Due to the hectic evaluation schedule, there’s definitely no room for the company to give us any off days during this Chinese New Year period. Although the initial plan was for them to give us this whole week off, but unfortunately, because of some bad planning, we’ll be coop up in camp for the next 2 days. So, in short, we book out on CNY’s eve after lunch and celebrations. Anyway, to be fair, we kind of got an extra day off this weekend if you do your sums. We book out last Friday afternoon and book in tomorrow before noon. Give and take, and there you have it, one more day for us to get some CNY shopping done. Ok, it’s not much; but at least it’s some time.
So, I took this opportunity to go shop around Bugis Junction and Raffles City for some clothes over this weekend. I must say that BJ has changed quite a lot since the last time I’ve been there. The old Food Junction at B1 has moved and made way for some eateries like Otah Inc., Hip Diners USA, Beard Papa Sweets, etