats being his weakness, he has put out a GREAT flat this season called "Twin.' I wish this shoe would be a repeat style for the brand.

In Florence, Maria Luisa Via Roma had a Balmain sequined tee-shirt for 16,000 euros if that refects your style, the size of your wallet and the amount of common sense you have. They also carried a Fendi Peekaboo in suede for 3,000 plus euros. Although I am shopping for another Peekaboo (it's one of the best bags!) I was not about to plunk down that kinda money for suede which will look like soiled chamois cleaning cloth after one season.

The only brand I would consider buying something from this season is Dries van Noten but I'm waiting for the sale because in HK, Dries ALWAYS goes on sale. (While people in EU are fighting for his stuff, a 1000 sq ft store in HK goes on sale all the time) Alaia is another brand I love and I have some pieces but I can't build my wardrobe (and wallet) around it because I am too fat for many styles. Alaia is strictly for size 6 days which are clearly numbered at least for me.

(I am also waiting for the current Celine to go on sale because it looks like nothing is moving...at least in Asia)

I have not bought Lanvin for about 3 seasons because there simply is a) too much publicity--I don't want to have the same dresses as Rihanna, b) too many party dresses which I don't have the lifestyle for and c) too much silk satin and organza that I don't have the poise for.

What I have bought a lot of are Loro Piana and Yohji perhaps to reflect my current somber yet casual mood since I am going to have a lot of work professionally and personally until the end of the year.

(I bought a GREAT unlined black linen jacket that only Yohji could make. Last month, I walked into Comme des Garcons in Tokyo the second time this year and the salesgirl remembered me trying on the same jacket from before. She politely said --as the Japanese do--'That did not work out last time." Read: You are too fat for that tiny jacket which will look better on me.)

Which now brings me to what I have decided to wear when the going gets hot and it seems like I don't have a lot.

1) The reliable look of white shirt or tee-shirt, Barry Kieselstein-Cord belt, Belgian shoes and if I'm not bathed in sweat, ropes of South Sea pearls.

2) White shirt or tee-shirt with Alaia or Boule de Neige skirts with Roger Vivier flats.

(Since my knee injury in January, I can't wear heels longer than walking from the car to restaurant table.)

3) Colorful beaded Indian kurtas over trousers and Roger Vivier shoes. In emerging markets, substitute with Tory Burch because the rubber soles keeps you from slipping on wet floors, mud and gravel in public places and over polished wood floors in rich people' s homes.

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

2010-05-09T15:56:00.005+08:00

I have just finished reading "EATING ANIMALS" by Jonathan Safran Foer and I am very sorry that it has come in book form (and not as a movie or Youtube) because a) hardly anyone reads these days and there is too much damning info in here to Twitter and b) perhaps out of guilt or greed (over food), many carnivores who are the majority will not bring themselves to even open this book.

Nevertheless, I still highly recommend this latest work from one of my favorite authors.

It will make you cry.

It will make you think.

It will make you angry.

And most of all.....

It will make you ASHAMED to call yourself so-called 'human.'

What it WILL not make you is GUILTY.

Because many of us all of us ALREADY ARE!!

Whether you only eat fish or chicken like I used to until last week, you have given factory farming the 'proxy,' a vote for processing meat in inhumane and unsanitary conditions.

I have read other books on animal welfare and the cause for vegetarianism (Animal Liberation comes to mind, which I thought was quite good but too academic and militant)but Safran Foer's book is fair, giving ALL sides of the story from PETA members to vegetarian ranchers (yes!) to slaughterhouse workers.

He does not force the reader into vegeatrianism. In fact, he believes like I do, he would probably be a carnivore in another place and time.

(Remember in the 60s when 'steak night' was such a treat and having roast beef or ham meant a special occasion? When milk and butter were 'expensive?")

I am not about to discuss this book or related topics while sharing a meal because it will just ruin a social occasion.

But I will urge everyone I know to read it.

Be convinced if not for animal welfare and environmental reasons but on the surface, for sanitation and health reasons. Your children's health and your.

I hope it changes you life like it did mine.

Read excerpts, quotes and online discussions on http://www.eatinganimals.com/

When Chic bites the dust

2010-02-14T23:43:00.003+08:00

Megeve, France---

While the fashion world was twittering with the death of designer Alexander McQueen, I was attempting a black piste with moguls, which I did very well, thank you very much.

The problem with being in the mountains, aside from fresh air and allergies, is that I feel very disconnected from reality---WHAT!!?? Was fashion ever a reality???

I am of course, very sad that one one my favourite designers has hanged himself and that I have one less reason to stay fit.

DECKING THE NECK

2010-02-05T00:54:00.003+08:00

LANVIN

MARNI

Megeve, France---

While packing for my trip to Tokyo last week, I faced a dilemna that I face everytime I have to go to a big city in winter.

What kind of jewellery should I bring?

Winter is not exactly the best time to be showing off your rocks because you're all wrapped up and that covers the pieces. PLus you can't feel what's on you with all the thick clothing and scarves. I've lost many earrings that way. They just fell off my ears because I couldn't feel anything either from the cold or because of a thick scarf.

Tokyo is also not exactly a city where you show off your rocks because they don't care. Even the tea lady is richer than you.

New York, meanwhile, is not exactly a place where you show off your rocks because you'll be robbed. That goes for London, Paris and the rest of free world except for Hong Kong and Singapore unless it is close to Chinese New Year.

WHELL! I thought, certainly not delicate chain necklaces since I don't do small any time of the year. Since OTT ribbon and tchotschy necklaces are a big story, I decided to bring one of mine. Certainly not as expensive/overpriced as those pictured above.

I have bought a strand of South Sea pearls that cost the same as those ribbon necklaces. You do the math but that's another story.

I brought a very inexpensive ribbon necklace that I bought from Firma, a shop in Manila. It is made of sequins and beads sewn on a large piece of lace.

It was certainly appreciated in Tokyo.

I was surprised since I thought the Japanese would be on to the next big thing like a teapot hanging from your neck or something.....

MY TAKE ON YOHJI

2010-02-05T00:24:00.004+08:00

Megeve, France (where else does one go in winter??!)---Well, there's Niseko in Japan where all of Hong Kong and Singapore goes to ski.
Quote of the day:
Husband: 'Who is this Yohji that you are so bent on visiting today?'
Me: 'You'll know when you see the bill.'

I was in Tokyo last week as part of a personal fact (ay--flat!) finding mission and in between searches I stopped at Minamo-Aoyama, the only street I shop in because they have Commes des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake within miso-throwing distance of each other.

Plus, they always have my size but they will say, 'This is rash one...MEDIUM!' (but I'm sure they laugh behind my back because it's really a LARGE to THEM!)

Anyway, I went to Yohji and to Commes and now I know why Yohji is in administration. (For Americans: Chapter 11)

Because he has customers like me. People my age have already aged beyond the school run and the power suits that they probably have no use for Yohji in their lives. Even I had to turn down the beautiful cotton blouses with oversized cuffs and bows because my husband will say I look like a clown.

There is no need for 'drama' or to 'make a statement' at my age. I did that in the Eighties at the height of Yohji when I couldn't afford it.

I used to get 'Are you a Sicilian widow?' from him when I wore Yohji at his purest. This time I bought 2 lightweight jackets for the summer which I am sure will not get such comments. But we'll see.

I'm sure he'll think of something like, 'Do you know your jacket is uneven?'

Meanwhile, Commes was hopping with younger customers more intent on buying tee shirts (and there were so many I thought I walked into the Gap) than her jackets. Commes also wins in the price to production value war. Jackets are 10,000 yen cheaper in thicker (I'm not sure about better) fabric with a lot more labour put into them. I paid more at Yohji for plain black (what else?) unlined jackets.

I stayed away from the beautiful crinkled polyester double-layered jackets because I can hear, 'You're going out in THAT? We have maids to do ironing, you know.'

I was going to buy a gabardine casual tailcoat with a red lining but I decided against it because there was something wrong with the way the shoulder line (there was none and that was the point) sat on my shoulders and I could hear, 'Are you an orchestra conductor?'

I didn't go into Issey because I had to get back to the hotel to go swimming and cook myself in the steam room in time for dinner.

But I'll be back in March. There are two cotton-linen jackets I want to get at where else...Yohji.

BEFORE YOU ADOPT OR HAVE KIDS.....

2010-01-11T18:16:00.002+08:00

HONG KONG---
Just in time for this month's controversial bonus distribution in the banking industry:

Today's quote:
"I will support you in everything you do except in buying overpriced Chinese IPO-s"
-part of wedding vows made by a fund manager to her husband, a broker

- "The Omen with ringlets..." Metro (America)

This is a movie that came out in July 2009 but since I hardly ever go to the cinema, I usually have to wait for the DVD or watch movies on the plane. (But I am planning on seeing the Richard Gere dog movie, 'Hachiko.' Hopefully, the little furry mammal doesn't end up in his butt and doesn't come out a Shit-zu)

MY REVIEW of Orphan:

Am I glad I chose not to have children. After seeing this film, you'll never look at children the same way again.

In fact, you will be terrified to be alone with them in the same room!

At least with dogs (and I have a lot of violent and insane experiences with them) you know what you are up against.

With kids like this, you'll never know if you'll live another day...or who gets to the kitchen knife first!

AND this is not Chuckie and Redrum. It's WORSE!!!

IT'S IN THE BAG---well, maybe not

2009-12-19T01:30:00.002+08:00

MEGEVE, France----

Italian designer Alberta Ferretti told Elle UK (Jan 2010) : 'A bag only needs to be big enough to carry your lipstick.' (I assume she means an evening bag but then there is speculation that the Queen has nothing in her purse!)

A woman who carries evening bags that hold nothing can mean any of the following:
1) I am so organized and/or wealthy and/or have such a huge and/or efficient staff that I don't need to bring anything. This is a result of the premise that the more powerful or wealthy the woman, the smaller her purse. Have you ever seen First Ladies carrying the Fendi Spy bag? Like my husband likes to say, 'If you are REALLY important or the issue is THAT important, people will know where and how to reach you.'

2) I can compartamentilize my life so well that I don't need to bring the blackberry. Either that or I have a PA trailing me who HAS my blackberry. See point (1) There is also a servant /driver with a garage clicker who opens my front door/Pentagon-level security gates. See point (1).

3) It's a European thing. Not bringing anything is a chance for flirtation. The chance to bum a cigarette off that cute guy (who turns out to be gay), the chance to ask for a pen and paper (you will only get it from a waiter) and the freedom of not bringing keys either because you are bent on going home with someone (such as your husband who HAS the keys and the bank account--this usually does not end in fliration but argument or worse, divorce).

This reminds me of my masseuse here who refuses to get snow tires or a 4x4 and often gets stuck in the snow. One time I asked her why she didn't just get even a cheap Fiat Panda 4x4 and she replied, 'I can always ask a man to help me.'

Take note feminists, not triple A but a MAN! (My husband always helps her so after his relaxing massage, he gets to flex his muscles. Then he gets angry that she doesn't have a 4x4)

Who woulda thunk?

But then I wonder, just to stay warm waiting for 'a man' to help her (like if my husband wasn't around) would lead her to AA.

This damsel in distress attitude may really work because once she was stuck with moi and no homme and get this---suddenly, a tractor show up driven by 'a man' who pulls her up my driveway!!
(The Secret in action!)

Meanwhile when I have to catch a flight, can't put the chains on and get stuck in a ditch , am snowed in without a shovel and....well, you know what happens.

Nothing!

BETWEEN CHIC AND DEATH

2009-12-18T01:00:00.002+08:00

Megeve, France---It is MINUS -9 degrees. Do you know where your fur is?

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE and I apologize for not having visuals for this entry (not that they were ever any good...) because (are we surprised?) I don't know how to work my computer at home. But I can work the toaster and the lights.

Today's quote:
KG: Exactly how good looking is he?
Friend: He is so good loking I can't play tennis with him because people might talk.
(Wow! Must he has to be cuter than Bradley Cooper!)

I thought of Chic and Death as a year ender because:
a) the demographic of Megeve is on the Alzheimer map which means that the population falls between chic and death. Geneva's is between 90 and death. No wonder assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland.
b) I just bought my husband a Hero Go Pro camera which you can stick onto any surface (including a ski helmet, which he plans to do) and record footage.
c) Then I thought: Last year, at about this time, Natasha Richardson (or whoever is the wife of Liam Neeson and the Natasha who is NOT on Californication--Im too lazy to google) died in a ski accident and she supposedlty wasn't wearing a helmet. I had a similar accident last year but obviously, and unfortunately for my enemies, I did not die.
(Plus upon advice of my husband, I did everything I WAS NOT supposed to do such as get up right away and not go to the hospital. Why ruin a ski holiday if you can get up, ski and entertain a chalet-full of guests? Maybe because you could die? )

Many people have told me to wear a helmet. Okay--maybe in America where ski clothes are unchic and they have unchic laws like having to wear helmets and speed police in Aspen---I would wear one.

But God forbid in France!! Mon Dieu!
People here ski in jeans or corduroy with cashmere sweaters 'casually' slung on their shoulders. Very Euro.

I am thinking of whether I should be seen skiing with my husband, l'etranger et le anglais who WILL be wearing a helmet, onto which he will attach his new toy! But he knows how to read the map and I don't, you see, so I need him.

The last thing I want is to be found as a cryogenic experiment on the piste the following morning like Michael Jackson and Bubbles. Except as we know, Michael Jackson had tons of other experiments done on himself.

This choosing between chic and death also reminds me of something one of my editors, a cancer survivor told me. She said one of the best things about cancer was that she lost so much weight that she was able to buy a whole new wardrobe out of necessity and was finally able to fit into sample sizes.

What can I say? The fashionable life is all about being able to shop the press sales!!

Speaking of the fashionable life, I highly recommend 'The Towering World of Jimmy Choo: A Glamorous story of power, profits and the pursuit of the perfect shoe.' I'm not a Jimmy Choo fan. In fact, I hate their shoes but I admire their business model and Tamara Mellon (even if you know she injects excess patent coating into her skin).

I can't bring myself to fork over 1000 USD for a pair of shoes only to see every secretary and her boss in HK wearing it. That also goes for Louboutin. But if there were only a few such as Verdura's pine cone where there is a limited edition of ONE....Then I'll have to sell my house.

The title says it all but for those of you who always want to see both sides of the story, this is it. Objectively written, well-researched yet reads like Dynasty. Am I dating myself? I don't watch Gossip Girl because I also can't work the DVD.

Oh well, there is always the calculator which I soon will have to use to find out how much I really spent this month!!

JOHNNY WALKER IN DA CHATEAU!

2009-11-06T11:17:00.003+08:00

From an overdose of five shots of Johnny Walker Black as part of a cure for my cold the other night, I elevated my taste level last night to about six TASTING glasses (okay maybe 8-10 including champagne) of Chateau Margaux in various vintages from 2006-1985.

Margaux held their first wine dinner in Hong Kong at the Mandarin Oriental Grill. I estimated there were about a hundred people in the room. I expected the wines to be between good and great, which they were because the hotel ran through the vintages as the dinner's unique selling point. However, I had no expectations about the food. Food is hardly ever good at wine tastings.

But our menu last night did not disappoint. In fact, it seemed like the chef made a great effort to have the food truly complement the wines and not just have the wines stand out which everyone was expecting based on the vintages.

I never knew Margaux was in business since the 16th century and they owe their top quality to---wait for it---the British (followed by "of course" and uttered by a Frenchman) and to a lesser extent the Germans.

Who knew? I always thought with the Limeys and the Krauts, all you had to do was plunk down in front of them any plonk that could kill germs and they'd drink it.

On last night's menu:

RAW: salmon, hamachi,tuna, sake and cucumber with an ultra yummy jelly sauce and gourmet salt washed down with Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux 2006...I never knew they did whites. They had been doing it for 3 centuries and today they produce only 33,000 bottles a year, about 10% of their total production.

SOUP: Onion consomme with a floral tea bag while other unenlightened meat eaters had langoustine soup accompanied by Pavillon Rouge du Chateau Margaux 2004 (what I think is their 'diffusion' or 'secondary' line, the Kors to Michael Kors but still at over 100 USD a bottle from the dealers)

Now for the main event--the sellers chose the series of wines that follow to show all the facets of Margaux vintages where every one should be a treat (or trick if you paid too much for a fake or if like the Philippine president, ysed 'government funds' but that was for gallons of Petrus which many Margaux aficionados say is 'overrated').

RISOTTO: mushroom, truffle, asiago (cheese) and egg yolk was divine with CM 2001 which is considered young but drinkable because is not yet 10 yrs old. As the French guy said, "Why refuse it now? But you could also save it for more depth in 10 years."

CHICKEN: breasts very nicely presented in a green nest accompanied by CM 1999. NOW you're talkin' ---what a difference two years makes!

SEABASS for me and STEAK for the unevolved. This time, I will have to admit that the CM 1995 didn't come out as well with the fish than it did with the steak. My husband said it was stellar. 1996 would also be a great choice. They served the food with edible clay and I got a kick out of that.

CHEESE: Comte, Beaufort, Mimolette with super yummy DRIED GRAPES (NOT raisins!!) and quince was served with the star of the evening, CM 1985. At 24 years, it was a great privilege but by this time you are so stuffed that you want to go home.

BUT NOT BEFORE the white cotton candy TREE the size of a huge bonsai plant with chocolate truffles!!!

I had to stay home all week nursing a cold just to get well for this dinner. It would have been a disgrace to miss it. One of the diners told us that she flew back from Korea just to make this dinner.

FULLY BOOKED

2009-11-03T15:13:00.004+08:00

Many people find it strange that I have absolutely no interest in today's news stories on celebrities, movie stars and reality TV personalities. Plus some politicians. I am not alone in this attitude because if you get to know history (and I don't mean watching "The Tudors' and "Rome") you will find out that it is much more exciting than the present.

It's still real life but nothing any news on Victoria Beckham and her latest dresses come close to. (Now HER---Victoria Beckham---have have to admit, I read about!)

And these speak volumes on why I was quiet over the summer.........

Isabella de Medici--Catherine de Medici's distant niece--on the surface led a glorious and independent existence (for her time) in Rennaissance Florence. Until her brother wanted her dead with the help of husband. Can the Menendez brothers beat that? They only killed their parents.

A family of relentless social vaulters since they were the new rich of their day, Isabella's dad wanted to marry Mary Tudor and her brother (the one who killed her) wanted to marry Elizabeth I.

This book shows you a very delightful (to the point of childishness) and human Queen Victoria and the responsibility she had to bear before she turned 20. While many of us are doing drugs and deciding where to work, she was ruling an Empire, arguing with Prime Mininsters, looking for a husband, taking care of about half a dozen kids and marrying them off. Some of us who work part time at Burger King can't even find a decent man!
(On top of that, like Catherine de Medici and Empress Marie Therese before her, she managed very good political and financial matches for her children and grandchildren. Take that, Mrs Bennett and other social astronauts!)

Ah The Bolter!!! (As in she bolts from responsibility) Idina Sackville-West. Supposedly the shame of her family only for a great granddaughter (I think) Frances Osborne (Mrs George Osborne and for decorators out there, she married into the Osborne of Osborne and Little family) to be totally enamoured with her life like you will. Think the glamour and humor of Jeeves and Wooster but REALLY up to NO GOOD!

After three recommendations not including every bookseller and Oprah.....

Now THIS ONE was also a bolter but I didn't like her idea of leaving a husband and perfect home. I hate that. Couldn't get past page 6 (??) when she prayed to God for assistance (what for if you got something good??) Like Revolutionary Road, I call this, White Wimmin Problems.

How could you be unhappy if ya got everything??

I might not be spiritually evolved because I don't understand and see the romance in leaving everything to study cooking, yoga and languages. That's what Jamie's shows, your yoga teacher and Berlitz are for.

She got a best seller out of it, though!

For anyone who is getting swept off her feet, read this NOW!! Reads like an MTV series from the 60s.

At least today we have Google and Kroll security. It was harder to expose a fraud then.

Now these TWO--one hardly ever travels out of the UK (but they have lots of homes) and the other is in a different country almost every week. Great rapport between two people who are not married (that's probably why they had great rapport) and didn't have an affair (really??). Deborah Duchess of Devonshire is aka the grandmother of super model Stella Tennant (who originally wanted to be a coroner).

Got your attention now, did I? But this would too!! Great prose, fab one-liners that show you a quick mind goes everywhere.

(She agrees with me that Jackie Kennedy is an odd one. Read "Nemesis" for all out Jackie mudslinging)

NOW THIS! For all those impressed with Harvard and what it stands for. Unfortunately in my house, that was no one. Not even the dogs. But it's a great read, (McDonell is a great writer and storyteller but like Imelda Marcos, after you read the book you're like, "What?") will make a good film with Bradley Cooper and I want to read Twelve, his earlier work on Upper East Side life. If it's anything like this in tone, it would probably be a VERY dark version of Gossip Girl.

IN MY BATHROOM:

Even in the loo, I strive for enlightenment.
Not for the politically correct or bleeding heart liberal. But great to read amidst scented bubbles.

Be grateful you don't live in the English countryside.
When you are having a bad day, read this and weep....Turns misery into laugh out loud comedy.

ALAIA IS NOT WHAT IT SEAMS......

2009-10-28T19:30:00.002+08:00

Fashion, like life, has a way of getting back at you.
I have wanted an Alaia dress for a very long time(specifically the one worn by Mrs Sarkozy to one of the EU summits last year). But fate has been cruel.
a) I was too fat
b) They didn't have my size
c) Nothing I tried looked good. See point a).

BUT THEN!!! Two weeks ago at Maria Luisa in Lee Gardens Hong Kong, I saw an Alaia calling my name. Of course I didn't buy it right away. Like with buying anything or encountering anything that just screams "This is it" there is a tendency for one to say, 'Naaah!!"

I went back the next day and it fit perfectly. Or so I thought.
When I came out of the dressing room thinking I had on perfection but with a few bits and blubbs surfacing because of the wrong underwear....(yes, and just MAYBE FAT!)
Carmen, my regular salesgirl breezily said, "I assume you'll be wearing a corset under that."
That bad, huh?
The last time this happened was at Lanvin in Taiwan where they salesgirl told me I needed to wear a girdle!! (When I complained to the owner, Wang Shaw Lan, she raised an eyebrow and said, "Maybe you should!")

I had to listen to Carmen because she had the foresight to put me into Haider Ackerman (on sale) three years ago when you couldn't give his stuff away because no one knew him! This is the same Carmen who told me to choose a dramatic Rue du Mail top over a Givenchy one because it was cooler.

Anyway, I'm not wearing a corset or girdle with it. Just seamless underwear.

FASHION IS NOT FOR EVERYONE

2009-10-22T17:07:00.008+08:00

Today's quote: "That is a very '80s question." -A friend's comment when I asked the Estee Lauder make-up artist if blush should go in a slanted line on the cheekbones instead of blended outward from the apples of the cheeks.
**********************

Probably because I work in the fashion industry, I didn't find RJ Cutler's The September Issue, particulary spectacular or informative.
(Why wasn't Anna Wintour's maid in a uniform?)

But because I watched it on DVD with my husband who has absolutely no clue about the business, that experience was in itself worth a blog entry. He with the big fashion career opinion that "if fashion is so hard, why do Patsy and Edina have such an easy life?" Perhaps he can also explain to me why Ari Gold has such a huge office and only one client in Vince Chase or why Lloyd worked for him for so long.

On the first scene where the camera pans the cosmetics and clothing press racks:
"WOW---I didn't think I would see anything WORSE than YOUR CLOSET!!!"

On the scenes at the beginning where they are discussing a 'color-block' story:
"Since when does Vogue actually do stories? I never saw any stories to read in there!!"
Me: "A 'story' is when they decide on a theme like color-block or work a fashion shoot around something like a jacket or a historical period."
Husband: Then what happens?
Me: You choose clothes, book the models and photographers then take the pictures.
Husband: So a story is just photos?? No wonder people don't read anymore.

On the idea of going to Paris for the couture
"I don't understand this timeline. Why are they in Paris all of a sudden?"
Me: They're going to the couture.
Husband: They have to go all the way there?? What kind of expenses do they run up?
(You really don't want this guy in charge of budgets)
Me: The couture is only in Paris.
Husband: No kidding. Every shop in the IFC mall says it's couture.
THEN he SEES the COUTURE
"THAT'S COUTURE?? They went to Paris to see those circus costumes? Who wears those?"
Me: The Chinese probably to the opening of a new property and the Arabs under burquas. They start at 50,000 euros.
Husband: I guess if you already have a Maybach and a Rolls.....

On Andre Leon Talley:
"How can you play tennis with all those designer logos? The towel takes up his whole body! Wait...his strokes are quite good!"
(Designer logos: The reason I can't wear Chanel on the slopes. But I can wear Moncler!)

On Grace Coddington:
"How can you be a fashion editor looking like THAT? Do you have to look like a witch to be a fashion editor??"
Me: No-- but you have to have the personality of a witch.

"Why is she dressed in a sack and sandals? Is that fashion?"
Me: Sometimes if you are surrounded by beautiful and colourful things, you get image overload and the best thing to wear is black.

"Why is her hair like that?"
me: "Her husband is a French hairdresser."
husband: "As in professional wrestler?"
me: "NO!!! HAIRDRESSER!!??"
husband: "Professional??"
me: Not only professional but also famous.
husband: Well it seems he's too busy to do his wife's hair. She might be wearing a wig for this show like when Meryl Streep dyed her hair white for that other movie.

On the last scene where magazines are lined up in the newsstand. Vogue is placed next to Harper's Bazaar:
"The Bazaar cover is so ugly. But if you do 'Fabulous at any age' you'll HAVE to use an old woman...."
(Stephen Gan, your days are numbered...)

Our next fashion feature conversation: Valentino: The Emperor of Fashion.
(I was already asked: Who is darker, Donatella or Valentino? I said that Donatella is NOT DARKER. She's more orange.)
I can't guarantee the same comments but I leave you with what he said when Josie Natori (who he does not know) walked past us: "Was that the night of the living dead that just walked past us?"

FAB...

I THANK GOD and other major sponsors for his day job.....

2009-09-25T18:38:00.001+08:00

I was in Manhattan early this week when the UN opened with speeches by Barak Obama (probably 30 mins) and Muamar Quadaffi who ranted and threw stuff (just like one of my former bosses!) for 95 mins. He LITERALLY camped out on a Trump property in Westchester--he has a very big and nice looking tent with 'walls'painted with Arabic art.

When my sister told me Obama would be in New York on Monday, my only thought was ÖMG!!! I hope MIchelle doesn't go to Bergdorf's on MOnday or Tuesday!! Those are MY shopping days!"!!"

(Of course, I would have LOVED to see Carla Bruni as I think she is so much chic-er than Obama who has a more contrived look. The French can never be beat in this area. But I am of course, part of the minority)

Last year, I left NYC not exactly loving it(for the first time I did not entertain the idea of buying a flat there) and in fact, I thought of not visiting this year but because my husband was in Boston and wanted to meet in London on Wednesday, New York started looking like a good choice of a stop. Indeed, for two days, I renewed my love for the city that doesn't sleep (because now business is bad but California is broke).

Walking home from a yummy FRench dinner at Jubilee, my friend and I saw Neil Simon taking a walk with his wife. The only reason we knew he was Neil Simon was because he and my friend are neighbors. THis is something that will not occur in any other city in the world. (So what if we see Jackie Chan or Jiang Zhi Yi at Landmark??)

I continued my walk along brightly lit streets (thank you Mayor Bloomberg) and buildings lit up to Vegas capacity then came home to a hotel room that overlooked yet more lights. This is when I fell in love with New York yet again.

But when I got to London, I enjoyed the old buildings lit strategically by spotlights. Even Buckingham Palace seemed dark compared to Park Avenue. On the surface, London's beauty comes out during the day but there is a serenity to it at night. But Paris and Rome are equally stunning day and night.

IN AND OUT OF FASHION

2009-09-12T15:38:00.004+08:00

At the behest of Vogue USA editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, retailers from 13 countries participated in Fashion's Night Out last Thursday. Since I don't go out at night and I do my shopping during the day and sometimes online, I don't really know how things went.

BUT I can still give an opinion on what I THINK happened.

The problem with this well-intended shopping stimulus plan is that it comes at a time when people STILL either a) do not have money or b) even if they do, refuse to fork out for anything that is not an investment (and I am not talking about the fashion investment 'that you can wear forever").

Personally, I hate shopping events because everyone sees what you are buying and you have to get out of the dressing room quickly because there usually is a line. (Well, maybe not these days)

Central in HK did a property wide shopping event before the summer and I don't really know how much the shops made during those few hours but I was told there was more champagne quaffing by office people and the 'wrong people' walking away with freebies.

PEOPLE just TOLD me, okay???

Last Thursday, my hairdresser said his business is down 30% and this is in Hong Kong where unemployment is considerably lower than the rest of the world and where the stock and property markets have bounced back. He said, "The markets are good but I know people still want to save their money and spend it on something with long term value and that's not exactly a haircut." (Even HE KNOWS!)

The following, from the Financial Times of 9 Septemmber 2009, sticks the stilleto heel into a crack on the pavement:

"...Bruno Frisoni, the creative director of shoe brand Roger Vivier, who will be at the Milan event, said: “This will bring people into our store that maybe wouldn’t have come in. But certainly in Paris it will not mean immediate cash. They come, have a drink, meet people, see the collection and maybe, if we’re lucky, they come back during the week. Maybe.”

Another international luxury brand executive, who asked to remain anonymous, noted that the company did not expect to recoup its costs in terms of overtime, electricity, security and food.

“It is a big expense for us” to keep flagships in multiple cities open for an extra five hours, he noted, pointing out that they agreed to participate only because Ms Wintour asked."

Business is certainly bad but I have yet to meet someone in the fashion business who would talk on the record about how bad it is.

Word on the street (like Pedder Street, perhaps?) is that On Pedder, a shoe and accessories regional boutique chain owned by Lane Crawford is ahem...."consolidating, relocating, merging, absorbing staff and inventory..." with the mother company.

I can think one other simple word that begins with a C.

GAAK! Choke! Surprise! But then, when you think about it (and you don't have to think longer than the length of a fashion show), the signs were there even to Wal-Mart shoppers.
1) high prices - cheaper online or in Europe or the US - I walked in there last week and there were hardly any heels there under 6000 HKD (750 USD) and hardly anything I wanted to buy
2) ugly stuff - well, you can't blame retailers if the design houses are producing atrocious stuff made available worldwide
3) recession and/or a now financially conservative customer
4) the Lane Crawford Beijing store which should really be in a mausoleum (oh..uh..museum) than in a mall

THE DIET ENDED YESTERDAY

2009-09-11T12:03:00.004+08:00

Quote of the day: (on middle aged dating)
"At our age, you'll be hard-pressed to find a guy with no kids, no ex-wives, no emotional baggage and no debt. What you will be able to find is a guy with no hair. Or worse, no job."

Wednesday, 9 September 2009
exercise: NONE!
desperate measure: lymphatic drainage massage
breakfast: kefir, tea with milk no sugar and one banana
lunch@China Tee Club: chrysanthemum tea, 1/2 palm size chicken parmigiana (the rest I took home to the dogs), steamed veggies, 2 scoops ice cream (shared), coffee with milk, no sugar
dinner: pumpkin and orange spice soup, green beans (again!), the last of Nora's brownies, mint tea

Thursday, 10 September 2009
exercise: 1.5 hrs ashtanga yoga
desperate measure: haircut and highlights
breakfast: kefir, Awake tea from the Landmark mandarin, blueberries, dried friut
lunch@Shanghai Fraternity Club (by far the deadliest Chinese restaurant in town): fried eel strips, tofu and mushrooms in brown sauce, chicken and bamboo shoots in brown sauce 9which could possibly be the only brown sauce they use in that joint), 2 bowls of rice shared by three people--two of whom were thin and showed up in fitted dresses. I was NOT one of THEM!
dinner@Shiro in Pacific Place: sashimi salad, 2 slices mackerel sushi, miso soup, 2 glasses VERY GOOD rose (this was a VERY BAD idea)
movie: Bruno@Pacific Place sponsored by 'the world's local bank"--1/2 bag popcorn, two sips ice tea, the maltesers are still in my bag.....

My diet officially ends today not because I can't stand it and I haven't been getting any exercise (It will be worse in the next three weeks) but because---taddaah!! Seeing is believin'-----I can see TWO muscular lines on my abs. I also fit into my grey metallic Barbara Bui trousers and a Fendi chiffon top from, take note, a PRESS sale! (that means--- sample size come to Mama!)
NOW I'm happy!!

IT TAKES BALLS TO AVOID LIVING IN A BOWL

2009-09-09T16:45:00.004+08:00

Before we get into a discussion of the latest news in fashion---believe me, there is not much because no one is shopping (more on that in the next entry) and everyone is in denial that no one is spending money....(But meanwhile, in HK we are buying stocks and property!)

Let me quickly bring to your attention a quote by Noy Noy Aquino from today's Philippine Daily Inquirer. Noy Noy is the son of the late Benigno (Ninoy) and the 'recently late' former Philippine president Corazon (Cory)Aquino. In the tradition of Third World (ahem--yet to be emerging economies) political dynasties, the "kid stays in the picture..."

From the paper:

While he was comfortable talking about politics, (Noy Noy) Aquino wants to keep his love life private. He said he already asked his youngest sister and popular TV host Kris not discuss his love life in public .

“I talked to my sister and I did ask her that’s the part of my life that I want to be private as it can’t develop in the public like in a fishball . I think she understood it…She texted me and apologized,” said the senator.

(The lady in the foreground who is desperately trying to remove the fake lashes that dropped into her eye is his sister, the chat show host, Kris)

(I'm he meant fish BOWL....)

I have four names for you: (two are American)

George Bush, Caroline Kennedy, PLUS Taro Aso, Segolene Royal, Joseph Estrada...Why must the Philippines always copy Americans even if they are wrong? (Look where their economic model got them)

REGRETS--I've had a few (in the food dept)

2009-09-08T13:43:00.004+08:00

SATURDAY, 5 September 2009

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: (on the cement industry--hopefully my stomach will be THAT firm)
"Are you guys decorating? No one is buying cement. There is so much cement in China except where they really need it..."
"Uh..no..Unfortunately we are just painting our walls...."

exercise: 1.5 hours hatha yoga
other desperate measures: steam, sauna, dry body brushing, polar temperature water spray on stomach, butt and legs for cellulite

breakfast: kefir, handful of blueberries (for anti-aging and faster fat burning), small slice cranberry raisin bread shared with Tallulah who ate all the raisins, tea with milk no sugar
VERY LATE lunch: 1/2 portion of Indian takeout from 360-basmati rice, chicken curry, soup
dinner: Nora's lentil soup, chef Riccardo's grilled chicken with pesto, green apples, grapes and SMALL piece of soft cheese shared with Sammy and Tallulah (they ate the rind)

SUNDAY, 6 September 2009

exercise: NONE!!
new desperate measure: cellutox seaweed detox wrap@American Club- This has to be the best 700 HKD that I ever spent--you get dry brushed (I'm so experienced!), rubbed with firming body lotion (like it really works!), covered in a seaweed puree then wrapped in heated pads then after showering the gunk off, you get heat-wrapped again just to make sure you completely melt away. Meanwhile, as you cook, you get a facial and head massage.

breakfast: kefir and blueberries, tea with milk, no sugar. I am getting so desperate that I'm eating like a camper lost in the woods.
lunch@American Club: (sinful) turkey burger with swiss cheese, coleslaw and 2 dill pickle slices (about 1/2 of a whole pickle), no fries because they were horrible, 1 glass virgin mary (appetite suppressant but look what it got me!), 1 mug Carlsberg
dinner: leftover lentil soup from Saturday (that's what I get for having a burger), dessert- Nora's chocolate graham brownie (small square)---I know I'm gonna pay with a plus-size waist measurement!

MONDAY, 7 September, 2009

waist measurement (at navel)- surprise!!! 32.5 inches. Allah akbar, Buddha be praised! The miracle of the seaweed detox and the Thai healer has happened!!

exercise: 20 mins on the maximum incline on the treadmill (I hate the treadmill!!)

breakfast: kefir, large papaya shake from MIX
lunch with the KiTty@ HK-FCC: vegetarian hot and sour soup, hainan chicken rice no skin, ONE scoop Ben and Jerry's Karamel Sutra (sex and the starving....)
dinner: broccoli soup, grilled courgettes with lemon (v. exciting!), sauteed green beens and carrots, Chinese pear for dessert (This diet is the closest you get to death and disappointment within the same body at the same time)
The dogs and my husband had chicken stuffed with Thai basil while I watched with hunger in my eyes.

TUESDAY, 8 September 2009

exercise: 10 mins on the treadmill because I didn't know how to work it. By the time I plugged in the headphones, looked for a channel that wasn't sports, tried and failed to set the treadmill right, it was 15 minutes. I was sweating just from trying to operate the treadmill!!
1 hour Pilates Group Reformer

breakfast: kefir, ONE butter croissant, very little butter and honey, tea with milk no sugar, orange juice
lunch: cucumber salad, bean sprouts with carrots shared with dogs, fried tofu, 1 spoonful red (unpolished) rice, Chinese pear for dessert

Who knows what we will have for dinner or if I'll still be alive!!
Next week I will be in Los Angeles and New York where their dining motto is: Look, don't touch.

HOW MUCH IS THAT LOSER IN THE WINDOW?

2009-09-04T19:34:00.005+08:00

THURSDAY, 03 September 2009

Quote of the day: (on changing a career)

"I don't think I'll leave banking because I'm not really a creative person but I would like a job with more regular hours and less stress. Like being a tea lady at Goldman."

(With their janitors getting a USD 300,000 bonus, how can you not?)

*******************************************************************************

Outfit: I barely squeezed into a pair of Malo cotton city shorts (read: granny) so I had to hide the baguette sized roll with a blouson Little Joe silk chiffon top.

exercise: 1.5 hours of ashtanga yoga on the easy side due to hangover

other desperate measures: steam, sauna, and to get thin: dry body brushing, swan neck faucet on my tummy, paralyzing cold gush shower (as in Michael Jackson and Bubbles cryogenic freezing) on stomach, thighs and butt to prevent cellulite....and your ability to walk.

Breakfast: kefir

Lunch with the KiTty@Duo in Sheung Wan:

gazpacho, one trip to the salad bar, a single twirl of a friend's pesto pasta, coffee with milk

Before dinner drink: tomato juice with black radish concentrate --an appetite supperesant and liver cleanser

Dinner@Zuma in Central: (NO BOOZE, only Japanese tea all night): corn miso, oshinko mixed pickles, assorted tuna sushi, Zuma salad

FRIDAY, 04 September 2009

waistline: 33.5 inches (this diet and exercise program is obviously NOT working but I feel flatter. Not thinner but FLATter)

Quote of the day: (on the thin line between being in love and being a sucker)

There is a Chinese saying (no kidding, look it up!) "There ain't nuttin' wrong with bein' a suckah as long as you willingly allow yourself to be suckered."

**********************************************************************************

Outfit: (I'm ashamed to admit): khaki shorts and Ganesh yoga tee-shirt

Exercise: 1.5 hours of rigorous led-Ashtanga Primary series class (I almost died but I had an out of body experience when I saw my waist measurement--I wanted to get out of my body),

1 hour Pilates mat class

Desperate measures: Aside from repeating the entire spa procedure I did yesterday, I went to see a Thai healer who used Tibetan sound therapy and breathing techniques to balance my energy and gave me a REALLY painful massage to release toxins, gas and hopefully 33 inches of fat.

Breakfast: kefir

Snack: half a handful of Monica's dried fruit mix (she chopped them up and mixed them) because that's all I had in my handbag to chew on aside from leather.

Lunch@ the extremely late hour of 3PM: tuna and tomato foccaccia from Robuchon

Dinner: noodles with stir fried veggies and sweet potato leaf salad, bowl of cherries for dessert

I did not go to the Chanel party at Upper House tonight because I am ashamed to admit, I would rather stay home reading about Brooke Astor, Ruth Madoff, Larry King and the couture in the Vanity Fair with Farah Fawcett on the cover. Oh yes, and Grazia with Victoria Beckham and her weight loss problems on the cover. You either lose or you don't.....

Which reminds me of another Chinese saying, "In every feud there is a scholar."

Victoria Beckham gets a double doctorate from Oxbridge for weight loss.

Even my waist measurement is aging

2009-09-03T16:10:00.003+08:00

Today's quote: (on gossip on a scandal)
"You DON'T KNOW?? That came out three months ago!!"
"In the PAPERS!!???"
"No, from my mouth."
***********************************************************************************

waistline (at navel) - 33 inches (Gaak!!! At least it is not 666 or 88)
flab - unchanged at 2"

exercise: 1. 5 hours ashtanga yoga including 15 mins rest and gossiping while on headstand
Yogic-ally, this is not allowed but if you're not bitching and it's only you, a chatty classmate, the teacher and Shiva, it should be okay. This is in contrast to dinner, see below where you'll only be invited if you can't say anything nice about anyone.

Breakfast: kefir, masala tea and 1/2 banana cake from Spice Box@360
Lunch with the KiTty@home: 1/2 pc. grilled chicken (half the size of my palm) with the other half going to the dogs, salad with raspberry vinaigrette, more masala tea, melon for dessert
Dinner@FCC-HK: tapas (1pc fish cake, 1/2 gherkin, 1 sml slice pita bread with hummus, 1 pc fried mushroom), small tomato and onion pizza w/o eating crusts, 3 bottles chardonnay/3 ppl= 1 bottle per person (BIG mistake!!)

WHEN GODS GET INVOLVED

2009-09-02T16:43:00.002+08:00

My yoga teachers all know that the reason I started practicing yoga was to lose weight.

After over 5 years of practice, this has not changed. Since found out that I am now closer to the dress size of Beth Ditto than to that of Victoria Beckham, the desire for shrinking my dress size rather than my ego has become more fervent.

Today I discussed this (and also my yoga practice which in NOT coming along well, thank you very much)

Yoga Teacher: ....Let me put it to you this way. You are only borrowing your body from God and who knows for how long. So you have to take care of it while you can and return it to him the same way he gave it to you.

Kitty: Hmmm...Honestly, when I borrow something from someone, I in fact, take better care of the thing than something I own.

YT: (beams) That's the idea! That is a very good attitude.

K: Then I better go back to size 6, the original size I was when God gave me this body. If I borrowed a skinny Rick Owens sweater and returned it an oversized Yohji, that would be wrong.

YT: (long silence) In the Bhagavagita, Krishna says that yoga is not about suffering. We must respect our bodies and know when to simply observe it as an outsider.

K: (long silence) Krishna has never been to Fashion Week. Or a sample sale. You want to see how you can observe bodies as an outsider? Try a fashion party.

Which reminds me, this Friday night is the Chanel party at the new Upper House in Pacific Place.

OPERATION FLABBY FREEDOM

2009-09-02T16:22:00.004+08:00

Monday was the first day of Operation Flabby Freedom, a two week program from 31 August to 14 September where I am hoping to go back to the size that I have been accustomed to.

Why 14 September? Because that is when I start travelling again and will have no time for daily torture.

Let's see if I end up meeting my target of qualifying for UN Food Aid.

31 August 2009, Monday:

waistline (at navel line for objectivity) - the diameter of East Timor not including forests and ocean rights
inches of flab: almost 2

exercise: 1.5 hours of ashtanga yoga
breakfast: kefir (live bacteria---the better to eat you, my dear)
Lunch with the KiTty @ HK-FCC (Foreign Correspondent's Club): vegetarian hot and sour soup, hainan chicken rice with cucumbers and chinese broccoli
dinner: (I can't remember---I can feel the diet is working already! On my brain)

01 September 2009, Tuesday:
Today's quote (on when rich families lose their fortune):
Confucius say, "When a ship sinks there are still nails left." I think in English it's better to replace nails with floating planks or lifeboats.

waistline - too scared to face another reality BUT my Lanvin jeans from Ete 2004 which was tight dernier Ete fit today!

exercise: 1 hour Pilates Reformer, 20 laps (15 mins) swimming bec I had lunch date---see below, 1 hour BEGINNERS ashtanga yoga

breakfast: kefir (it's alive!)
Lunch with the KiTty@Sevva, the overpriced and overrated restaurant at the top floor of Prince's building: 1/2 Ms B's Favourite Turkey sandwich (the B stands for boring because I have not had anything so flavourless in my life), 2 pcs salt and vinegar chips--I think they are cheap ones from Walker's, 1/2 serving Chinese fish broth with glass noodles and lemongrass, 1/2 serving of coffee crunch cake (a weak copy of the one from the Philippines), digestive tea
After you see the bill, you're going to need it. HKD 800 for 2 people. No booze, no soda, no cocktails.
press briefing at Kotur: 1/2 small bottle Perrier, refused macaroons from Robuchon
dinner@home: Nora's chicken soup with carrots and corn, melon for dessert

LOVE AT FIRST SLIGHT

2009-08-30T11:44:00.006+08:00

(Title taken from hardcopy of FT Weekend 29-30 August 2009- have to credit my employers!)

It is a common complaint that France, particularly Paris, would be great if not for the French. I personally have not had difficulty with them (except once --well, more than--which I will discuss later) and I have a few very good friends who are French. Of course, when I tell my husband about their travails, health complaints, problems, etc. the Limey would say, "Of course their problems have to be huge and dramatic. They are FRENCH!"

I always thought that the French were rude to people who didn't at least try to speak their language. They are, after all, from streetcleaners to senators, extremely proud of their language. (Segolene Royal supposedly did not win voters with what they thought was her poor command of French)

However, that does not seem to be the case. One French friend said, "The waiters are all rude even to the French but that's only in tourist restaurants." Below is a feature from this weekend's Financial Times that hits the nail on the Empire chaise lounge and explains EXACTLY why everyone has a problem with the French. It isn't them. It's YOU! (italics are my comments)

A user’s guide to understanding Parisians
By Pauline Harris and Simon Kuper
Published: August 29 2009 02:15 Last updated: August 29 2009 02:15

Almost every year some official campaign urges Parisians to be friendly to tourists. At one time, posters of smiling Parisians were hung up around town. Other campaigns have urged Parisians to show tourists around, or even to put up visitors in their own apartments. The Parisian response is usually disappointing.
Visitors continue to leave the world’s most visited city saying they liked everything except the people. In a poll this year by the website TripAdvisor, American travellers voted Parisians by far the unfriendliest hosts in Europe. Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret speaks for generations of jilted visitors when she admits, “Actually, Cliff, I’ve always rather hated Paris.”
We have lived in Paris for over a decade between us. We won’t pretend that beneath the grumpy misanthropic Parisian exterior there lurks a heart of gold. More often, there lurks a grumpy misanthrope.
However, visitors do habitually misunderstand Parisians. For instance, they are not simply rude. Often, the sneering waiter is observing a complex etiquette, and if the visitor makes a few simple adjustments, they will become nicer. So for the benefit of international relations, here is a user’s guide to Parisians.

Learn their codes
When Parisians are rude to visitors, it is often because they think the visitor has been rude. This city has an old-fashioned etiquette, and unlucky tourists trample it with both white-sneakered feet.
Starting from babyhood, Parisians are expected to dress, speak and behave perfectly. This impossible task makes them uptight, and smirking at others who slip up makes them feel better. Foreigners are an easy target: they don’t know the rules and are therefore bound to say, wear and do the wrong things.
A few basic rules will diminish Parisian rudeness by about 40 per cent. Before saying anything else, say, “Bonjour” . When the French finance minister Christine Lagarde recently appeared on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show , she cut through his opening storm of questions with a, “Bonjour, first of all.” Stunned, Stewart replied in Spanish: “Hola.”

(I managed this practice of saying 'Bonjour' not because I read it in some French tourist etiquette book but because I just mimicked what I saw. What was the ultra-chic Christine Lagarde doing with Jon Stewart who can't even knot his tie flush onto his collar stand? She has to be the chic-est politician. Far chicer than Carla Bruni or Michelle Obama...Wide band black and white diamond rings (Chaumet??), diamond starfish on her jacket shoulder (Boucheron? Cartier?) , great haircut, fab suits, perfect white shirts....Makes Tim Geithner look like her PA. That might happen soon as France is coming out of the recession faster than the US)
If a conversation ensues, don’t speak loudly, smile or use superlatives – all these are the marks of simpletons. On departing, always say goodbye. Yes, always: after an attacker held up a friend of ours at gunpoint in the lift of her apartment near Bastille, he left saying, “Bonne soirée”.
Don’t go around in sports kit, T-shirts with large logos or baseball caps. We did recently see a suspiciously French-looking gentleman wearing a cap on the metro, but on closer inspection he turned out to be mentally disturbed. (I HATE this Hollywood-director-NYer on the weekend American look!!)
On the other hand, don’t spend six hours dressing. Parisians aim to look effortlessly flawless. And don’t attempt flabby exposed midriffs or pushed-up cleavages (especially not if you are a man). Parisian women wear clothes that actually suit their body shape, age and style. (Like Christine Lagarde)

Only in one field of Parisian endeavour do no rules apply: driving.

Remember: the server doesn’t want your money – he wants his dignity
An American friend recently tried to buy a newspaper at a Parisian kiosk. The stallholder, ignoring his outstretched hand with money, continued calmly putting his stock in order. “Why?” our friend asked later. “Doesn’t he want my money?”

(This is the SAME issue I STILL have with the baker. I'm beginning to think it's not me, it's the wheat that has fermented in her nasal passages)
No. He couldn’t care less. A Parisian shopworker or waiter has a mighty disregard for the turnover of the establishment he works in, and for the functioning of its Kafkaesque system. He isn’t “serving” a “customer”. He is an individual interacting with an individual. What’s at stake is what each can get out of the interaction – respect, power, or drama to pass the time.
Part of what is going on here is that the Parisian labour market is inflexible. You need exactly the right qualifications for exactly the right job, because employers here rarely understand the idea of transferable skills. That leaves lots of overqualified Parisians doing menial jobs they loathe.
Furthermore, inside every Parisian shopworker lurks a revolutionary who cannot be bought. It’s useful to remember that the quintessential Parisian form of group expression is the demonstration. You find the same sullen service in other countries where capitalism hasn’t always been the leading ideology, such as the former USSR or Castro’s Cuba.
The Paris Tourism Agency says that about 20 per cent of people working in this city depend directly or indirectly on the tourist economy. But to Parisians, that’s no reason to prostrate themselves before visitors. “The customer is always right,” sounds to them rather like the Italian fascist adage, “Mussolini is always right.”
That’s why it’s counterproductive to try to hurry a Parisian waiter. He is not your boy. His ethos says: the more they try to rush me, the more time I will take. If you treat the waiter as an equal – asking his advice on the wines, for instance – he might treat you as an equal, too.

(I made this mistake when I was furnishing our chalet in France. I walked into an upholstery and linen store with a list--of course!!---and handed this list over to the shopkeeper and started rattling on. Needless to say she showed no desire to serve me until her daughter showed up. Luckily, she worked in London and undertsood the uncouth ways of l'etranger. We have been very good friends since and she has answered questions I have like : 1) "Why do French shops close for 3 hours in the middle of the day? Do they sleep like the Spaniards or lay their towels on the beach loungers like the Germans?" For single proprietorships like their family business, she explained to me, they use that time to do admin, open deliveries, re-stock, etc..which they can't do while attending to customers; 2) Why don't the stores just display everything for me to pick and choose? See above entry and also it is to weed out looky-loos who will not buy, waste their time and might even end up stealing!)

Bully back
Imagine 2.5m grumpy people packed into the tiny space inside the périphérique ring road, living on top of each other on creaking 19th-century parquet floors. Inevitably, the biggest Parisian pest is the grumbling neighbour. The biggest Parisian mistake one of us ever made was to buy a bottle of port to placate a grumbling neighbour. He took it as a surrender, like handing over the Alsace-Lorraine.
You get respect here by standing up for yourself. The very common Parisian “non” should never be confused with the less ambiguous English “no”. In Paris, “non” means, “Let’s see what you’re made of”. The more emphasis someone can place on a negative response, the more satisfying it seems to be. One of us once asked if there were any scarves in a shop in the Galeries Lafayette. The response was a 180-degree slow-motion shake of the head, accompanied by “Du tout, du tout, du tout,” which roughly translates as, “Not at all in any way, no chance, never”. But after a spot of arguing, as if by magic the scarves were produced.
Persist with dignity, and when necessary with aggression. In Paris, you never let anybody beat you.

(This is probably why the baker bullies me into giving her exact change. I should fight but I never do. I only simper, "Oh..I'll just take those last two sad eclairs with half the chocolate rubbed off and I'll go back to the car for your change..." )
It’s not because they’re anti-American
In the highest-grossing French film ever, the comedy Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis, a postmaster is told that as a punishment for a transgression he is to be transferred from idyllic Provençe to a terrible place.
The postmaster buries his head in his hands and moans, “Paris!”
His boss shakes his head sorrowfully: “Worse than Paris”.
The postmaster looks up, incredulous: “Worse than Paris?”
Parisians are grumpy to everyone, even each other. If they are mean to you, it’s not because you are a foreigner. It’s because you don’t know how to behave.

Escape tourist Paris
Tourist Paris is essentially a façade designed to punish people who transgress Parisian etiquette. Horrible waiters in waistcoats slam down €10 bottles of bad orange juice. They know they could hang the tourists upside down and flay them, and people would still be back next year.
But hidden beside tourist Paris is another city: the Paris of neighbourhoods. Most people there don’t have hearts of gold. They won’t be instantly chummy. Why should they behave like your long-lost brother when you’ve only just sat down in their restaurant? However, they do want customers to come back. Go to the same neighbourhood café every day, even if you’re only here for a long weekend. Once you have established some mutual respect – you like their café, they think your taste in cafés is excellent – they will soften up. Then Paris becomes really rather bearable.

(This goes for Italy, too! We will have to go back to when Napoleon looted Rome to even BEGIN to tell you about their 10 euro coffees!! They're probably just taking it out on us.)

Pauline Harris is a writer based in Paris; Simon Kuper is the FT’s sports columnist

WHEN FAT HITS THE FAN

2009-08-28T16:51:00.002+08:00

....When fat hits the fan, she is no longer chic.
I'm serious, boys and girls and gheys.
Shit has hit the fan big time as in from size small to GIGANTIC!!!

From the day I joined the fashion media, I swore to myself to keep my dress size down to model/sample size so I could buy editorial samples. As it is, press sales in Asia are heaven for me in the shoe department because unlike in the west, girls here have small feet and samples are all 39/40 which is my shoe size.

In the Roger Vivier, Tod's and Hogan sales I let the tiny editors battle for the bags while I take my time with the shoes knowing no one will ever fit in them until some foreign (read: white or northern Chinese) editor shows up. Then I take all the boxes to one corner.

However, in the dress department: As the years went by, I started to expand but still to a bearable point of being able to wear samples made up in stretch fabric.

Why, last winter I was still able to squeeze into Italian 40 white ski pants from Fendi. (Of course I had to get the matching white mongolian lamb Yeti boots and black mink ear warmers)
I was still a size 6 at Nathan Jenden before Christmas. Fitted. As in Roland Mouret/Victoria Beckham fitted. Dress AND pants.

Before the summer I was a medium at Sabina Swims for bikins and a 40 at Eres for bathing suits. Being a medium was the bad omen of a rapidly increasing waistline.

BUT ON WEDNESDAY I suddenly expanded to a point of embarrassment at the Loewe sale when I couldn't get into SSS---TT--R--E--T--C--H jodphurs AND crocodile belts!!

AND YESTERDAY I was up to a size 10 at DVF for a wrap dress!! (I screamed in shock in the dressing room) As in silk jersey!! I'm really going to have a word with Diane and Nathan about their sizing. Either that or kill myself this weekend. (But wait, I just bought four new dresses at DVF, an ostrich bag and cashmere sweaters at Loewe)

But then again, that might not be a good idea because when I couldn't squeeze into a French 38 at Lanvin in Taiwan, the salesgirl told me that I needed a girdle.
GIRDLE!!
When I ran into Madame Wang Shaw Lan, the owner of Lanvin, I told her this and that her sales staff should be better trained with customer relations because you can't possibly tell a thin customer to wear a girdle.
She looked at me from face to chest to stomach and said, "Maybe you SHOULD!"

I realized there are certain samples that still fit me....those from the MEN'S collections!!
I have to admit I didn't want to just leave Fendi with one, no, two..okay--so much more items ---last winter so I also bought a MEN'S --men's!!--grey flannel coat.

It was voluminous enough to hide Andre Leon Talley and his tennis kit.

As they say in Espanol, que horror la gorda (fat)!!!
It has only been 15 years since I was last called esquelita lumbera (skeleton).

What a difference 15 years makes. (15-20 tonnes/inches, perhaps?)
For a fashionista in the media, going up one size is the difference between life and death.

And there are only TWO (two!) WORDS that would make me stop eating and exercise until I'm thin enough for UN Food Aid: Buy retail.

Nevah!!!
Next week, I continue yoga and go back to three times a week Pilates and I'm adding twice a week swimming. Hopefully by October I'll be too thin and too weak to type.

BUT I'll get to wear samples again!!

EXCUSE MY FRENCH

2009-08-18T18:53:00.002+08:00

I cannot recommend this book enough.

I am only on page 43 (because I had other more important reading to do such as 2 months worth of back issues of UK Grazia and The Week) but I am already 'taking today and tomorrow off' to continue reading this book which may be the worst or the best (we'll see!) publicity for French manhood.

What's a book about France without being rude about the English?

The writer is an English woman divorced from her French husband and the whole book is rude about....well, we shall see....

"It was B., for instance, who told me the preferred euphemism used by RG (French secret police) spooks to indicate the subject of their memo was homosexual: 'He is partial to the English style of life."

Even my husband, who is English, found it funny.

In fact, last night, he looked up from his boring Churchill's Bunker book (which I gave him) and said, "I want to read that after you..."

FIVE TO TRAVEL

2009-08-18T18:07:00.004+08:00

I am soon to embark on a six-week, six (or seven)-city family trip which involves seeing my family (read: husband) for only a few days in two cities. If we see each other more often, by the end of six weeks, our family vacation will end up as a broken home.

Not that the dogs will care.

This whirlwind journey involves major European and American cities, the mountains and the tropics, much like a Michael Jackson concert tour without the entourage and plastic surgeons but just as many costume changes.

Because September is a transitional time and I am going to travel through four different climates (six if you count London), I think I won't be able to get around the costumes. Therefore the beauty kit is going to have to suffer.

I have my wardrobe sort of planned out but my usual (read: heavy) cosmetic and wash bag need a major cull and I have narrowed my kit to five items. These five items have already been on my mind for sometime (with some changes over the years) because my husband asked me to be ready with ONLY THREE (but I bargained for five) beauty items to bring if we EVAH took the Siberian Express (his dream journey, my nightmare).

One of my friends actually took this trip on her honeymoon (they are still married) and from how she describes the accomodations, it was especially created in traditional German transport style from the time of the Nazis.....for the Jews.

Whether there is sun or not (it will be worse if there was snow), I'm going to need at least SPF 15 and this is by far the most expensive and important cosmetic I will be bringing.

This is probably the cheapest and the best. Who hasn't used Nivea in the blue tin for both face and body? (How come I couldn't find any at Boots in Knightsbridge?)

It's stinky but it's the best for very dry skin and as a lip moisturizer. Since I'm not going to be with my husband very much, he won't get to smell this and if ever we go on the Siberian Express, I'm sure there will be worse aromas enveloping us.

Bath and shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste, detergent all in one. Plus it's organic and cruelty-free. My trip will have more things that can go wrong than this product.

A friend gave me a small bottle of this for bumps on my forearms and it works beyond that---a bath oil, cellulite oil, anti-scarring, anti-aging for face and body.

Now that I have enumerated my FIVE BEST, I fear that I may have to get the rest at airport Duty Free.

alldressedup with lots of places to go

2009-08-14T09:30:00.004+08:00

For three weeks out of the six that I have been away, I decided to put a regional label to the fashion travel test. It's not exactly a new label but it is one that I appreciated from the start.

The Singapore-based clothing label alldressedup (www.alldressedup.com) has always been a winner to me and now it is showing signs of being accepted internationally with worldwide distribution at Lane Crawford in HK, Saks in Bahrain and Dubai, Aquaint in London, Isetan in Tokyo and Beige in Los Angeles among other smaller, more esoteric boutiques.

The ensemble featured above looks great but I didn't buy that because I would for sure look like a clown. I did, however, buy several tops that washed very well and needed abso-fuckin-lutely NO IRONING!! Not only that, all of them looked great and I didn't need to put a lot of thought into what to wear with them. I wore them layered with cashmere, silk or cotton for cool (or cold) English summers and on their own for Italian summers that could melt gelato in seconds.

The line is a bit of a hard sell because the pieces look very complicated but they are really easy to wear (pull your head through the neckline and slip your arms through the sleeves). Also, it is that very quality that makes alldressedup outstanding. All you have to do to balance their multi-colored and multi-layered tops is wear them with dark bottoms or leggings.

The clothes have worked out so fabulously that I am taking the whole lot (ok maybe only half!) including Gap t-shirts that I bought on sale for 3 pounds each to Laos next month. Never mind that I will have to spend days in a very poor area potentially building toilets. Or a bridge. (Who knows! I only follow orders)

I swear by caftans in the tropics but in some parts of Europe and America, summer weather can be unpredictable and I never got my travel wardrobe down to a science until now. The pieces travel very well, wash easily and dry quickly, all qualities that make an excellent capsule summer wardrobe .

2009-06-30T19:37:00.002+08:00

Life in the last two weeks was relatively uneventful except for a week's trip to Taipei for a workshop with RICHARD FREEMAN. He's a great teacher but frankly, after this, I won't be attending any yoga workshops soon.

He is living proof that yoga (and perhaps living in Boulder, Colorado) keeps you young. Wouldn't you want to look like this if you were over 60 and can easily do a back bend?

Meanwhile, life in the NEXT TWO WEEKS will probably be even more uneventful as we retreat to the French Alps, also known as our bunker in case the world goes into chaos which means we need to start stocking up on guns and ammo. Notice all that land where I can plant vegetables in case of famine in the free world. (Think: escape plan for 2012--or thereabouts...) Plus our dogs can enter France without quarantine.

I did read some very interesting ideas, apropos for today's life in the international fast lane and/or characters of dubious backgrounds and financial sources of which the world has more than the environment can handle:

(From my favourite media cheat sheet, The Week of 13 June 2009)

"Changing your accent is like using tinted contact lenses: pointless, odd and everyone can always tell." -India Knight in the (London) Sunday Times

To the (London) Times from NWP Cole, London

On British English (but applicable to any culture)

"...When a country abandons its own language, it abandons its identity and culture...far more worrying is the loss of our cultural independence to the United States."

And one final book recommendation before we break for the summer: Pharmakon

WHEN THE COCO CROWS

2009-06-13T11:46:00.002+08:00

Chanel HK invited their VIP customers and the media to screenings of Anne Fontaine's (could she also be of the white shirt fame?)"Coco Avant Chanel". The HK office had three screenings--the first at 2:30 and the last at 7PM for clients who all came in their Chanel finery mostly from the new collection (this is HK afterall). The media screening was at 5PM and despite torrential rains, many people showed up. From matrons to media, everyone was clad in their own interpretation of how to wear Chanel.

Wasn't Oscar material (the film, I mean) but it certainly had the 'best-dressed' movie attendance. This is the controversial poster banned in France (because they have embraced a non-smoking law that also seems to apply to posters) but used in Asia, the last stronghold of smoking.

YES, We got given Coco Pops (corn). Isn't this cute? Of course we had a choice of sweet or salty. They also put a bottle of fizzy water in every seat but without a Chanel bottle holder which they did last time at the couture.

And this is what we got for braving the rains---a sample of Chanel No5. I think the taitais got a nicer gift (of course!) which I think could have been a pillow or large scarf because they had huge bags! Ah--what money can buy!!

(Meanwhile, those who attended the Tiffany's lunch received--get this---a single, miniscule diamond on a chain)

My movie review:

The movie is good but not great, meaning I don't think this is going to win any best picture or best screenplay awards. BUT the film wins by sheer marketing genius. Even if it was not bankrolled by the Chanel company (but they lent them the apartment and clothes) and the set-design was not spectacular because of the period of her life this film covered, it will be a blockbuster in cinemas simply because---WHO DOESN'T OWN AT LEAST ONE THING FROM CHANEL--even if it is just a lipstick? Now that's the market.

(Another personality doing a movie 'about fashion' is Tom Ford)

Take note that the movie title is Coco AVANT Chanel which means the beautiful clothes we know and love don't come out until an hour and half into the film. Meanwhile, you can go through your wardrobe and decide what to wear when the clothes get better which is after the billiards scene. They get even better after Boy Capel dies but by that time it will be the end of the film and the parade of clothes comes down from the mirrored stairway.

Lessons we all can learn from this film aside from independence and hard work:

1) Straight guys don't really care what you wear except perhaps if they are French. In fact, if you dress like a tomboy, they'll probably like it better. (See Boy Capel's reaction to Chanel's early versions of her polished look we know today)

2) A wealthy man is useless if he doesn't let you spend HIS money. (The HK Chinese have a term for this "A safe without the key") Notice that Chanel left the manoir of Etienne Balsan in the same ratty suit she arrived in. Clearly he added nothing to her wardrobe.

3) It's usually better to be a mistress because you get the man (sometimes) and the money (all the time) without the social responsibiltiy. On their first weekend away, Boy Capel takes Chanel to a haberdashery and notions shop to buy fabric. This is probably akin to getting a new dress from Bergdorf's (NOT from the Fifth Floor).

4) Marry for money and it will be very hard work 24/7.

Marry for love and it will be heartache..if not most of the time, eventually.

You do the math. Just make sure you have a key to the safe.

CLIMB EVERY MON-TAGUT

2009-06-04T16:38:00.003+08:00

The sad fashion truth that has China entranced.

More models from the most un-chic of brands. Perhaps like many brands we love today it will be so unchic, it becomes chic.

VERY UNLIKELY. As the company is still private, an IPO is more likely.

Montagut's flagship at the Grand Canal Shoppes (I hate the spelling!) in Macao (where else!).

It may even be the 'choice of high rollers."

Have any of you boys, girls and gheys heard of MONTAGUT?

I have but it's been at least 30 years since I heard the brand uttered and at that time it was in extremely un-chic situations. Think Chinese diaspora family dinner with Montagut pronounced as "Monta-gute..."

That scene was certainly Botox years away from our lunch today at Shiro with a luxury brand representative and a fashion editor. The editor did not even KNOW the brand let alone the fabric it is known for: silky nylon jersey (fil-lumiere as the company labels it), a material that no self-respecting company would even use for disposable underpants today.

HONESTLY, CAN WE TALK? I promise you'll end up laughing like I did (guffawing would be a better word) upon the mere mention of the brand. But the ones who have been laughing all the way to the bank for about 30 years has really been Montagut and their Chinese partners.

HOW DID SUCH CHIC PEOPLE END UP HAVING SUCH AN UN-CHIC CONVERSATION? Remember, we were NOT discussing taste or style but business.

Everytime you discuss industry records or the business of fashion, you will for sure unearth something so unbe-fuckin-lievable that convinces you the fashion world is one of contrasts and indeed on another planet.

We were talking about the state of the luxury goods business (what else does one talk about these days since we can't be buying a bag every week) and about China's second-tier cities. Very good business I have to report because the brand we had lunch with had a fur trunk in Tsingtao and instantly sold TWO ("I'll buy one if you buy one") furs for 700,000 HKD each (that's 100,000 in worthless USD). These women had their hair done once a week for 1500 USD. In Tsingtao.

Yes, Mei-Mei, there is a Santa Claus but he is in a second tier Chinese city.

Of course from Tsingtao we had to move into a worse 'hood, Urumji, smack in the center of the Siberian Pole of Inaccessibility (I'm not kidding--Google it!) where they are opening a luxury mall with LV, Canali and Cartier among the big names.

Then I had to mention an interview I did years ago with a fashion executive who told me that she knew of a brand that sold 30,000 polo shirts a month in Guangzhou. Second tier (but maybe first by now) My guess was it was Hugo Boss because like Ferragamo, they were first movers in China, coming in very early and have emerged winners in sales and brand recognition.

BUT NHHOOO--I was WRONG! It was MONTAGUT and someone at lunch had the figures! Montagut came into China at the same time as Pierre Cardin (and I mean the mushroom PC label and not the couture when they posed on the Great Wall) and look at where they both are now.

Apparently Montagut, with over 3000 points of sale in greater China alone (take that LV and Chanel!), has two collections--one made in China and the more expensive one that averages at about 100 euros which is made in France. YES! They can't make cars in France anymore but they can stil make fil-lumiere Montagut shirts.

They also have fashion shows which feature men and women in the polo shirts. The women parade in shorts with heels and a visor for a 'sporty' look.

This from http://www.china.org.cn/:

In the eyes of many Chinese people, the polo shirts were associated with wealth and romance as its Chinese brand name means "charming dream". Its flower logo added more to the romantic feeling. ....At that time, there were not many western goods available, and the Montagut polo shirt was one of the first high-class items that could be brought there.

I know you fashionistas out there are thinking this cannot be reality but it is! You kids have to get out more like to second-tier cities. Let me leave you with a great story typical of the old Chinese diaspora in the Philippines that epitomizes the popularity of Montagut.

The brand, together with Lacoste (at least they are trying to resuscitate themselves) and Pierre Cardin, was looked at as an expensive brand so much so that when Chinese weddings with their multi-page gatefolded red and gold invites called for 'formal attire,' many Chinese guests would not show up in tuxes or Barong, the Philippines national dress but Montagut!!?? Why? Because it was expensive and imported and expensive and imported from France(!)=formal.

You can take the boy out of China but you can't take the Chinois out of the boy.

BEACH BRIDAL THAT WON"T BREAK THE BANK

2009-06-04T11:58:00.002+08:00

One of my editors asked me what she should wear as a guest for a society wedding in Bali. The celebrations would cover three days (at least!) and she did not want to spend a lot of money but she had to look good enough to socialize next to the Matthew Williamsons and Alice Temperleys hanging on social X-ray bodies.

Because it is going to be a wedding at a beach resort known for its Gypset (gypsy jet-setters) residents and visitors, wearing something unpretentious, comfortable and hopefully colourful (and printed or beaded) would be a great choice for every occasion (rehearsal dinner, cocktails, reception, morning after breakfast). Plus you don't need to match shoes to your dress because any sparkly pair of slippers will go with everything.

Personally, I don't like to spend very much on beach attire except on Eres and Wolford swimsuits whose cuts and expensive fabric I feel an 'older' body could benefit from without looking matronly. As far as cover-ups and cocktail attire are concerned, I don't believe in making a splash in Matthew Williamson, Roberto Cavalli, Alice Temperley and similar brands simply because I think their products have no value for money because they can easily be knocked off on the cheap by TopShop and HnM and no one will be able to tell the difference. (Williamson and Cavali have since produced cut-price collections for HnM. SEE??? Wadiditellya??) The most I spend for resort wear is on Pucci because I can understand the value in their printing cost.

I should know. I used to work in a business where my bosses would come to the office bearing a 1000 USD Versace top and say, "Make this for 50 dollars." (This was in the 80s-early 90s before HnM and TopShop had world domination)

It is more difficult to produce a simple, well-cut garment in a good fabric than one that is covered in prints, sequins and ruffles because every pull, every missed stitch, every pucker will be revealed in a garment that needs to be so exact and simple. That is why Jil Sander, Japanese labels and Martin Margiela are still in business. A lot has to be said for precision.

Of course there is something to be said for Dries van Noten whose collection, although covered in sequins and embroidery, has yet to be knocked-off on the cheap. Any production person who looks at his line will tell you, "It will be hard."

The science of textile printing has come a long way since the beginning of seven-screen Pucci or Hermes prints. Of course, print quality will never be the same but who is really looking? HnM and TopShop have produced wonderful prints that can pass for the choice of jet-setting hippies.

Consider the prints above by Sara Harnett (not exactly TopShop prices) as a new way to do resort or beach. Not quite sickly floral, not quite hard graphics but statement-making. Similar prints should flood the High Street soon.

What I love to wear (and many will disagree with me) in tropical resorts AND TOWNS are cotton kurtas. There are available at different price points and in Europe and America, even on the streets. (I get mine from mandarinorangeclothing.com or Madhu Pallo: madhupallo@netvigator.com who does private sales) I wear them when I visit less dressy cities such as Manila, Jakarta, Singapore, Phnom Penh because a) I look fabulous in prints and/or sequins, b) I keep cool and c) I always look 'dressed' even if all I did was throw on a colorful top and white trousers.

LUXURY GOODS HOUSE OF CARDS

2009-06-03T20:39:00.002+08:00

Being part of the international fashion media, I shouldn't be saying this but perhaps the game is up for the luxury goods business (long reputed to be the next bubble after China and dotcoms).

Witness the empty shops in most financial and shopping capitals (not to mention numerous brand name store closures in Russia) and you will feel that the stratospheric prices and certain brands' questionable quality are going to have to come down. SOON. Like this season's sales, perhaps?

(Meanwhile, my retail sources tell me business in poorer economies like Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia are bouyant thanks to an established niche market of the wealthy, powerful and perhaps corrupt and un-chic. But who cares as long as there is a market!)

With Lacroix filing for creditor protection, dahling, and Veronique Branquinho zipping up, the outlook is not looking much better for revered fashion houses. Throw into that the boardroom squabbles (Dontallela's shade of tan? Dark orange, darker tangerine?) at Versace with its own image and not to mention business management problems. LV has also halted the construction of yet another Tokyo flagship.

Of course, as an editor and a brand PR manager and I discussed over lunch last week, it's not that people will not spend. They will just be more cautious of what they are purchasing. The public will always want to buy SOMETHING. (Usually something cheap that's why Uniqlo of Japan is reporting profits and stealthily bracing itself for world domination)

The question is, how much longer will this love affair with luxury last and who will be the winners?

Just as I was thinking about the state of global luxury retail, I find this in today's FT: (I have enlarged key sections for the internet-generation's reading impaired):

Japanese fall out of love with luxury
By Michiyo Nakamoto in Tokyo
Published: June 2 2009 19:17 Last updated: June 2 2009 19:17

Japan’s trend-chasing office workers and ladies who lunch are giving up Louis Vuitton handbags and Chanel jackets for Zara dresses and Gap jeans, making what was a favourite market for luxury manufacturers into one of their biggest headaches.

The downturn is forcing customers in Japan to scale back purchases of luxury goods, accelerating a long-term shift in consumer attitudes, according to a report by McKinsey, the consultants.

“This is not a blip. This is a long-term shift in the market,” said Brian Salsberg, the author of a McKinsey report on the Japanese luxury goods market, the world’s second largest.
Sales of imported luxury goods suffered a 10 per cent drop last year to Y1,064bn ($11.1bn), according to a study published on Tuesday by Yano Research, a Japanese market research group.
Yano Research forecast that the market would shrink further this year, falling below Y1,000bn to nearly half the peak of Y1,897bn in 1996 and then shrinking to levels last seen 20 years ago before it entered its era of strong growth.
LVMH, the group with brands ranging from Moët to Louis Vuitton, reported an 18 per cent drop in sales in Japan in yen terms in the first quarter.
While luxury sales throughout the world are being hit by the recession, Mr Salsberg said that the implications of the latest slump for Japan were likely to be more serious and long-lasting.
Japan became the world’s “only mass luxury market” in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Japanese consumers saw ownership of a Louis Vuitton bag or Hermes scarf as a middle-class rite of passage.
But the growing confidence of shoppers in mixing and matching cheap and expensive products, coupled with competition from a growing array of luxury services such as spas and expensive restaurants, have robbed the brands of their hold on such spending.
Mr Salsberg said the brand makers, which created “a luxury bubble” with “a ridiculous number of store build-outs”, bore some blame for their predicament. He warned that they risked repeating the mistake in China.
China was the “growth story” for luxury but if makers flooded the market with stores as in Japan and people were able to buy such goods on every street corner, “the industry is going to destroy itself” there, he said.

THE DREAM MACHINE

2009-05-28T17:09:00.002+08:00

Reader "Rosanna" asked, "How do I get my dream job?" As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is a loaded question simply because there are very few people who can answer it. I bet people in HR or recruiting don't even like their jobs!

In my lifetime I have only met TWO people who said they have their dream jobs. And the second person I only met this week!! Worse, I only met the first person this time last year!!

Clearly I don't have experience in giving employment advice but I will do my best.

It seems to me that the ideal job will be something you like to do which people will pay you for. Being good at it is also a huge bonus. For many of us, that would be watching TV, gossiping and surfing the net but we don't get paid for it. I don't even know how to watch TV because I can't turn on the TV in any of my homes. But I can do it easily in hotels.

Gossiping will be a good job--look at Liz Smith, Perez Hilton and Richard Johnson who have made careers out of it---but not many can do it well and profitably (Like I'm afraid Perez Hilton's incoming is not enough to cover his outgoing legal costs).

However, for us mere career mortals, what to do?

For some reason this week, I discussed careers with one too many people in different cities that I felt I was running a regional recruitment agency. These discussions made me look back at my own career and in retrospect, I did hold my dream jobs only at that time I didn't know it.

I always wanted to work in the fashion business and at the start, I was bent on being a merchandiser or designer. But when a boy named Marc Jacobs in the classroom next to yours gets a job at Charivari and your teacher says that buyers at Saks are never going to leave, you lose hope.

It gets worse when you get closed out of all the design classes you wanted except a garment production class held in a dark room filled with unglamorous sewing and cutting machines. Your classmates are other losers who couldn't get into the glamorous courses.

Your teacher happened to be the production manager of then-famous denim company, Marithe et Francois Girbaud. And she said ONE THING that completely changed your view of fashion and changed the course of your career. "I know many of you are here and disappointed that you have been closed out of design classes. Little do people know that if you go into production you will start at more money and do just as much travel as any designer. The only difference is that you will spend more time in factories."

Money? Travel? I'M FUCKIN' THERE!! You could have told me I was going to become a prositute and I'd still have been first in line!!

"You may not know this," she continued, "But as a production manager you can make as much money and do as much traveling in the same way as a designer. Same hotels, same class of travel and the reason for this is financial responsibility. Production is very important to any company because it is where money is generated. And lost. It is also a direct line to owners."

I found this to be true in my first job in the Los Angeles garment industry. And there was no other department in a garment company that was more important to the owners than production. Sales reports come out everyday but daily discussions usually happen only during market weeks when majority of the sales are done. In most companies, wherever you are or the boss is in the world, you have to discuss numbers, total shipped units and 'cuts' at the end of EVERY SINGLE DAY. I think the Hollywood equivalent are rushes.

But it wasn't easy to get there. I finished school at about the time financial turmoil hit Wall Street in the famous Black Monday of October 1987 so jobs were not exactly falling onto my lap while I sat at my desk dreaming about a job.

I had to look and even when I found my first job, selling shoes at Joan and David in Beverly Hills, it wasn't exactly my dream job although many movie stars came through the store.

But it was a job and better than nothing. This is where lack of pride served me well. I was so desperate, I took anything!! (Which I think is a good thing)

However, if you harbour the dream, sometimes the tooth fairy arrives in the form of a regular customer who asked me, "What do you really want to do with your life? Surely not just selling shoes...."

I told her and the following week was my interview with the head of patterns at Carole Little, then a very big sportswear label. It wasn't exactly my dream job but it was a foot in the door that would open to many dream jobs to come.

But I realized that only now, in retrospect.

I had the money, the travel, the positions (which I worked up from) and the jobs that I really enjoyed with respected Southern California labels. It also helped that they were not very expensive labels as I believe (even if I am a snob at heart) great clothes and fashion should be accessible to everyone. There is a huge difference in quality and service between cheap and expensive goods but everyone should be able to dress well on a budget. As Karl said, "It doesn't matter if an HnM jacket falls apart but if a Chanel jacket falls apart, it's a crime!"

(Today I only wear French labels--except for Fendi-- but there was I time, when I was working in LA that I only wore American because I worked for Americans)

But enough about me. I want to tell you about the only two people I know who have their dream jobs. One similarity they have is that they love the products they sell but they also happen to work for leading names in their respective industries. (Okay, hint: one works for a bank whose stock went down to 1 USD but didn't they all?) The 'names' don't have to be particularly big(although the bank is) but it has to be a brand that has a good reputation both to insiders and end consumers. That always helps and that makes selling particularly easier.

If you ask someone working in their dream job what they like about it, they will usually tell you it's the product or "I like thinking of ideas for clients," but (and there's always a but) they will always say, "BUT... I don't like the admin work or the politics."

Don't we all?? In fact, if you think about it, what REALLY makes you hate your job is the admin and/or the politics. In short, the people!!! They always drive you crazy!! (Which has always been my problem and this is why I think zoo keepers, vets and museum specialists REALLY love their jobs because you are either working with animals who never talk back and are only too happy to be fed, dead people or animals or artifacts that tell a story without speaking)

There is also the subject of determination. This week, I was talking to a friend about how the standards of media staff in (fill in developed Asian country) are so low that they accept mediocre applicants from (fill in Third World English speaking country).

The reply? "They got their jobs not really from ability but sheer determination."

My advice:

A) 1/3 desperation + 2/3 determination = dream job (of course, you will have to identify this for yourself!)

B) As much as I advise you to 'take anything', that only applies for entry level or wanting a change. At all other levels, ALWAYS DO IT FOR MONEY!! Never for love. Not ever. Although I know some success stories, it's the riskiest thing. I would never advise it.

My next entry will be on a far more easier topic---dressing for a tropical wedding.

THROW HER TO THE LIONS (CITY)

2009-05-19T20:56:00.001+08:00

There will be no entries until the beginning of June because I will be in Singapore for a week and after that I KNOW I will be busy with other deadlines such as the ones that pay me REAL money.

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL

2009-05-19T20:14:00.003+08:00

...because I'm a lousy cook and had abso-fuckin-lutely no chance of cooking an edible meal except for kibble and chicken soup for the dogs. (And even that I mess up occassionally)

Until now.

I believe cooking is like intelligence, style, personality and perhaps writing ability. You either have the talent or you don't and no amount of Master's degrees or studying with the masters will make you a great cook.

Unless you are Russian. I told my hairdresser today that cooking is a talent and he said except if you are Russian because they can serve a buffet from literally nothing in the refrigerator.

I have trained my maids to do everything but cook. In that department, I can't even tell them how to make tea or boil water. When God was giving out cooking demonstrations, I was still browsing the home decor and fashion departments while getting sidetracked by a scarf tying demo.

However, everything changed last Friday when I hired RICARDO SILVA (mailto:biotico2003@yahoo.co.uk;%20+852 6894-2582), a Portuguese chef to teach my maids and me how to cook. Nora and Monica can cook well. In fact, they said they didn't need any more potato recipes because they know so many. (Maybe they are secretly Russian)

They have also mastered the art of juicing because they have to serve me some kind of fresh juice combination everyday.

What they wanted to learn was a fresh pesto recipe and a salad dressing recipe which I, who only knows how to pay (not even choose something in a jar) thought would be a good idea. I also wanted them to see that there were people who ate vegetables other than salad and stir fry.

Chef Ricardo is a vegetarian who specializes in (what else?) vegetarian dishes but since arriving in Hong Kong, he has expanded his repertoire. He has trained the staff of several prominent HK families and also prepared food for their dinner parties.

Part of Chef Ricardo's extended repertoire is lamb which I decided to make an exception of because I don't eat any meat except chicken and it is hard to find good lamb in HK. (Not that I have had first hand experience but that's what many people say!)

I plan on using his recipe when I cook in Europe where local lamb is always available. (Now I just have to learn how to use the grill) It also works with chicken but the strong flavour really goes better with lamb.

His lamb's strength lies in the marinade which we used to marinate the meat overnight.

What's in it? Right now, I don't know. I just had the recipe printed out and passed it to Nora.
At some point I will read it and panic because I will not know where to get the ingredients or what they look like. Obviously this will happen in Europe where I will look like a fool.

He also taught us a great pesto sauce made of basil (which might be like saying a cake recipe with flour) and pine nuts but he said we could substitute the basil or blend it with parsley, coriander and/or rocket).

To keep the rich green color of leftover pesto, pour some olive oil on top of it before putting it in the refrigerator.

Then there was the dressing whose formula was 1/3 acid (balsamic vinegar or bleach if you want to kill your guests), 2/3 olive oil, lime, salt, mustard or whatever you want to put in such as pureed raspberries or strawberrries, honey, etc..

Next month, Chef Ricardo returns to Chez Sutherland to teach us how to make tiramisu and sabayon with champagne.

THE JEWELS AND THE CLOWN (that's me!)

2009-05-17T15:37:00.007+08:00

This week, a friend told me that she has found her self drawn to bling. This was the same woman who told me she couldn't possibly wear 18 mm South Sea pearl earrings because they were 'too big.'

For a jewellry writer and former auction reporter, 'too big" is not an option. In fact, like a bank account, jewels can never be too big. I've tried on a 56-carat diamond and thought it would be perfect for daytime. No one would think it was real.

I've heard everything from the 'sensible', "100,000 USD for a perfect strand of white 16mm pearsl? That's a bargain!" to the 'sentimental', "You know, a ring like that---20 carats, D-flawless--really shows how much your husband loves you but after a few months it will start to look small. Believe me, it's true!!"

"No more shoes, bags and clothes for me. Just bling. It must be my age," said my jewelry converted friend who is in her thirties.

It may be her age but it could be that she found a jeweller (Yewn) that she liked introduced by--ahem--moi!--in a city that has probably the largest volume of diamond sales in the world.

This incident became a sparkling inspiration for me to think of my top three jewelry brands. I have decided to write only about jewelry brands that I think are worth noting not just for their original design (organic, teetering between real and costume, recognizable only to collectors)and everyday wearability but also their limited distribution. And the final qualification is: That I would want anything and everything.

No one could go wrong if they gave me anything (even a pouch) from these three lines:
(Okay--of course, there is Joel A Rosenthal's Paris-based JAR but I think I have to own an oil field, marry a vault or be a big time Colombian cocaine dealer to own something from him)

VERDURA

http://www.verdura.com/

One of Verdura's catalogues has the following opening statement by their CEO Ward Landrigan, "If this portfolio of Verdura classics has made it into your hands, and you are a devotee, it should remind you why you fell in love with Verdura jewelry in the first place. If it is your first encounter with Verdura, prepare yourself --this may be the start of a long romance."

This statement epitomizes everything I have experienced with the brand. As a penniless fashion student in New York in the Eighties, I remember being mesmerized by this line. I vowed that one day I would buy a Maltese Cross bracelet. But life and other brands got in the way and I completely forgot Verdura until I saw it on someone years ago.

What do they say about love being lovelier the second time around?

My second time wasn't just lovelier, but utterly passionate as I ended up with a few bracelets. But VERY FEW....(It was like ending up in bed all day with someone you worshipped from afar--and I'm not talking about letting your new Pomeranian sleep in your bed)

Verdura's original designer was the Sicilian artistocrat Duke Fulco di Verdura who was born in 1898. He designed what we know today as Chanel's Maltese Cross. In 1939, he set-up shop in New York City backed by Cole Porter and Vincent Astor. Babe Paley (after whom they named a collection last year) and Greta Garbo were clients. For their 70th anniversary this year, they will be introducing another blockbuster line.

As Doris Duke reputedly said about her jewels, "Sell everything except the Verdura." Enough said.

A selection can be found at Bergdorf Goodman in New York and the full line is available in their beautiful, destination boutique on Fifth Avenue, laid out like a grand New York flat with fabulous views.

IRADJ MOINI

http://www.iradjmoini.com/
I don't know very much about the history of Iradj Moini and have never interviewed him. It is a relatively new company, having started in 1989 but it has changed to way I look at 'real' and 'costume' jewelry. In fact, the collection literally straddles both sectors of the market because it mixes semi-precious stones, roughly cut precious stones, pearls and Swarovski crystals. The large, chunky stones are combined with an eye to appearing like costume jewelry and the rough cuts relieve real gems of their 'preciousness' if they are otherwise cut in perfect, light reflecting facets.

If Verdura epitomizes Upper East Side chic, Iradj Moini is throw-away, jet-setting hippie-chic. Completely different but it wouldn't surprise me if they had some similar customers.

The collection is not for the faint of fashion "Comme des Garcons applique" heart. It is in fact, for someone who is 'bold and beautiful' (like me!) enough to carry the chunky designs. Iradj Moini is probably the Tony Duquette of our times. (Yet another jeweler that warrants mention)

The website lists only one shop in New York Soho's Spring Street but there are independent antique and jewelry dealers (such as Domont on Sunset in Los Angeles) that sell the line in their shops or online.

YEWN
http://www.yewn.com/

We see a lot of jewelry brands in the Hong Kong market, both at the local and international level. In fact, the biggest international brands have to be in Hong Kong as this city is not only one of the biggest jewelry markets in the world, it is also the gateway to the whole of Asia, particularly China.

Excitement and lustre are almost non-existent in many established jewelry and designer labels. It is rare for the fashion media (or consumers) to encounter a brand, particularly a local Hong Kong brand and immediately say, "Wow! This is art!"

I know, I know. You are thinking "Qeelin" is an international Chinese brand. Qeelin is in fact an excellent brand and Dennis Chan is extremely talented. There are many pieces I would love to have from their collection but not everything. Their iconic Bobo bears are definitely not me.

But I love everything that Dickson Yewn creates. Note that I did not use the word 'designs' but creates because as I mentioned, every piece is a work of art inspired by furnishings, literature, art and jewelry in Chinese history.

Yewn is probably one of the few jewelry lines in the world that still sets pieces en tremblant. Flowers vibrate atop a spring, petals and leaves move back and forth, a clasp is hidden in the form of a gem-encrusted Chinese lock.

It is like nothing you have every seen before. But it could be something that existed in....the Qing Dynasty.

He likes to use rhodium or blackened gold as a setting and what a difference a color makes. Taking a piece from white gold to black gold (see brooch above) makes all the difference between 'preciousness" (I hate that) and precociousness.

Add to that a client base not of celebrities, not of men buying for women but of high-powered women in business and politics who buy jewelry for themselves. Yewn said he sees his pieces as 'ambassadors' for what Chinese are aesthetically capable of. His clients wear his pieces even when they travel thus exposing his work and introducing his label to the upper echelon of international deal makers (think Forbes Top 500) which rarely includes celebrities.

He has been educated allover the world and is an expert in Chinese history and philosphy which is reflected in its purest artistic form in Yewn and in a more commercial form in Life of Circle which is mostly sterling silver. High-low marketing---not bad for a business plan!

He has two award-winning 'destination' shops in Hong Kong. One at the Landmark and the other in the Peninsula Arcade. Entering his freestanding shops takes you back to a reception room in an aristocratic home in the Qing Dynasty decorated with rosewood furnishings and lattice borders. Select pieces are at Neiman-Marcus, Fragments and Bergdorf Goodman in America and the trend-setting EC One in London.

*************************************************************************************

Reader 'Rosanna' has asked me the loaded question, "How do I land my dream job?" It is, in fact, a very good question but because it is so hard to answer, I will have to do some thinking (also very hard and something I am incapable of) and perhaps do an entry towards the end of May if I don't get any more work.

Sometime this week (very likely Tuesday before I leave for Singapore), I will write an entry on cooking, an activity that I have absolutely no talent, knowledge and authority to discuss but I'll do it anyway because it is like style and intelligence--either you have it or you don't.

Personally, I think I have stayed married all this time because I don't cook. If I did, my husband would either leave me or would have been poisoned in our first week of marriage.

DOG STORY

2009-05-14T18:05:00.004+08:00

The Tallulah-saurus Rex after her fight with Manny Pacquiao in the KO in HK where she won hands down, no contest...a bandaged foot in the shape of a lightbulb.

The Tallulah-Saurus Rex (TSR), as regular readers will recognize, was the French denim-clad door bitch at her sister, Sammy Doggis Jr's exclusive 15th birthday party in Hong Kong.

TSR is officially known as Tallulah Butthead II (the First died of a hemmorhage) named after notorious film star Tallulah Bankhead who reputedly slept with 500 men. But TSR, despite having many admirers, was spayed early. So naturally she is still a virgin at 12 (or 84 in human years).

She lost a claw last Sunday while chasing a wild cat through the woods. If she caught it on a clipboard, it would not have been so bad.

Before that, I cancelled a much-awaited trip to Tokyo because this normally healthy dog suddenly contracted erlichia canis, a tick-borne blood disease which is rare in developed countries.

Years ago, the vet under national health care in Taiwan (their city hospital puts some human US and UK hospitals to shame) identified Sammy as a carrier not TSR and of course, believed that she caught it in the Philippines (where else?). The internet says Vietnam is another potential area but the dogs have never been there.

TSR had a three-week treatment course and just as soon as she got well, she gets a white boxing glove on her foot. Now she can't even play pool with the toothless billiards champ Efren Reyes. But she can win in a biting competition.

Bear with me as I need hours, days to figure out how blogging works.

I still have to put up the 'immovable' entry on the left-hand column on DJ MONTANO, the scammer who did a runner. Like the Angel of Debt in HK, yet another Filipino is setting up shop outside the Philippines to cheat others abroad.

But tips including photos have been coming into http://www.donavictorina.blogspot.com/.

DOWN BUT NEVER UNDER THE WEATHER

2009-04-30T16:41:00.003+08:00

Since I am not as wired as I should be when I travel, (sometimes I can't even find my own blog--like in China!) there will be no posts at least from 1-8 May when I will be in Sydney watching Kath and Kim and Border Patrol (my favourite Oz reality show).

THERE IS A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

2009-04-28T17:47:00.003+08:00

There is a first time for everything and today was the first time I ever had a professional fake tan sprayed on. I usually do it myself using a cocktail of Clarins or Nature's Gate self-tanner and lotion. I know I posted a picture of Boracay but sadly, I am not going there. I'm going to another place where everyone and their boat is perennially tanned---Sydney. The other place is Los Angeles but since everyone is busy getting swine flu instead of a tan, Porky Pig might displace Zac Efron as king of Hollywood.

BUT I had to put up a photo of Boracay because something very important is happening there later this week. (Aside from the island slowly disappearing like Venice, Amsterdam and maybe Singapore....)

My friends at www.donavictorina.blogspot.com are hosting the FIRST BORACAY BLOGGERS ENCOUNTER which aims to educate people on the island's environmental destruction. Tsk, tsk, tsk..Did we have to ruin it???....(Yet another first!)

The highlight of this 2-day event (30 April and 1 May) is a forum moderated by my friend and lawyer for the right reasons, Atty Trixie Angeles. "Environmental Laws Affecting Boracay" will be held on 30 April from 6-9PM. Discussions will be live in person in Boracay and via Skype and YM.

As much as I would like to join, I won't be able to because a) my Skype is busted and b) how can I join anything tech-y if I can't even turn on our TV? Now you can add iPod to the list.

There will also be a party and commitment signing on the evening of 1 May.

Please call or text (63)2-332 1031 ext 107 or (63)920-902 6583 for more information.

THE WHORE NINE YARDS

2009-04-24T18:11:00.003+08:00

Together with some things too fabulous to mention, I bought these two books on characters in supporting roles during the French Revolution. Or thereabouts.

These historical chronicles are being released at the time when TV comedy is heavily into the genre started by Entourage where the supporting cast is better than the show's 'star.' I also highly recommend the UK comedy Gavin and Stacey. The farthest from Entourage in subject matter but equally funny.

The whore nine yards and fashion arbiter, Pauline Bonaparte was Napoleon's sister and there is speculation that she slept with her famous bro'. She is also the model for the famous Canova nude sculpture.

Lucie de la Tour du Pin was a diarist who witnessed the two most important and turbulent times in French history. She kept notes and opinions both at the time of Marie Antoinette and Napoleon. I have yet to find out exactly what she was doing at court because her diaries have been referenced by all books I have read on the French Revolution.
After the fall of the monarchy, she fled to America (Albany, New York to be precise) where she ran a farm and sold butter.

RETAIL SEEKS ITS OWN LEVEL

2009-04-24T16:52:00.002+08:00

Unfortunately, yesterday's retail expedition did not yield this many shopping bags for me.
However, some may have walked away with just as many bags...

MANY lined up at HnM waiting to shop Matthew Williamson's new line. Since I don't believe in lining up or getting on waiting lists, I went to my club for lunch.
OTHERS queued in front of Twist/Treshei because the store was 40% off on second hand designer labels and 50% off on house labels. I wonder if that includes the Hermes section. The line at lunch time was too long for me to bother finding out.
STILL MORE lined up on the second level of Ralph Lauren's Central shop for the employee 40% off sale.

HOWEVER, Stella McCartney's new store in Landmark had an 'exclusive event' so exclusive that there were only sales staff and no visible clients in the late afternoon for a sales event that was on all day.

MEANWHILE, the second (and last) day of the Mauboussin VIP sales event was so packed, the HK managing director couldn't even look at me from the corner of his eye.

Clearly business is good for those who have a loyal market whether cheap and cheerful or expensive and exclusive. Either that or good PR.

People outside fashion and retail have been asking me if retail is a good barometer of HK's economy. These days it is hard to tell because as much as luxury retailers are suffering, HSBC did a very successful USD 18 billion rights issue a few weeks ago.

Proof that if there is something good to buy (or at least something the public THINKS has value for money), people will pay for it.

Last month I was at Lanvin looking through the SS09 delivery and there was NOTHING that I wanted to buy even at 50% off for several reasons (this also applies to Lane Crawford and Joyce): First is that Lanvin's current line is so full of party dresses even Carla Bruni couldn't go through them if she had a state dinner every night. Second, and most important to me is that they have become overpriced beyond coloured contacts popping heights.

I have an example that says it all.

Lanvin has a self-lined black silk habutai (the cheapest silk in the universe aka parachute silk in the 80s) jacket with its signature fraying treatment on a breast pocket for ---hold on to your trophy necklace---25,000 HKD (or a little OVER 3000 USD, or for me, CLOSE to 3000 USD with discount).

Does this make sense to you? Silk Habutai is like technology where it gets cheaper every year. It is in fact, cheaper than cotton. In 2003, when Alber Elbaz first started at Lanvin, I was thinking of buying a LEATHER COAT for abour 4000 USD. At that time, I thought it cost too much.

NOW?? What do I get for 4000 USD? A dress with a zipper.
MEANWHILE at Yewn (Peninsula, Landmark and Bergdorf Goodman), you can get beautiful diamond drop earring for 21,000 HKD (or USD 2600)

My salesperson asked me if I wanted to try anything on. I told her I wasn't coming back even for the sale until it was 95% off for the two reasons I mentioned above.

Then she said...All our customers said the same thing.
And where are they now?

It seems like HK shoppers and retailers are waiting to see who will give in first.
Your guess is as good as mine.
(I did cave in and buy something that WAS NOT on sale but that will be a secret to everyone including my husband. Until he gets the bill. It was in fact so secret even to me that I didn't know I left the parcel at the shop until they called me.)

THE PRICE OF HAPPINESS
Last week, my friends and I were talking about--what else? the price of goods---Someone said she accompanied a friend to the Kowloon Louis Vuitton shop where her friend bought a pair of plastic earrings for about 4000 HKD (about 500 USD) and 'they weren't even real gold!" (someone has been talking to my husband....)

But then, another woman in our group piped up, "But was she happy?"
(Of course the answer is 'yes' because I ain't getting dressed and leaving the house and going all the way to Kowloon for something that will not make me palpitate with excitement and breath in our pollution----this is why I DON'T go to Kowloon)
SSSSOOO-----does it simply boil down to happiness?
What do you think?

Being identified with a brand has become so important in contemporary society because it probably gives many a feeling of acceptance or having a 'certain status' or a certain 'level of taste' (this is not for sale, I'm afraid).

It can even be a means of identification. Some websites use "What is your favourite brand?" as a security question. When you forget your locker password at my gym, the attendant will ask you what's inside your locker before letting you access it. "A black bag with straps and a snap" is not a good enough answer. These days, they ask for the brand. Maybe it's time for me to get an Hermes gym bag.

But fashion for me has always been about being different, which is what people are looking for today. You-s kids will never believe how out of place I have felt in the last few years because I wasn't chasing or hankering for every "It' bag.

For some of us, "It' never really happened. Luckily, the time for individuality has finally come!

JUDGING BY COVERS

2009-04-23T11:00:00.004+08:00

What did you kids think of this US Vogue May 2009 issue? I am asking about the ISSUE, not the cover. (Personally, I don't care about covers. You can give me the table of contents as cover and I'll be just as happy)

Aside from looking at the pictures, didja read anything? I didn't. In fact, I HATED this issue. I didn't even bother with the pictures because I didn't get any interesting information (or even good clothes) from them. The only thing this issue did was remind me to buy peonies (from Norwich Notes).

Who cares about who these models are dating if you can't tell one from the other? Plus the boys look like girls. Why do I want to read about pregnancy when that's my biggest nightmare? I don't need tips from models because they are miles taller and 1000 times prettier than me.

I want tips from Daphne Guinness and Amanda Harlech!!!

The only feature I liked was the excerpt from "The Bolter" by Frances Osborne (aka Mrs George Osborne, Mr. being UK shadow chancellor of the Exchequer from the Osborne and Little family of decorative furnishings).

I've never appreciated actors, models and reality TV celebrities because they got there on luck or looks or both. Not ability, effort or intelligence. (I also hate talent shows because talent, like beauty and luck, is God-given and I think people who receive gifts from God already have a leg up over people like me who went to the bathroom when those talents were being handed out)

Give me Ari Gold's and Lloyd's hardworking Hollywood ways any day. And as much as people hate bankers and lawyers.....They really work hard, hokay???

NOW THIS, I really enjoyed reading. Lots of information on the environment (topics like eco-cosmetics, product quality standards, the good-looking Cousteau family, sustainable fashion and beauty businesses, water therapy) and also the feature on the top 13 water experts. Don't say you didn't hear it from me but water is going to be what the next war will be on.

I didn't read the cover feature on Drew Barrymore because I don't read about celebrities. I wait for people to tell me....like oral history.

Meanwhile, I have cancelled my subscription to W, preferring to read it in the bookstores because last year they had all these issues with 'artistic' type photography of Angelina by Brad, Brad by Brad, an opera singer who looked like a man and other blurry-type photos.

I'd rather go through a catalogue where I can see clothes clearly anyday.

Now excuse me while I go TRY TO BUY something today if there is anything good at retail.
Will report from behind the racks later.

IT TAKES ONE, NOT TWO

2009-04-18T15:06:00.002+08:00

I put aside the book I was reading on Marie-Therese, France's last Madame Royale (or Princess Royal to the British monarchy) in favour of "Mrs Astor Regrets," by Meryl Gordon, the story of Brooke Astor, New York's last official queen of society and the last Mrs. Astor at least on the American side. (The Astors are like the Rothschilds who have family scattered all over Europe and/or America with members dominating and contributing positively into every society they settle into)

Last year I also read Frances Kiernan's "The Last Mrs. Astor" which was also very well-written and informative but 'Mrs. Astor Regrets' concentrates on the last few years of Astor's life and the public court battle that ensued (and still continues) after her death. Astor died on 13 August 2007 at the age of 105.

It all started when one of her grandson's Philip Marshall, one of the two sons of her only son Anthony Marshall, decided to take matters into his own hands by questioning the living conditions and medical care his multi-millionaire grandmother was getting from his father.

(The court heard every issue from medicines being replaced, the firing of her French chef to the quality and number of flower arrangements she required weekly and why the dogs were not walked regularly)

Not even his twin brother would support him in challenging their father. How did Philip Marshall think he will get support from New York society?

But here is where truth is better than fiction. David Rockefeller, Annette dela Renta and Henry Kissinger did.

In the last few days, I have realized that many times, when you blow the whistle or you unmask fraud, it usually just TAKES ONE. As they sang in Chorus Line, "One. Singualr sensation."

Harry Markopolos on Bernie Madoff (but the SEC didn't believe him in 2005), Oliver North and the Iran-Contra Affair, closer to home and my life, The Angel of Debt in Hong Kong and in the Philippines, Australian Brian Gorrell blogs it all on DJ Montano, the social swindler now on the run in America BECAUSE of Gorrell's blog!

Aside from being a major philantropist, flirt and best-dressed lister, Astor was a novelist and poet. "Mrs. Astor Regrets" quotes one of her poems, Discipline, which I think many of us can find inspiration whether under the drinking age or between 65 and death:

I am old and I have had

more than my share of good and bad

I've had love and sorrow, seen sudden death

and been left alone and of love bereft.

I thought I would never love again

and I thought my life was grief and pain.

The edge between life and death was thin,

but then I discovered discipline.

I learned to smile when I felt sad,

I learned to take the good and bad.

I learned to care a great deal more

for the world about me than before.

I began to forget the 'Me' and "I"

and joined in life as it rolled by:

this may not mean sheer ecstasy

but it is better by far than "I" and "Me."

It also helps to be left with USD 200 million, a huge Park Avenue flat, two country houses and full staff including a loyal butler who was a former footman at Buckingham Palace.

Now where are those dogs that need to be walked?

HISTORICAL ANGEL OF DEBT.....

2009-04-07T14:29:00.005+08:00

NOW PLAYING AT A U.S. ECONOMY NEAR YOU.....

This month is French Revolution month at least on my nightstand. A few weeks ago, I finished "Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution" by Caroline Weber and now I am reading "Marie-Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter" by Susan Nagel.

In between I am also reading Gems of Wisdom from the Seventh Dalai Lama (Of which my husband says, 'I could have told you all of that and you had to go out and buy a book?"). When I am feeling poor and unloved, I skim through a beautiful book, "Le Grand Frisson: 500 years of Jewels of Sentiment," published to accompany the ongoing stellar Chaumet exhibition at the museum in its Hong Kong boutique.

Piers Morgan's "God Bless America" and "Luxury Brand Management" by Michel Chevalier and Gerlad Mazzalovo will have to wait. In the case of the latter, I think retail is gonna have to wait a LONG TIME for a recovery. If Lane Crawford offered the local media 40% off selected new merchandise last weekend, you know the same offer to the general public will not be far behind....(But sadly, there was really nothing to buy because stuff in the stores are UGLY!!)
However, at the Celine 'friends and family" (read: 70-90% off) I managed to get 2 4-ply cashmere sweaters for 3000 HKD. My friends got shoes for 700 and dresses for 1500. Buy five items and get an extra 10% off---not even Giordano could give you a better deal.

Meanwhile, back in bed with all my books and all the news fit and not fit to print, I noticed similarities between the France of Louis XVI (Mr Marie Antoinette to you and me) and the America of Barack Obama (Mr Michelle Obama to you and me) go beyond their wives' fashion leadership. (But don't you think Mrs Sarkozy is so much chicer especially in that pale grey suede??/silk?? shirtdress she wore in Strasbourg?)

Of course I wanted to bring up the similarities with you-s but because a) I didn't have any solid references except the books and my own news analysis and b) I am neither a graduate of economics or history, I couldn't. I knew you-s peeps would have gone up in arms against my views like in, hold your Selle Francaises (horses)...the French Revolution.

Et voila...deniere fin de semaine there was a column by a visiting professor at Harvard University (great minds think alike!) which I have copied below. For you-s ADD-internet generation caption-only readers, I have highlighted what I think are the main points that will help impress your parents or Tim Geithner, in case you sit next to him at dinner (I heard he's hiring..)

What the French revolution can teach America
By Dominique Moïsi
Published: April 2 2009 18:13 Last updated: April 2 2009 18:13

“Eat the wealthy.” The ferocity of the words used by some demonstrators in London on the eve of the Group of 20 summit evokes the worst excesses of the French revolution. Anti-capitalist anger in the west is not confined to Europe. Alexis de Tocqueville’s The Ancien Régime and the Revolution is as relevant to understanding today’s America as his deep and eye-opening thoughts on the young American republic in his Democracy in America.
Of course, America in 2009 is not France in 1788, the year before the fall of the Bastille (the prison that embodied the oppressive nature of the monarchical regime) and the symbolic beginning of the French revolution. The fall of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 has nothing to do with the fall of the Bastille; symbols of wealth should not be confused with symbols of oppression. There is no guillotine around the corner and it would take a lot of imagination to compare President Barack Obama to Louis XVI, or Michelle Obama to Marie-Antoinette.
Yet as a European living in America – watching news on television every night, talking to friends, colleagues or my students – I sense fear, anger and a deep feeling of injustice reminiscent of the climate on the eve of the French revolution. Just replace bread shortages with foreclosures, aristocrats with bankers, and privileges such as the right not to pay tax with stock options. Add to that support for the king but rejection of many of his ministers, and the comparison looks less far-fetched.
The explosion of populist rage that has accompanied the AIG scandal, amplified by an opportunistic Congress and by media that play to the tune of their audiences when not reinforcing their passions, reflects the depth of suffering in the US. Main Street, like much of France at the end of the 18th century, is outraged. Fear for its own present and future is combined with anger at those it considers responsible, and who are much less affected than they. Are not senior bankers today like the aristocrats of yesterday, their privileges no longer justified by their social functions – to serve the king with their swords or to contribute to the creation and dissemination of wealth?
The problem with the economic team of the new president is that, like the court of the king of France in pre-revolutionary times, it has inherited all the bad reflexes of the ancien régime, mixing excessive sympathy for the outdated logic of the world of finance, which it helped to create, with insensitivity to the emotions of the ordinary people, which it tends to ignore. This sympathy is perceived to contrast with the harsh treatment of carmakers.
Bankers and financiers have to reinvent not only their trade but also their way of life and, above all, their value system. In the Madoff scandal, just as shocking as the crime of an individual was the behaviour of many of his rich customers, who combined greed with a lack of financial common sense.
An interesting incident was reported by CNN last week. A group of protesters – very few, to be honest – rented a bus in Connecticut and stopped in front of the mansions of AIG executives to express support for those who had returned their bonuses and outrage against those who had not and were still living in grand style, in contrast with the many more who had lost nearly everything. (writer's note: I bet the 'bad guys' all happen to not be home because they were on a fact-finding mission in the Bahamas)
The greed of some was tolerated as long as most of society continued to progress. But today’s combination of fear and humiliation with a deep sense of injustice leads to anger that is potentially irrepressible. The strength of the American republic has been bolstered by the popularity of its new president. This capital should not be squandered on reliance on a media-savvy communication culture. As can be seen so often in history, less is more. The president of the US simply speaks too much.
Revolution is not around the corner; at least, not in America. But there are lessons Mr Obama can learn from the French king’s failure to manage dissent. He must not fall prey to populism. His goal is to save the economy, not punish the bankers. At the same time, he must not be seen to have too much sympathy for the world of finance and its excesses or to cut himself off from the suffering of his people. If he fails, the corporate laws of today will face the same fate as the ancien régime rights of yesterday.
World leaders’ agreements, substantive or superficial, will not suffice. It is the trust of their respective citizens, translated into hope and confidence, that will make the difference.

The writer is a visiting professor at Harvard University and author of the forthcoming The Geopolitics of Emotion
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

ANGEL OF DEBT- Part 2

2009-03-28T14:12:00.004+08:00

Subtitle: If the shoe fits, sell it (or steal it or better yet, exchange it). In the last entry, I chronicled the alleged paper trail of A.C. or The Angel of Debt, a Filipina fraudster in HK.
Clearly she knows what she has been doing because she supposedly declared to a friend, “After I pay off all the ‘small debts,’ no one can touch me. You can’t even arrest me.”

WHELL---Angel--you did leave a paper trail of 'small' bounced checks but a bounced check IS a bounced check and it's FRAUD especially when you write several.

Sadly, the bulk of her debts are from (formerly) very good friends who helped her in her time of need. But before we get to the bad ass parts of the story (I think the worst is yet to come), I found out that she allegedly walked off with inventory from a designer line that was having a trunk show. (When confronted that she walked off with three handbags, she corrected the source by saying, 'Only two bags and a bangle which I wanted to exchange..." FOR WHAT!??? Cash or shoes???)

Supposedly her reputation ‘as a buyer’ sank to an all time low when she was allegedly blacklisted at On Pedder.

For what, we don’t exactly know but your guess is as good as mine. Check please!

Sometime last year, the Angel of Debt found herself homeless in Hong Kong and found accommodations with Leonor Herbert who has a 3-bedroom flat in Mid-levels. This friend rented a room out to the Angel of Debt for about 3000 HKD a month.
Her rent checks bounced.

In return for this kindness, AC borrowed Leonor’s credit card (supposedly with her permission) and charged about 40,000 HKD on it, her first transaction being for laser hair removal.
These days, I think there is a lot more her lenders want to pull out of her than just hair.

I don’t have details on this ‘loan’ and others but hopefully these entries will encourage people to come forward and be more vigilant about lending money to the Angel of Death (A.C.) and other similar characters.

OKAY---back to the story because we haven’t gotten to the part of the nightmare that wakes you up screaming in fear:

The Angel of Debt claimed to be ‘taking care’ of the payments but when Leonor and her boyfriend applied for a loan to buy a flat, here is what Leonor the Lender found out:
…..that she was blacklisted by Visa (surprise, surprise…because of the very card the Angel of Debt was using)
……that the lending bank refused to put her name on the title if she didn’t pay off the credit card debts. Leonor's boyfriend put up the money.

A few weeks ago, The Angel of Debt allegedly sold her used Tod’s shoes to Leonor’s sister saying that she wanted to use the money to pay for her yoga classes.

Of course, we know what happened there…..(see earlier entry)

She also supposedly borrowed money from Leonor’s helper, one of a hoard of helpers she has borrowed money from. Helpers in HK do not exactly make CEO wages and a few hundred dollars which may be lunch to us is a living for them.

IS IT FAIR NOT TO PAY THEM BACK??

The Angel of Debt should really get a debt sentence.

She also owes about 35,000 HKD to Lenny Eudela who, aside from helping her financially, also cooked for her.

I wish I could have friends like that! Anyone want to cook for me? (Japanese or Italian, please) Or 'lend' me money which I can pay back with a bad check?

ANGEL OF DEBT-Part 1

2009-03-28T13:15:00.005+08:00

Sub-title for the Filipino community: As Ate Vi once said, “I am not the addict, I am da victimS…”

For a major financial center like Hong Kong, success is celebrated probably as much as humiliation and punishment can be suffered from failure and/or fraud.

Ah…Failure…A word as bad as a curse in Hong Kong. But then so is FRAUD!

Ordinary people come into such close proximity to wealth. It is a city of winners where you could be sitting in a taxi in traffic next to a brand new chauffer-driven Bentley carrying the owner of a publicly-listed conglomerate.

….With office girls brushing shoulders with CEOs and managing directors at lunchtime sandwich queues and walking past well-dressed taitais, who can blame them for doing anything to own a Birkin?

It is no surprise, then, to know that certain individuals choose fraud as a method of satiating their lust for luxury goods and keeping up with the wealth they are surrounded with but do not really have.

Such is the modus operandi of a Filipina permanent resident in Hong Kong with the initials A----.C------, owner of a fashion company operating as B------- B---.

She is apparently engaged in intentional check fraud, aka check kiting or paperhanging.

Freedictionary.com defines intentional fraud as: The account holder knowingly writes a check for an amount not contained within the account, absent of the expectation of receiving such funds prior to the clearing of the check, or in the case of pathological gamblers, the expectation is contingent upon winning.

….Clearly, AC is an Angel of Debt who left a trail of unpaid debts and bouncing checks totaling about 100,000 HKD in 2008, her ‘Year of Living Dangerously.”

She is no gambler but rather a ‘shopper’ and ‘high maintenance woman.’ In an email to friends, it seems like she wants people to know her as ‘a good buyer’ and I quote, “What hurts is that two years ago when I had money, no one talked about me, nobody said oh she is a good buyer, she is a nice girl with a good heart. She is generous….”

WHHEELL, Lane Crawford Shoppers, you-s be-es the judge…….

Unfortunately, what I know now may only be the tip of my Jimmy Choos. There could be more individuals and/or small enterprises who have been victimized by this check kite-flyer.

This may not be entirely her story. Of course she will have ‘her side.’ Who doesn’t? Even a backless Issa dress has a back side…..

But it is really the story of her victims who were once her friends....people who lent her money because they were really ‘generous’ and trusting.

Her current paper trail of bounced checks started late last year. They were not very large amounts but her guts and sense of entitlement hurt and baffle her debtors.

From debts to an individual for as little as 500 HKD to as much as 40,000 HKD, AC allegedly remains unapologetic. “I will not apologize to anyone and I will only apologize when I want to….”

And to a lender, “I admit 95% is my fault but 5% is your fault because you lent me your credit card.” (Sounds like what the US government would say to China)

In October 2008, she put a cash down payment of HKD 1000 for a crocodile bag from a vendor in Sheung Wan. The next day, she returned to the shop and asked the owner if she could ‘borrow 1000 HKD but don’t tell my friends I borrowed money from you….” The owner refused.

When she came to pick up the bag, she wrote out a check for 2300 HKD. It bounced.

Recently, she went back to the bag manufacturer and wanted to sell the bag back to her. AND...Get this....Hold on to your YSL Downtown bags, girls.....
She also wanted to sell her a Nuti ostrich bag that she supposedly bought for 22,000 HKD. (More on that later)

In November 2008, she wrote a check for about 2000 HKD for fashion jewelry from a local HK designer. It bounced but The Angel of Debt had the guts to call the designer and ask to do an exchange after Chinese New Year. She never did.

Only in March 2008 were many of her creditors/victims were on to her….

They acted very slowly because everyone was too ashamed to talk about it with anyone else because everyone was either The Angel of Debt’s friend or knew her through a friend.

Early this year, she saw a doctor about her swollen foot but had to borrow about 2500 HKD for this. Perhaps she was really skint but without good reason. She brandished the 22,000 HKD Nuti ostrich bag to her friend who lent her this money. Not only that, she wanted this friend to deliver part of the money to her while she was…wait for it….getting a pedicure at a beauty salon!!! (HSBC, can you deliver my ATM withdrawals to Il Colpo??)

BOYS AND GIRLS AND GHEYS….YOU BE THE JUDGE!!

Last week, she wrote a check for about 3000 HKD to a yoga studio.
Only this week did she call to tell them NOT to deposit the check because she supposedly closed her account.
I wonder if karma covers bouncing checks......

DO YOU CLASSIFY THIS BEHAVIOUR AS UNINTENTIONAL?

It seems like she has been writing checks with the knowledge that she either has no money in her bank account or she may no longer have an existing account.

Why did it take her a week to tell them that she closed her account and if she knew she this, why even write the check?
(She wrote me a check for 1600 HKD in August 2008 and called the next day to say she was going to give me cash. I have yet to receive it)

She has allegedly sold her YSL bag to Milan Station, sold her computer, borrowed money from helpers of her friends.

So far not so serious….

In the next entry, I will give you the ‘balance’ of her account. One for 40,000 HKD and another for 20,000 HKD....plus LOADS MORE such as walking off with inventory and being allegedly blacklisted at On Pedder!!
You may have to think twice before you even let someone with the intials A.C. ask you for the time….or your money…..

HAVE YOU LAUGHED TODAY?

2009-03-25T18:52:00.006+08:00

I just came home from a glamorous lunch at a very glamorous restaurant with equally glamorous people from a glamorous (genuinely) INTERNATIONAL brand.

After talking about the entire luxury business over lunch plus using my horrifying French at a post-lunch-new-baby-social call (complete with cadeau pour les enfant de Jacadi)---

I ALMOST THREW UP LAUGHING....I SNORTED, I COUGHED and I CHOKED until my maid started screaming with fear that I was dying......

When I saw an entry on 'international' designer Boyet Fajardo on http://www.chuvaness.com/.....%20(read it and weep! hahaha!!)

Inter-na---wut!!??? OH MY GAS!!! MY stomach is now FULL OF GAS!!!! I think my heart is gonna stop!!!!

In it, the 'international' cotourier (on Friendster)/designer's spokesman issued an apology saying Boyet Fajardo's unspeakable behaviour towards the staff at Duty Free was a 'creative outburst...'

CREATIVE OUTBURST!!??? What was so creative about shopping at Duty Free that necessitated an outburst?? Deciding on whether to buy Johnnie Walker Black or Red? Or Toblerone milk, dark or white??? Large or small Kisses?

Creative outburst!!! Jesus H Christ!!! When JHC was giving out creativity I really think Boyet was too-Fajardo to even get a drop!!! Creative outburst!! This blog has more creative outburst than a zipper from his line!!!

I did have an outburst, though. An outburst of laughter. AND I literally burst out of my Chloe paperbag linen trousers and had to get into an old Isabel Marant pair!!!

Then it gets funnier...The piece goes on to say that he is an international Filipino designer who sells to Switzerland (where the population is at an all time high of 1o0 and the age demographic is between 65 and death) and United Arab Emirates (the perfect market for a Boyet Fajardo creation where you can hide fashion don'ts under a black bedsheet )

I am so speechless and my eyesight is blinded by tears in my eyes from laughing that I can't even type!! I'm drowning in the glass of water I just drank. Shouldn't have done that if I had known what I was gonna read!!

THEN it gets EVEN funnier: "He said the online petitioners should consider Fajardo's rising international status before pursuing the boycott."

Rising from what?? The ashes like a phoenix or from an oversized clam like Venus??

What is it about 'international' that I am not understanding???

HOOKAY--Hookay-hahaha---I should not have said I wish Boyet Fajardo goes out of business because in fact, he shows so much promise for another type of business....

I think Mr Fajardo and his spokesman should consider a job in stand-up comedy because I'm still laughing and my new Colossal Volume mascara is running....(like the way people are from his clothes!!!)

Oh My GAWD!! My lipstick is smeared (like Boyet Fajardo's reputation) and now I look like a clown (Mr Fajardo's next career)!!!

Boyet, babeh...You make me more than smile!! I'm fuckin' laughing my eyes out and already they are TINY!! I've got nuttin' left!!!

As Ate Vi once said, "How do I luke?"

2009-03-23T16:43:00.005+08:00

DON'T WE LURVE THE WAY THIS BLOG IS LOOKIN'???
Unang-una, nagpapasalamat ako sa parents ko at kay Kuya Amiel and the staff of m2.o Communications for kindly volunteering to help me FINALLY put some real chic into the visual appeal of my blog. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

DOESN'T IT LOOK GREAT, boys and girls and gheys? Even if you-s hate-s eet, you have to admit it STILL looks better than Boyet Fajardo's clothes!! Go on, admit it!!
The blog was designed by the talented Monica Sabado and Jeeves De Veyra of m2.0, a two-year old boutique media company that counts APAC and Italianni's as clients. Log onto http://www.m2comms.wordpress.com/ for more information. They also have a Facebook Group headed by Rain Baguio, our editor at http://www.donavictorina.blogspot.com/.

HAVE WE LAUGHED TODAY????
Aside from Boyet Gone Too Fajardo's bald spot and atrocious clothes sense, what else made you laugh this weekend?
Unbeknownst to moi until it spilled the beans, the Patola Vine has a relative called Poison Ivy spewing venom in Boyet Not-De-Leon's famous garden in his Valle Verde house. Supposedly many saw this scandale coming to the self-annointed-on-Friendster 'cotourier' simply because he brags better than he designs clothes. All he talks about are his travels, his homes (only 2, ha!??? Tell THAT to the Kaiser!! and NO PRIVATE PLANE!! loser!), his art and antiques.

Well now there's gonna be a whole load of talkin' going on and it ain't gonna be about art or fashion.

As much as blogs have a lot of funny and controversial information, their comments sections are equally hilarious (sometimes even funnier than the main entries!). This one was sent to me by my friends at http://www.donavictorina.blogspot.com/:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Is Smith Innocent Afterall?":
"I think "Boldstar" is Kitty Go, yung blooger na ang lakas ng loob mamintas matronish naman. Di kayang itago ng Roger Vivier ang itsura niya."

(How can Boldstar be me if he/she is so much smarter and more serious about issues?)

I admit I AM a MATRONA!! I'm old, fat and childless. I also wear the matronic brand Roger Vivier. One does not need to 'hide' behind it because it ain't exactly the height of hip. It's classic and bourgeois (aka safe and 'common'). I only wear the Belle Vivier with rectangualr pilgrim buckles. I wouldn't even consider the curved or asymmetrical new ones.

My wardrobe reflects my personality and my lifestyle. I wear shoes the same way I wear my clothes. Although I wear different ones for different occasions and locations, I have it down to a science---pure linen for French country summers, Indian caftans for tropical city summers, Rick Owens for spring in New York, Tokyo and London, Fendi for apres-ski, empowering Yohji and CdeG for when I'm feeling fat and unworthy and Lanvin as often as I can....

So when do I wear RV? Well, it is sort of a conservative banker's shoe so I wear that to banker events where you don't want to look skint but don't want to look like your husband is in AIG's bonus pool, either. And I wear it with leggings or a DVF dress (which is racy by banking standards) so people don't think I am head of JP Morgan Fixed Income even if my income IS FIXED. At an all time low.....

BOYET (gone too) FAJARDO

2009-03-21T15:04:00.004+08:00

I originally wasn't going to write an entry on Boycott (ay este ...Boyet) Fajardo since everyone and their Duty Free shopping bag has said something (and everything fit and unfit to print) about this incident.

I didn't even bother uploading the video because a) everyone seems to have a copy of it on their site, b) I don't know how to upload videos from anywhere let alone turn on my TV and c) the last time I uploaded a video was for a supposedly romantic encounter which I mistook for a crime scene. It was promptly removed from YouTube.

I was going to comment about women flying under cover (read: in burkha) but Boyet has certainly outpaced Burkha in the controversy department.

In case you-s have not gotten the cyberspacial memo, please log onto the following sites for videos and hardly a comment on the side of the fashion don't (in more ways than one):
http://www.chuvaness.com/
http://www.delfindjmontano.blogspot.com/
http://www.boyetfajardo.blogspot.com/ -put up by his own fans who want to lay him on the cutting
table

Boyet Fajardo is also coming to a talk show near you---the one with Boy "Certainly not DingDong Dantes just look into my magic mirror" Abunda and Kris 'Walang part na hindi Plastic' Aquino.

Also, may I say that in his Friendster account, he spells his profession as "cotourier" or something like that. Marc is busy with his new marriage so I'm gonna call Karl and I KNOW his straight hair is gonna frizz like a Santo Nino.

And finally....

I FUCKIN' HOPE HE GOES OUT OF BUSINESS because with his looks and attitude, he wouldn't even be able to find a job as....what?....a Duty Free cashier???
(I also hope the little gay cashier gains some weight and gets some kind of compensation like a lot of cash or a reality show. Just not free clothes and certainly not the monstrous clothes by Boyet Fajardo)

Yan lang pow.....

IF THE SHOE (AY --SUIT!!) FITS....STEAL IT!!!

2009-03-18T12:45:00.003+08:00

Remuneration and other benefits in this economic climate has been under much debate but sometimes what I read in the news (I don't watch TV because I don't know how to turn the TV on) could be PR strategies, news to 'please the peeps' or simply ignorance.

I am not defending the (former) masters of the universe but when I read about Obama's plan to cap top banking executives' salaries at USD 500,000, I had to laugh. Doesn't his finance staff know that traders and brokers sometimes make more than board members? Last week, the US media criticized Ken Lewis, Bank of America CEO, disembarking from a private plane that costs USD 5000 an hour to run. Little do they know it would very likely cost BofA shareholders more in time and logtistics if their CEO flew commercial.

WHHEELL---but that's just my opinion, I certainly not being of the private-plane crowd. (But still HOPING to be...very likely dreaming....)

Now on to topics at 'ground level.'

Yesterday at lunch, amdist the ooohhing and aaahhing of one of the ladies' new fierce-gladiator 6850 HKD pair of heels (plus 10% Lane Crawford discount) ---Balenciaga? Givenchy? Who knows! They all look the same these days!---I mentioned that I never thought, in my fashion life, that I would ever see the day of 1000 USD shoes.

That day arrived last year (or maybe two years ago), the final year for all of us to be shopping dangerously. Plus the shoes have been ugly! (In the last two years I have only bought the following brands: Alaia, Rupert Sanderson and Roger Vivier) Yesterday we also bemoaned the weakening of Dries van Noten, a line I shopped every season until about three or four years ago.

Anyway, back to shoes. Everyone said they could still remember the last time they paid 100-200 USD for a pair of shoes---Walter Steiger, Susan Bennis/Warren Edwards (I spent all of my food allowance on a loafer), Helene Arpels, Joan and David....(Yes, we are all THAT OLD!)

On the way home, I thought of the times when I 'really got it' from my parents for spending too much and I will tell you what I bought in the name of fashion and at the expense of my allowance or rent, but never tuition.

When I moved to New York for school, my aunt told my Mom I had to have two pairs of boots for the winter: a plastic one for the snow and a sturdy leather one for the rest of the winter including when it rains. My Mom and aunt had LL Bean and Clark's in mind. I ended up buying a super soft pair of dark brown Andrea Carrano calfskin boots which I still have today and a burgundy Fendi rainboot plastered with its Zucca (double F) logo. Strike One.

Strikes Two and Three happened in Hong Kong. Strike Two was when I took a childhood friend to Matsuda and both of us proceeded to buy a t-shirt each, probably the cost of a night's stay at a 5-star hotel. I didn't hear the end of "How could you have brought that kid to such an expensive place that even WE WOULD NEVER think of entering?" "What is it, anyway? Is this T-shirt made of gold?" (Now you can see I can never escape this question---I still get it from my husband)

Strike Three was when I bought a small WHITE leather day bag at Bally and a super soft (again!) leather cosmetic case at Basile, both of which I still have. The Basile make-up case now has some kind of oil stain and the Bally bag I have dyed black.

I AM THAT OLD!! (Basile and Matsuda have closed ages ago and Bally is under revival)

This is what "I got" from my Dad, "Do you know I only have ONE pair of Bally shoes and you go out and buy a bag? What is that other expensive thing whose name I don't even recognize? If it's so expensive, how come no one knows the brand? Who TOLD you about this brand? Can't you use a plastic case from Rustan's like everyone else?"

I realized I had to leave home. QUICK! Because my peeps and I did not share the same (fashion) universe.

Now I can laugh but I didn't for many years growing up. Maybe that's why I have hung on to those things. (I had to throw out the Fendi boots when they finally leaked. The Matsuda t-shirt ended up as a rag)

NOW they wanna know what happens when I meet Karl, Donatella, Vivienne, Alber or Arnault....and how is London, Paris and Rome?

Speaking of laughter, have you kids laughed at all this week? I HAVE!! TERRIBLY!!!

The comments on the Bryan Boy=Chikatime entry are so hilarious but the one that really killed me, and I haven't laughed as much since Chikatime was:

from Anonymous:(v Pinoy!)

3 ways to eliminate fagot (sic) worm:1) death by elephant katol, 2) death by lethal injection of vodka, 3) death bu firing squad using tirador, 4) Ipako sa cruz!

THEN after reading that, my manicurista tells me that she lives at the Belchers in Kennedy Town/Pok Fu Lam and IF and ONLY IF I remember right, Wendy Puyat used to live there!!!

(I couldn't stop laughing...Someone please tell me I'm wrong)

And finally, this piece of gossip which is not so funny but can you picture Xeng packing them all in and running away with them? Xeng supposedly ran of with 13,000 USD worth of bathing suits from a Brazilian designer based in New York City and is now selling them in Manila.

So you guys in Boracay, check your suitcases for STOLEN GOODS!!! hahahaha!!!

Now if you'll excuse me while I leave my desk to get a pair of new Roger Viviers. Which I INTEND to pay FOR!

WHEN THE CHIKA(TIME) HITS THE FAN....

2009-03-11T17:23:00.003+08:00

WOULD YOU RATHER READ ABOUT THIS
OR THIS ???

DID I HAVE TO ASK?

I originally wanted to discuss Stephen Roach's (chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia) column from yesterday's Financial Times but I think Da Who is Chikatime is much more newsworthy than boring world trade and they can fight it out even more next month at the G20 in London. After this whole economic debacle, we will have G2000 as that will be the only fashion brand the world will be able to afford.

OH MY GAS!!! It was impossible for me to get a turn at my own computer what with the Patola Vine monitoring www.donavictorina.blogspot.com AND taking calls on MY phone. I had to disconnect its phone late last year when I found out we didn't have enough money for fertilizer.

Chances are, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you would already have known to go into DV's site because I only mentioned it TWICE in the last few days. If not, don't bother making tea. Close this page now and quickly clickety click on DV's site then have your maid bring you tea.

Gorrell has finally spilled the beans. Chikatime = Bryan Boy. Why are we NOT surprised?

I knew that sometime late last year but I was told 'not to tell.' Of course, since I am so trustworthy (as in my lips are sealed sometimes....like this time) I did not tell anyone. Especially NOT the Patola Vine since that thing is the creepy-crawliest plant I've ever known. Everyone complains that it talks too much. So much so that we are now banned from one of the public areas of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondent's Club.

There are several general issues I want to address from the Comments section on DV:

As it is, the DV comment section is so active (50 something vs Francis Magalona's 8 tells you that the Chikatime entry is on speed...) that I don't want to interfere.

1) That Brian Gorrell may not have written the piece. As a new member of the DV Council, like the original editorial board, I get to read important entries that are scheduled for publication. Gorrell DID write most of the piece but, like most stories that go into papers, there were some very minor edits. Someone once told me, "If they criticize you for grammar, that means they have nothing bad to say...."

What the hell do you think the editors are there for? Do you-s actually THINK that whatever Jason Blair turned in to his New York Times editor was printed as is? (Well, look at what happened to Jason Blair at may edit na yan, ha!)

Well, I can talk but truthfully, I do nothing but sit in my dog-print pajamas while the rest of the Council works.

2) That DV and Gorrell have been very inconsiderate seeing as there was a death in BB's family. The idea for this story was planned weeks in advance. It was written, read and edited to coincide with DV's first anniversary. In fact, the editors have been kind. If they really wanted to cause BB misery, they could have published it on his birthday which is next week (or the following week).

3) What's in it for Gorrell or DV? Honestly, nothing. (Well, it probably helps that BB offended him and scores of other people) DV strives to deliver social and political stories on lies, debauchery, pretentiousness, carnality, etc...and most of the public seems to think BB epitomizes those qualities. The DV Council has debated on the importance of this topic but bottom line, IT IS A STORY. And a good/controversial one!

4) But we loved Chikatime! I did, Gorrell did and we admit it. I stand by my praise for the site's content--hilarious prose that accompanied incriminating photos. I still wish I was able to do something like it. But what many did not like was BB's betrayal of long and sincere friendships at the cost of this site.

5) The point of the Chikatime 'reveal' was also to deter future 'anonymous bloggers.' Why did I even bring this up when posters were mostly 'anonymous?"

Why was I not surprised that BB was behind Chikatime? I am used to the world of pretense and backstabbing. Even if I did not get negative exposure at Chikatime, I always thought I would be next just because of my books and this blog. Or my eye make-up.

Maybe it was because BB asked me about listing a Chikatime-type blog in HK to avoid lawsuits but never did it. Perhaps he saw no reason to, having been there, done that.

YUN LANG ANG GUESS KO.....

HAS CAPITALISM FAILED?

2009-03-10T15:44:00.003+08:00

While we wait holding in our stomach muscles and Hermes belt buckles before Dona Victorina reveals who was behind Chikatime (www.donavictorina.blogspot.com), commercial muna...

It doesn't seem like the world is collapsing from beneath us because IT REALLY IS!! Stock markets and the world are collapsing! (Even the Mandarin ladies locker attendant knows HSBC stock is worthless...Hong Kong, we have a problem...) Buildings are not quite collapsing but construction has halted in former cement and steel gobbling cities like Dubai and Macau.

Has capitalism failed? Aside from holding out until the spring sales, the buzz in HK is that perhaps the Chinese governement had it right all along.
(And so did Chanel as the shops were packed for the last few days with customers rushing to buy new Spring-Summer pieces to wear to this afternoon's show at the Four Seasons--my, my...)

To aid your ADD-internet generation-not more than 200 words-reading capabilites, I have magnified what I think are the important parts in this extremely long but authoritative article.

This from yesterday's Financial Times, the first of a series entitled "The Future of Capitalism."

Seeds of its own destruction
By Martin Wolf

Another ideological god has failed. The assumptions that ruled policy and politics over three decades suddenly look as outdated as revolutionary socialism.
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Thus quipped Ronald Reagan, hero of US conservatism. The remark seems ancient history now that governments are pouring trillions of dollars, euros and pounds into financial systems.
“Governments bad; deregulated markets good”: how can this faith escape unscathed after Alan Greenspan, pupil of Ayn Rand and predominant central banker of the era, described himself, in congressional testimony last October, as being “in a state of shocked disbelief” over the failure of the “self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity”?
In the west, the pro-market ideology of the past three decades was a reaction to the perceived failure of the mixed-economy, Keynesian model of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The move to the market was associated with the election of Reagan as US president in 1980 and the ascent to the British prime ministership of Margaret Thatcher the year before. Little less important was the role of Paul Volcker, then chairman of the Federal Reserve, in crushing inflation.
Yet bigger events shaped this epoch: the shift of China from the plan to the market under Deng Xiaoping, the collapse of Soviet communism between 1989 and 1991 and the end of India’s inward-looking economic policies after 1991. The death of central planning, the end of the cold war and, above all, the entry of billions of new participants into the rapidly globalising world economy were the high points of this era.
Today, with a huge global financial crisis and a synchronised slump in economic activity, the world is changing again. The financial system is the brain of the market economy. If it needs so expensive a rescue, what is left of Reagan’s dismissal of governments? If the financial system has failed, what remains of confidence in markets?
It is impossible at such a turning point to know where we are going. In the chaotic 1970s, few guessed that the next epoch would see the taming of inflation, the unleashing of capitalism and the death of communism. What will happen now depends on choices unmade and shocks unknown. Yet the combination of a financial collapse with a huge recession, if not something worse, will surely change the world. The legitimacy of the market will weaken. The credibility of the US will be damaged. The authority of China will rise. Globalisation itself may founder. This is a time of upheaval.
How did the world arrive here? A big part of the answer is that the era of liberalisation contained seeds of its own downfall: this was also a period of massive growth in the scale and profitability of the financial sector, of frenetic financial innovation, of growing global macroeconomic imbalances, of huge household borrowing and of bubbles in asset prices.
In the US, core of the global market economy and centre of the current storm, the aggregate debt of the financial sector jumped from 22 per cent of gross domestic product in 1981 to 117 per cent by the third quarter of 2008. In the UK, with its heavy reliance on financial activity, gross debt of the financial sector reached almost 250 per cent of GDP.
Carmen Reinhart of the University of Maryland and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard argue that the era of liberalisation was also a time of exceptionally frequent financial crises, surpassed, since 1900, only by the 1930s. It was also an era of massive asset price bubbles. By intervening to keep their exchange rates down and accumulating foreign currency reserves, governments of emerging economies generated huge current account surpluses, which they recycled, together with inflows of private capital, into official capital outflows: between the end of the 1990s and the peak in July 2008, their currency reserves alone rose by $5,300bn.
These huge flows of capital, on top of the traditional surpluses of a number of high-income countries and the burgeoning surpluses of oil exporters, largely ended up in a small number of high-income countries and particularly in the US. At the peak, America absorbed about 70 per cent of the rest of the world’s surplus savings.
Meanwhile, inside the US the ratio of household debt to GDP rose from 66 per cent in 1997 to 100 per cent a decade later. Even bigger jumps in household indebtedness occurred in the UK. These surges in household debt were supported, in turn, by highly elastic and innovative financial systems and, in the US, by government programmes.
Throughout, the financial sector innovated ceaselessly. Warren Buffett, the legendary investor, described derivatives as “financial weapons of mass destruction”. He was proved at least partly right. In the 2000s, the “shadow banking system” emerged and traditional banking was largely replaced by the originate-and-distribute model of securitisation via constructions such as collateralised debt obligations. This model blew up in 2007.
We are witnessing the deepest, broadest and most dangerous financial crisis since the 1930s. As Profs Reinhart and Rogoff argue in another paper, “banking crises are associated with profound declines in output and employment”. This is partly because of overstretched balance sheets: in the US, overall debt reached an all-time peak of just under 350 per cent of GDP – 85 per cent of it private. This was up from just over 160 per cent in 1980.
Among the possible outcomes of this shock are: massive and prolonged fiscal deficits in countries with large external deficits, as they try to sustain demand; a prolonged world recession; a brutal adjustment of the global balance of payments; a collapse of the dollar; soaring inflation; and a resort to protectionism. The transformation will surely go deepest in the financial sector itself. The proposition that sophisticated modern finance was able to transfer risk to those best able to manage it has failed. The paradigm is, instead, that risk has been transferred to those least able to understand it. As Mr Volcker remarked during a speech last April: “Simply stated, the bright new financial system – for all its talented participants, for all its rich rewards – has failed the test of the marketplace.”
In a recent paper Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England’s executive director for financial stability, shows how little banks understood of the risks they were supposed to manage. He ascribes these failures to “disaster myopia” (the tendency to underestimate risks), a lack of awareness of “network externalities” (spillovers from one institution to the others) and “misaligned incentives” (the upside to employees and the downside to shareholders and taxpayers).
. . .
After the crisis, we will surely “see finance less proud”, as Winston Churchill desired back in 1925. Markets will impose a brutal, if temporary, discipline. Regulation will also tighten.
Less clear is whether policymakers will contemplate structural remedies: a separation of utility commercial banking from investment banking; or the forced reduction in the size and complexity of institutions deemed too big or interconnected to fail. One could also imagine a return of much banking activity to the home market, as governments increasingly call the tune. If so, this would be “de-globalisation”.
Churchill called also for industry to be “more content”. In the short run, however, the collapse of the financial system is achieving the opposite: a worldwide industrial slump. It is also spreading to every significant sector of the real economy, much of which is clamouring for assistance.
Yet if the financial system has proved dysfunctional, how far can we rely on the maximisation of shareholder value as the way to guide business? The bulk of shareholdings is, after all, controlled by financial institutions. Events of the past 18 months must confirm the folly of this idea. It is better, many will conclude, to let managers determine the direction of their companies than let financial players or markets override them.
A likely result will be an increased willingness by governments to protect companies from active shareholders – hedge funds, private equity and other investors. As a defective financial sector loses its credibility, the legitimacy of the market process itself is damaged. This is particularly true of the free-wheeling “Anglo-Saxon” approach.
No less likely are big changes in monetary policy. The macroeconomic consensus had been in favour of a separation of responsibility for monetary and fiscal policy, the placing of fiscal policy on autopilot, independence of central banks and the orientation of monetary decisions towards targeting inflation. But with interest rates close to zero, the distinction between monetary and fiscal policy vanishes. More fundamental is the challenge to the decision to ignore asset prices in the setting of monetary policy.
Many argue that Mr Greenspan, who succeeded Mr Volcker, created the conditions for both bubbles and subsequent collapse. He used to argue that it would be easier to clean up after the bursting of a bubble than identify such a bubble in real time and then prick it. In a reassessment of the doctrine last November, Donald Kohn, Fed vice-chairman, restated the orthodox position, but with a degree of discomfort.
Mr Kohn now states that “in light of the demonstrated importance to the real economy of speculative booms and busts (which can take years to play out), central banks probably should always try to look out over a long horizon when evaluating the economic outlook and deliberating about the appropriate accompanying path of the policy rate”. Central banks will have to go further, via either monetary policy or regulatory instruments.
. . .
Yet a huge financial crisis, together with a deep global recession, if not something far worse, is going to have much wider effects than just these.
Remember what happened in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Unemployment rose to one-quarter of the labour force in important countries, including the US. This transformed capitalism and the role of government for half a century, even in the liberal democracies. It led to the collapse of liberal trade, fortified the credibility of socialism and communism and shifted many policymakers towards import substitution as a development strategy.
The Depression led also to xenophobia and authoritarianism. Frightened people become tribal: dividing lines open within and between societies. In 1930, the Nazis won 18 per cent of the German vote; in 1932, at the height of the Depression, their share had risen to 37 per cent.
One transformation that can already be seen is in attitudes to pay. Even the US and UK are exerting direct control over pay levels and structures in assisted institutions. From the inconceivable to the habitual has taken a year. Equally obvious is a wider shift in attitudes towards inequality: vast rewards were acceptable in return for exceptional competence; as compensation for costly incompetence, they are intolerable. Marginal tax rates on the wealthier are on the way back up.
Yet another impact will be on the sense of insecurity. The credibility of moving pension savings from government-run pay-as-you-go systems to market-based systems will be far smaller than before, even though, ironically, the opportunity for profitable long-term investment has risen. Politics, like markets, overshoot.
The search for security will strengthen political control over markets. A shift towards politics entails a shift towards the national, away from the global. This is already evident in finance. It is shown too in the determination to rescue national producers. But protectionist intervention is likely to extend well beyond the cases seen so far: these are still early days.
The impact of the crisis will be particularly hard on emerging countries: the number of people in extreme poverty will rise, the size of the new middle class will fall and governments of some indebted emerging countries will surely default. Confidence in local and global elites, in the market and even in the possibility of material progress will weaken, with potentially devastating social and political consequences. Helping emerging economies through a crisis for which most have no responsibility whatsoever is a necessity.
The ability of the west in general and the US in particular to influence the course of events will also be damaged. The collapse of the western financial system, while China’s flourishes, marks a humiliating end to the “uni-polar moment”. As western policymakers struggle, their credibility lies broken. Who still trusts the teachers?
These changes will endanger the ability of the world not just to manage the global economy but also to cope with strategic challenges: fragile states, terrorism, climate change and the rise of new great powers. At the extreme, the integration of the global economy on which almost everybody now depends might be reversed. Globalisation is a choice. The integrated economy of the decades before the first world war collapsed. It could do so again.
On June 19 2007, I concluded an article on the “new capitalism” with the observation that it remained “untested”. The test has come: it failed. The era of financial liberalisation has ended. Yet, unlike in the 1930s, no credible alternative to the market economy exists and the habits of international co-operation are deep.
“I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more,” said Dorothy after a tornado dropped her, her house and dog in the land of Oz. The world of the past three decades has gone. Where we end up, after this financial tornado, is for us to seek to determine.

WHY EMULATE THE LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BROKE? PART 2

2009-03-06T10:14:00.004+08:00

Coming to a ramp near you: Aavel Bacudio's confection
for April's Fashion Watch

Wealthy Filipinos used to hire maids from HK. Now the HK Chinese hire us.
How did we lose rice production to Indonesia and Vietnam? We practically INVENTED RICE!! What made us choose malls over meals?
Which brings me to our talent---fashion, advertising and other creatives. Why did we (that includes me) have to leave?
The original and most obvious reason was ambition. There was no way to move up in the Philippines if there was no opportunity. For me, that was in the Eighties. At that time Marcos had already raped the economy so much that we wuz beggin’ for it.

But by the time I returned in the mid-Nineties, there was STILL no opportunity when Hong Kong and Singapore were already huge trading ports, paying salaries equal to or even more (if you count housing and low taxation) than New York or London. My friends in America laughed until they cried when I told them my salary was going down every year. When I arrived, it was 25 pesos to 1 USD. When I left five years later it was 40 to 1.

When I came back to Manila, running magazines put me in touch with the local fashion business. By this time, the country was so enamored with what was ‘imported’ there was no going back for store returns. I’m not saying imports are bad. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea are huge consumers of imports, particularly true luxury goods. As much as Pinoys like to think so, Marks and Spencer, Nine West, Abecrombie and Fitch and the Gap are NOT luxury goods houses.

However, for us to sustain any form of luxury or middle market ‘imports’ economy, we must first learn to appreciate our own. And that means going to local designers NOT JUST for a wedding gown or a pink chiffon matrona ninang dress with matching taffeta mules!!! Thailand has a booming local fashion retail scene as presented in Siam Center. Singapore has that treasure trove of a dump, Herren Plaza. Although people bemoan Hong Kong’s loss as a manufacturing base, it has produced Espirit, Shanghai Tang, Blanc de Chine, Spy (v cute!) and Giordano. It is not easy. The Japanese, now the purveyor of chic and cool, were not accepted by their own department stores until they showed in Paris in the Eighties. The Taiwanese struggled with mom and pop businesses until one…JUST ONE … buyer with foresight at the Sunrise Department store kick started a whole industry that still exists and continues to grow today. They have a local designer selling jackets at 3000 USD that hangs in the same areas as Valentino and Chanel. The others sit happily in malls next to agnes b, Tod’s, Juicy, etc. There is no snobbism unlike in the Philippines. It could be education, it could be a strong middle class, it could be a long national history but…..

It is also ignorance of mall operators and snobbishness of the brands. Again, the lack of national pride. It is the duty of big business to educate its customers but they don’t. And so we have the biggest American bourgeois market outside America----the land of jeans, white shirt and loafers (which is not a bad thing on Margarita Fores but a uniform on everyone else!), tee-shirt, “It” bag, jeans and Jimmy Choos, all New York black (in the tropics?).…..

On the other hand, I have to commend Ayala Land for having an area for local designers in Glorietta 5. (I saw that last year so God knows what it looks like today) The time has really come and like I said, it takes one---one with foresight, one with belief and one with capital to take this gamble. I hope the rents will not kill the local brands. (Everywhere in the free world, rents are like cancer. They kill you)

Why is it that for us, if it’s local, it’s ‘pangit?” Of course there are things everywhere that are really diabolical (except Japan because there, they just have ‘weird”) but there are many things in the Philippines that can be developed but we have to work on our quality. I can think of several names that do not fail to disappoint ---Silk Cocoon scarves (Everyone goes, “Wow!”) Jewelmer, Happy Feet (My yoga classmates in HK and people in Europe want to know where I bought mine!), Bench, Budji, Kenneth Cobunpue, Regatta boxer shorts (one London journalist told me they are better than Turnbull and Asser’s), Rizal Farms, the Magsaysay honey cosmetics guy in Tagaytay. New York labels such as Kotur and Rafe (a NY-based Filipino-owned label) source materials and draw inspiration from the Philippines. As much as I dislike the owners, Celestina has put out a product that the country can be proud of. (As long as they pay their suppliers!)

If you have two things with the same price tag and the local one is better made, why would you choose the one from Marlboro Classics or the discount outlet? Because it has ‘status?”

I think aside from losing national pride, the country has also lost the memo posted in many closets across the word: That the “It” bag is over. For the true fashionista, “It” never really was.

OH OH OH OH....The Patola Vine came home practcially out of breath last night, heaving from the weight of its branches. It was at the garden center looking for a shovel to bury me with when it ran into none other than Dona Victorina (http://www.donavictorina.blogspot.com/) who ALREADY BOUGHT A SHOVEL to bury one of the most popular bloggers and also bought a tungsten lamp to SHED LIGHT on the person behind a now defunct gossip blog!!

OH MY GAS!!! When will this happen?? VERY SOON!!!
OH MY GAS mag-load na kayo ng telephone because this will be BIG!

WNY EMULATE THE LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BROKE? PART 1

2009-03-06T10:04:00.002+08:00

BUY LOCAL: From the just launched men's line by one of Manila's popular
names, Aavel Bacudio, who is presenting a collection at Fashion Watch this April

A mole in Martin Margiela (ay no--KnCo pala for this entry!) told me that Cito Beltran either had a program or did a story on ‘buying local’ which was generally well received. Every country, particularly developed countries with active financial centers, is affected by this recession and for almost all, the solution is to generate domestic business. America has its protectionist ‘Buy American.” What’s there to buy? Cars? The California Dream? (now shattered and bankrupt) American Apparel—made in downtown LA! China is putting its people to work on public infrastructure probably to avoid unrest in the countryside. Indonesia also wants to generate local business and is even nationally promoting local fashion through Batik Fridays but it also wants to ‘export labor.” (read: maids and construction workers…Juice ko…Allah on a bike!)

It may be too late (but better late than never) to try to generate local business now that the going is tough. This should have been done way before any of this happened. Like maybe 20 years ago? Take the example of Taiwan, a country so dependent on tech exports that you could say they built the country online. From yesterday’s Herald Tribune: “The financial tsunami makes it possible to rethink our economic development strategy, as to whether we should rely so much on exports,” President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan said in an interview in Taipei.”When….We think we should attach more emphasis on domestic demand instead of putting all our eggs in one basket.”

President Ma can say this because despite its economy being largely export oriented, Taiwan has a relatively strong domestic economy. Probably because it has ‘no friends’ and China was always a threat, the country made sure that first, it fed its people. Taiwan produces a lot of its own produce that even international gourmet chefs sing praises for local poultry, fish and vegetables. Even a food ignoramus like me noticed that the local produce I ate in Taiwan was so much fresher than what I eat in Hong Kong which is all imported. (Hong Kong physically does not have enough land to grow crops unless it’s done in small farms in Sai Kung and then the harvest can only feed a family of four minus the dog)

Second, like Korea and Japan, Taiwan educated their people to the highest levels. Okay—everything is in Chinese but who needs English these days especially if you have a poor command of it like the Philippines? Teachers get not only respect but a high salary. The local publishing business is booming not only for magazines and newspapers but also books. As a former publisher, there is no place I feel more inadequate than in Korea, Taiwan or Japan. If you think they only read their work, read the fine print. Bookstores are open all night and are stocked with every conceivable novel translated into Chinese.

Whenever I talk to Taiwanese about their country and my country, they always ask the same thing, “Taiwan used to admire the Philippines so much. Our goal was to be like the Philippines. What happened?”

I can tell you what happened. We can see it in our local fashion industry and in domestic retail.

We lost our national pride--lost it by being blinded by the glitz of Hollywood yet not being remotely close to Brian Grazer’s parking space, lost it by thinking Manila was Manhattan but it was more like Hell’s Kitchen. We lost our way because we thought everyone else was better. Everyone else means those who are American or ‘white.’
(When we used to live in the Philippines, I would ask my husband who is white, to call the waiters because then we would get REAL service. That does not work in Hong Kong or Japan. National pride)

Little did we know we had so much going for us (talent and natural resources) which we ended up giving away. We can no longer blame the Marcoses. In the last 40 years, so much opportunity has been lost. Little by little, our then poorer neighbors (Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore) caught up with us and ended up beating us to the finish line.

IN CASE YOU DID NOT GET DA MEMＯ．．．

2009-03-05T12:05:00.007+08:00

WHAT'S A FASHIONISTA AND CHISMOSA TO DO NOW?
The world has lost confidence (and money) in itself and in retail and now the Philippine government (the most un-high tech in the world) wants to shut us up!! Not only traditional media but also blogs!!

The Pinoy government is so low-tech that it was not affected by the millenium bug because they didn't have any computers. My husband loves to tell the story of the time he was waiting to see the Central Bank governor and in the waiting area (of course they waited for hours) all they saw was a stream of people going back and forth carrying heaps of paper.

I think he knew Toto was not in Geneva anymore.....

The government (the houses of Snake-nete and Tongress to you and me) is planning to pass The Right to Reply Bill. This bill, with its misleading name, actually DOES NOT give the media any rights at all. (Anyone else can reply. Just not the media)
Here is the executive summary (or at least what I understand) without the legalese that drives everyone mad:
The bill states that technically, ANYONE--public and private individuals and corporations have 'the right to reply' to ---wait for it----situations where they are accused directly, indirectly, or by innuendo, suggestion or RUMOR! – of having committed a crime, of committing a crime, or of intending to commit a crime OR for ANY LAPSE IN BEHAVIOR in public OR PRIVATE! (basically, it covers everything including whether or not you had butter with your pan de sal for breakfast)

This reply can be done if "the accusation, innuendo, suggestion or rumor was published or printed in publications circulated commercially or for free or broadcast over radio, television, WEBSITES, or through ANY ELECTRONIC DEVICE."
(I am assuming that includes blogs)

The reply has to be given equal space FREE OF CHARGE in the same medium as the original piece or broadcast. Since this covers everything and anything that involves people and/or people having sex with animals, the only topics left for public discussion are fashion and beauty as long as the make-up artist doesn't say you are ugly.

And BEFORE this NON-RETROACTIVE rule takes effect, let me just say kudos to Millet Mananquil who got it right all this time because she can still continue to charge PR people per column inches because she doesn't cover news or showbiz.

And BEFORE this NON-RETROACTIVE rule takes place, may I request the residents of 44 Pili in South Forbes to please pay your contractors the money you owe them.

You can check out the massive house that looks as big as a resort on their architect's webiste, ctoarchitects.com. Click on "Works" then "Recent Projects."

You'll see Joey de Venecia III's house in the first image. That's NOT the one.
It's the second one...Under Gem Equities/Eusebio Garcia.
If you built such a beautiful house, why were contractors not paid? Ex-deal ba yan with builders? (Pang Millet Mananquil lang yan!) Is this your idea of living like a king---in ancient Egypt using slave labour?

Uhh...also...The house is beautiful....Can I come for tea???

Yan lang pow.....

Before I close (I might end up having to permanently close with that stupid Right to Reply Bill) I have another one of my husband-fashion stories which seem so popular with readers.

At Lane Crawford, we saw a Judith Leiber bag similar to this---a feline evening bag with eyes.

(What was HE doing at Lane Crawford? Taking a short cut to the gym!)

H: That small thing is 45,000 HKD (about 5000 USD)????!! WHY!??

K: It's Judith Leiber... Handmade. ..Austrian crystals.

(long, long silence as he stares at the cat without touching it in case he breaks it....)

H: Well at least do the EYES MOVE?

K: No and the only things that should move now are us if we are not going to buy it.

OF VICE AND MEN

2009-03-01T15:31:00.003+08:00

Sometimes even the fabulous not only fall from fashion but FAIL in fashion.
Credit crunch or not, my husband always manages to bring my lofty fashion choices back to earth. He also happens to be the one who pays my bills so being a resident fashion critic only brings his bank balance great advantage.
But I must say.... He does have an 'eye'......Well, not really....Eye-wan!
It DOES help to have an outside opinion. On Adidas by Stella McCartney (above): I have a similar one to this in black and was asked, 'Why are you wearing a garbage bag over your gym clothes? It doesn't even fit well!"

Aaaahh! Marni. The favourite of fashionistas but I never felt is was 'me.' I did, however, manage to buy an Aegean blue and white double-faced linen jacket with frayed and exposed seams similar to the one above. I loved the jacket which was reversible (well, sort of), easy to wear with everything and most of all did not wrinkle. Since I thought this jacket was such a great deal, I decided to wear it one weekend at breakfast:

H: Did you buy that at one of the sample sales? Why do you look like you just had a fight?

K: No. Why, does it look cheap?

H: I only hope you didn't pay very much for it. Who in their right mind would sell something that looks like an unfinished tailor's muslin? And YOU bought it!

K: It's reversible.

H: It reverses from bad to worse. I don't want to ever se it again.

K: (deadma nalang because all you followers of fashion know how much these things cost)

Because of this, that particular jacket only comes out at fashion events and lunches with fags. I did think of bringing it with me on a press trip to Indonesia because I figured if I was going to a poor country, I might as well look poh! Well, this is what transpired between me and a straight male business reporter on the way back to Hong Kong.

Reporter: (serioso siya, ha...) I hope you don't mind me asking but what happened to your jacket? Are you going to get it mended in Hong Kong?

Kitty: Nothing happened to this jacket. It's the look.

R: Is looking poor the latest style?

K: I assure you, it will be soon. You'll read about it in the Financial Times.

(The stock market collapsed the following week)

My husband on Giuseppe Zanotti (below):

H: SIX THOUSAND HK dollars for a pair of sandals with TWO strips of leather?

K: Yes.

H: Are the diamonds real? Because if they are real then it's a great deal.

(This is the same person who said of the Hermes Birkin, "SEVEN THOUSAND EUROS for a bag? Are the fastenings made of gold? Because gold (at that time) is only trading at 600 USD an ounce and I don't see an ounce in there...."

(Well gold is now 1200 USD an ounce. Maybe it's time to buy! The Birkin, I mean.... )

COMMERCIAL MUNA: Moles in Missoni or Margiela who have nothing good to say, want to 'report' social atrocities, society misdemeanors and/or crimes of the pseudo-fashionable, please send emails to: kitty_go@hotmail.com. I'll be waiting by the phone....ay este...computer.

REGRETS, I'VE HAD A FEW.....

2009-03-01T10:17:00.002+08:00

HOKAY EVERYONE! As this blog is better known for rumor rather than truth (wink!wink!), it's high time someone asked me to make a correction.

The highly recommended HIV advice website www.positivism.ph is really the creation of CHOLO LAUREL, not Brian Gorrell and Shola Luna. They simply 'work there.'

PS--In my last post, I briefly discussed the sale held by the 'two poufs,' Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge. The sale alone shattered so many records including the already eye-popping estimated EU 2-3 million (euros pala, not USD) for an Eileen Gray chair that went for---hold on to your jewelled Hermes belt buckle---EU 21.9 million!!!

In death, as in life, Yves Saint Laurent never failed to make an impression.

THE LOVE I LOST

2009-02-22T11:33:00.005+08:00

The Upper East Side (57 th and 5th) is where I hang because it has museums, shops, restaurants and most of all, clean, accessible bathrooms--BG, Bendel's, Carlyle, Barney's. I never went downtown until they opened Macy's because of the loo situation.

Just as New York Fashion Week comes to a close, I have realized that the city that never sleeps has slowly been putting me to sleep. Yes, I have lost my love for New York City and I feel like I have outgrown a great love.

There was nowhere I EVAH wanted to live than Manhattan. On my first visit to New York as a kid, I vowed that I would live and work in the most exciting city in the world and not just anywhere but the Upper East Side. (Of course, as a starving student in the 80s I could only afford to SHARE in the East Village but the Upper East Side was the ball I had my eye on)

I reluctantly moved to Los Angeles then vowed to become bi-coastal. Which I did become to a certain extent as the real money in the fashion business was and still is made in New York City.

Every year since I moved back to Asia 15 years ago, I made a pilgrimage to New York and Los Angeles, what I always believed to be the greatest cities in the world. Until yesterday.

What was the arnis stick that broke the Commes des Garcons stuffed back?
I saw an ad in the FT Weekend for apartments on the Upper East Side and for the first weekend of our 8 years of marriage I did not ask my husband, "Can we buy a New York apartment?" (I also used to ask this question before every trip to New York) The answer, of course, was always a resounding "NO" (Because New York City is EXACTLY like Delhi except with yelllow cabs)

Up until last summer, I had ads for New York apartments tacked to my desk wall.

Particularly in the last five years, I have found going to America like joining a UN Relief effort. It really is a third world country compared to Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Switzerland, Dubai and Heathrow Terminal 5. You should see the rest of the UK...unchanged since Victorian times and I realized the Rome airport has not changed since pre-Christian Times when St Peter was giving out flyers at the entrance for the cult of some dude Jesus.

In the last few years, I have often wondered why I have slowly lost excitement over America. I think it is because the world has changed. It doesn't have to do with something as shallow as tourism or fashion but with the shift in political and economic power. I don't think America has completetly lost its power but these days, it has to share and BEG from countries like China and the Middle East.
(As a Chinese finance minister said (something like), "Why are we accused of currency manipulation? We lent them the money and now that they squandered it, it's our fault? Since when was a lender to blame?")

I hate to rain on you-s Obama fans (believe me, if I was a US citizen, I would have voted for him, too) and those who 'Hope for Change' but the only achievement of Obama so far is that he is the first American president to take over a country as it is beginning to lose power.

HEY! That ain't so bad. He should talk to Queen Elizabeth because she took over when the sun was setting on the British Empire and she ain't doin' too bad!

Proof of waning US markets came last week at lunch with a major but still privately-held fashion holding company based in Hong Kong. They have numerous JVs with large American and European brands and as Asian partners of one of the largest publicly-held American clothing companies (as in every household owns something made by them!), they consantly compare business notes and share ideas.

I was told by the CFO that with this particular American partner, the 'American' division was worried for their jobs because 'business stopped practically overnight' but the 'international' division had nothing to fear.

Before I close, I just want to comment on the Michelle Obama Vogue cover. Because I think they are overexposed as a family and as her husband has achieved nothing yet except celebrity, it is too soon to be on the cover of any major magazine even if you dress well and are a stellar lawyer. What if this all ends in tears? (And it probably will because more people are gonna get poorer in the next couple of years and how da dude gonna tell dem peeps dat the American people owe money to dem chinks?)
Don't we love Carla Bruni with her dog? Only the French. One of the French weeklies---Gala or Point de Vue,---since they cater to my low-level French--- had a fashion feature: Carla vs Michelle. You be the judge.

Now that we are on the topic of world abomination--ay--domination....I just remembered a conversation I had with a friend who stayed with us over Chinese New Year.

She has a son at one of the best boarding schools in England but he is struggling with French. I told her that maybe he needs to take a completely different, Un-Romance language from the BRIC+M group...(well, Spanish and Portuguese are Romance languages but Portuguese doesn't count for anything...) because the world is changing.

So she asked me--How would YOU educate a child? (You talkin' to me? Moi? Me and my home boy who have no higher education and can't even discipline their dogs??)

WHEELLL--Thank you for asking mon avis.....
I told her I would put the kid in UK boarding like her with an extra BRIC+M language preferrably Spanish (not Portuguese) plus the languages of my heritage--Chinese and Tagalog (doesn't have to be fluent but enough to be an artista to talk to Kuya Germs and Kuya Boy and order at Pepper Lunch).
THEN Ox-bridge for two years, then the US for a year or two just to loosen up like Toby Young.
THEN a suffering post after school for gap year and/or for a first job in some rat, disease and mosquito-infested city for experience (AND NO living with relatives--that means Philippines, UK and France are out). Maybe he'll hit the jackpot like people who came to HK in the 60s....

What about French? My stand on the French is that they had it coming even before the US and UK> Their era ended with Louis XVI...Okay, no Napoleon...Matagal na la-os sila pero sige pa rin. Very nationalistic and very good PR for their language.

Before I croak, the whole of France is going to be a World Heritage Site and tourists will have to pay to come into my house because it will become a fuckin' museum!!!

Sa totoo lang, (and this was told to me by a wealthy Pinoy woman married to a French guy) "Sa totoo lang, my son is learning French but pang-glamour lang yan because you can't really use it anywhere but France."

THE EMPERORS OF CLOTHES

2009-02-21T12:00:00.003+08:00

WHELL! I guess I was away longer that I thought I would be. What with having to take a side day trip to a historical European city and other fashion follow-ups....Oh dear! What we do for style even in these days of financial turmoil....
The gossip world (well, at least mine) is like retail. Not busy at all except for the bit of information I heard (NOT from the patola vine because it is getting trimmed and grafted) that the Philippine Tatler wants to put Wendy Puyat on its cover and is still 'waiting for approval' from Hong Kong.
Hmmm....I wonder how long this 'wait' will be.
In deeper conversations, a the funny thing that happened on the way back from India...Kitty: If you see Amazon selling 'Valentino: The Last Emperor,' could you buy it for me?
Husband: The emperor of what?
K: Waddaya mean the emperor of what? The emperor of the sun...tan. FASHION!
H: How many emperors of fashion are there? What happened to that freak with white hair in a pony tail? Aren't there some poufs having a sale of some sort?
K: Okay--there has been an ongoing war between these poufs since the time the brassiere was invented and I don't want to go there. Evah! I don't even go to their shows.
H: Does the white haired freak have a DVD?
K: KARL--YES! Many, which I have seen. But I want Valentino's.

Since we are on the topic of rich poufs, the two 'having a sale' next week (23-25 Feb) are the late Yves Saint Laurent (in my opinion the REAL emperor) and his longtime domestic and business partner Pierre Berge. The Christie's sale is estimated to fetch about USD 400 million. The collection was put together over 40 years and many items such as a Matisse for USD 20 million and a CHAIR from Eileen Grey for USD 2 million, could cost as much as a New York or London flat or a house with a golf course in Florida. Or to put it locally, a house in Forbes with some change for decorating.

Anyway, this collection is a great example of 'what I did for love." In the case of Berge, he paid all the bills (even when YSL overspent) and is donating the bulk of the proceeds to The Pierre Berge AIDS Foundation. Some money will go to the Yves Saint Laurent museum.

Berge will keep only a few pieces as the memories, which are more important to him, will never leave him. He has made public that he is keeping their first purchase together, an African bird sculpture whose worth pales in comparison to everything else they owned. Now that's love.

Speaking of AIDS projects, I would like you, my adoring public to turn your attention to the following website set-up by two most fabulous people: Brian Gorrell and Shola Luna.
Check out their AIDS "Stay Negative" service site: http://www.positivism.ph/.

It is beautifully laid out and designed. I love the page turning sound! There is general advice and QnA with fighter and survivor Shola Luna on how to deal with the disease. This is no faggy fashion project but an intelligent guide to HIV for EVERYONE---as in those who have it, those who don't, those who might have it, those who think they have it but are afraid of everything including themselves, those who know someone who has it, those in denial or panic and those who simply know NUTTIN'!!!

PLUS There is legit medical advice from a doctor. NOT Vickie Belo or Chin Palafox.

This week, I leave you with the final conversation my husband and I had before he went for his ovepriced haircut at a barber shop that doesn't include a shampoo. "I would rather have an aging Chinese barber than a pouf touch my hair."

K: OOhhh..I know this song.. Gotta find my.....Corner of the Sky. What show did this tune come from?
H: How should I know!! Is this a trick question to find out if I'm gay?

OUT OF BLOGOSPHERE TILL 13 FEBRUARY

2009-01-26T22:08:00.003+08:00

Obviously, it is that time of the year when I have to go skiing and the worst part is not putting on enough gear to topple over or getting up early (bad enough) but having to DO HOUSEWORK!!! It's the worst!! (and I can't criticize the French government enough for making it so hard for me to bring my helper!!----I don't even want to get into it or else it will just be---excuse my French!---)

HAPPY CHEKUA NEW YEAR pala to all the gheys I've loved before.....
Don't you just lurve how unpretentious the cheks are about their New Year? No one wishes you peace, remembers the birth of Christ and the spirit of love and giving (although the giving of lai see or red envelopes is enough to bankrupt Sri Langka) but simply 'health and wealth in the year of the Ox'----Isn't that all we need in life?
LOVE -- SO overexposed it makes Paris and Britney look media shy
WORLD PEACE-- Who fuckin' cares. The world can burn as long as I can stay home, horizontale with a pile of books and magazines. I don't even need a TV or iPod dock because I can't operate them.
CHRIST--Jesus H. Christ---talk about media power. He had the best PR man in St. Peter. Look at how long Christianity has been going on. I bet ....Peggy Siegal, Max Clifford and (if you want to be small time about it) Manila's \Boy Abunda....only wish they could do half as good.

Talking about reading....since I know many of you don't! I highly recommend 'Can You Ever Forgive Me? Memoirs of a Literary Forger' by Lee Israel. It's short (good for gen-Internet), witty, precise and simply perfect. I wish I could write like her.

It is a story of someone who never lost in her life and had to struggle to survive late in life. It is about someone who always had talent , was always brilliant, never ever got a rejection letter until her career took a downturn.

What did she do to pay the rent, buy booze and cigarettes? She forged and sold to reputable dealers, the most beautiful 'letters from Dorothy Parker, Noel Coward, Louise Brooks and Lillian Hellman.'

ALL FAKE!!!

This is not a case of plagiarizing for the school paper nor is it a Jason Blair incident. It is a story of what happens when a famous and respectable author fails in her career.

It can happen to you. It can happen to me. It can happen to the Gucci Gang (if not already--hahaha!!).

I urge you to read all 129 pages of it...You can read it in the bath!! (Well, no--maybe on the plane to Cebu)

It's a story that takes you from the height of someone's career to desperation to survive in New York City, one of the toughest, if not the toughest town in the world.

Just as you think she is at her lowest point, things get worse.

Just like the way the world is today. Un-be-fuckin'-lievable!!!

OVERRATED DOWN UNDER

2009-01-18T11:59:00.005+08:00

I went to see the movie AUSTRALIA, heralded as the most glamorous tourism exposure for Australia (the country) but it wasn't, really. It's simply a long, sappy and terrible film with great costumes and some comedy relief. I highly recommend it at this time since there is nothing else to see except that idiotic Marley and Me (I read the book and was not amused) and that unaspirational Brad Pitt movie and yet another unaspirational film with Kate Winslet and Leo di Caprio called Revolutionary Road. You just KNOW these people who have everything need to 'do what they love and find themselves' and someone will end up dead, wounded, crazy or sobbing excessively in some mosquito-infested country all because they had to 'follow their dream....'
Now you know why Chinese and Bollywood films are gaining popularity......

So this movie--OZ---could have been a slideshow of the beauty of OZ but NHHOO---it was a slideshow of the beauty of Nicole (she is, anyway) and Hugh Jackman who I would not recognize even if I saw him at Giordano. She is SO SLIM in this film--is she wearing a girdle?? I know Dr Cutty in House, does. Very obvious.
On the Oz scenery--everything is brown and terracotta. And dusty. The same as Scotland or Ireleand where everything is green and grey. And wet.
If I were the studio, I would have finished the movie at aboriginal mestizo Noah's voice over..."And that was the first time I ever heard of Christmas..." (pan around the farm, wide angle and cut to finish!) because the costumes go downhill after that and you have already seen the best part of the film, the bull stampede. (Who cares about the story because it's already bad) The next costume change is into Banana Republic 1982 but unlaundered for months.
.....THEN you will also shorten the movie by one hour and cut your budget considerably. But NNHHOO...one had to continue for 'the human drama"--not that there wasn't enough--- (if you want a dog drama, see my previous posts) and also I think the Oz aborigines will complain because then the kid doesn't get to 'stay in the picture' and you can't use the line at the end, "I must discover my country. YOUR country....' ekekeke chuvalu....blah bla roll credits....
And at the end, you feel so dusty that you just want to go home and have a bath.

NOW THIS SLASHER FILM!!! The scariest I've ever seen in my life!! Scarier than The Others, Blair Witch and that Spanish one in the orphanage. THIS SHOULD win the OZ tourism award because it really shows Oz as God's country. In fact, not God's country but God's creative laboratory---the colors, the shapes, textures, the panorama....Un-be-fuckin-believeable. Unlike anything in the world!
But if you ever finish watching this film, you wouldn't want to visit Oz again because it makes their people look like a bunch of mad hick murderers.
But I go there all the time and I LABS EET!! It's like LA but clean with no poor people. And the guys look like MEN (even if they are gay).

PS Speaking of poufs, http://www.donavictorina.blogspot.com/ thinks TIM YAP might be going to jail. What great news! And what great pictures we will have of him with coloured hair in a line-up photo with ID number (6666969??) and what--Paul Smith stripes as background?? And it seems like the furry cuffs I put on Alicia Santos Daniels in my book is now going to be on Yoyo Tan. My, my....how truth is tons more exciting than fiction!! I could NEVAH imagine that!
Speaking of ASD, Anton san Diego is opening some kind of establishment called you guessed it, The Establishment, next to...you guessed it. Embassy!
Perhaps the Taguig government better just raze that whole block and build a multi-use complex since one establishment is already involved in multi use.....of drugs. Ay complex pala...Ay multi drug use...Ay, it's complicated....

A DOG'S DAY AFTERNOON-closing remarks

2009-01-16T22:39:00.004+08:00

That's me and Tallulah with our helper/yaya/chef/fashion consultant/walker/personal shopper Nora who helps us get through our day. Everytime she does the laundry she wonders how Mom can have the wardrobe she has because daw 'bakla lang ang susuot ng ganyan..." Look at us. We also look like baklas.

PARTY ANIMAL: Public Enemy #1

What can I say about my sister, the social outcast, Tallulah Butthead II? She was really named after legendary actress Tallulah Bankhead because Mom thought she'd grow up to be a beauty but all she is now is someone like Tallulah Bankhead---she' a slut!

Her father was an Alsatian who raped her mother. She then walked off the roof and died. Can you blame her? Then Daddy proceeds to put Tallulah's head in his mouth. She still has the scars.

Now you can understand why she has so many deep seated psychological and social adjustment problems. So much so that we got dis-invited from Daisy the Cocker Spaniel's despedida in 2002 because daw 'the Dalmatian was coming and he didn't get along with Talullah..." (but that spotted creature had issues of his own kasi bakla siya and we were gonna out him!)

This dog is so insane and manic depressive that we had to see a shrink and she was given mind altering drugs under the Animal National Health Service in Taiwan!!

Plus NO ONE LIKES HER except Wong Wong and Nora and that's only because she's paid.

Tallulah is so sipsip to humans that she puts too much brown into brown nosing.

If I were that kid in da photo, I'd be scared because that bitch looks cute and sweet on the outside but has the mind and actions of a killer.

DOG's DAY AFTERNOON-4

2009-01-16T22:22:00.003+08:00

That's me in the organic cotton handknit sweater my sis Tallulah gave me for my birthday. Now she is jealous of her own gift and wants one for herself. You know the type---she's one of those who wants what you have not because she really likes it but because YOU have it.

That's me waiting for my cue to pick out names from the 'tambiolo' for our raffle. Unfortunately, I don't look glamorous here--- I merely look like a dog who is out on the street begging.

AAAHH!!---the reliable King Charles Spaniel Teddy and Pomeranian Barbie who sometimes come to the house to visit. Teddy was one of the lucky winners of the raffle. But he's really not so lucky because his ears got torn off by one of the Huskies from the 12th floor who we OBVIOUSLY DID NOT INVITE! And Barbie is blind in one eye because---you guessed it!! The social misfit A-ti pawed it off!!! GROSS!

OOOHH---It's Radar, the strong and silent but deadly type. My French-understanding boyfriend from next door. So silent that he got lost and didn't come back until 3 days later. (Did I notice?) He was also one of the lucky winners of the raffle even if he didn't make an effort with any outfit. But he (his owner) is French so their style is effortless.

A DOG'S DAY AFTERNOON-3

2009-01-16T18:40:00.005+08:00

There's Jess who already ate her cookies and chicken pie and is now hassling her yaya for pancit and dumplings. In the background is Lulu, who has no friends so I felt sorry for her and invited her. Of course, like any charity case, she ate a lot. At first, nahihiya pa but she ate SO MUCH, I'm tellin' ya....SO MUCH!! Nag-take home pa ng chicken pie, ha....

Who is this HK Chekua human interloper who I a) don't know, b) do not like and c) is blocking my sunset?

UGH! That's Bilou, one of the social interlopers, pretending to be enjoying the party and trying to blend in with the yayas. This guy actually had a party last month and didn't invite me and Tallulah and has the GUTS to SHOW UP at MY PARTY a) not dressed, b) eating our food and c) behaving as only a Lab can behave: uncivilized. See my issue with the OTHER Lab, the social idiot, A-ti.

Not only THAT--this Bilou had a party 'only for Labs' and dahil hindi kami pure breed, hindi kami im-bita!! EXCUSE ME!! Who is in denim today? Aber?? And I heard my party was BETTER!! Sa guest list lang, talo na siya....

WHO LET DA DOGS OUT???

Thank God we ordered enough chicken pies because we had THREE (count 'em!)!! THREE canine interlopers and countless human hangers on. The worst thing about interlopers is that they usually don't come properly dressed and they eat all your food.

Bilou is one---see photo above. I should put it up in the post office and 7-11.

Robert and Isabel are the other two. They are SO NOT Robert Isabell of Glorious Foods, okay. But they loved my glorious food.

AT ETO PA.....Dog-faced gatecrashers Robert and Isabel even had the guts to bring a camera!! But when they were using it they kept saying, "Nahihiya kami gumamit...." WHELL! The SHOULD be ashamed of themselves especilally now that they refuse to let me see any photos from MY PARTY!! (That's because they haven't finished photo shopping their ugly, kapal selves!)

Who do they think they are?? Hello Magazine at Catherine Zeta-Jones' and Michael Douglas' wedding? My sister Tallulah took her Door Nazi job so seriously that when Robert and Isabel were sitting quietly in a corner, she came up and attacked them.

I'm telling you, a party is never complete without a catfight by dogs.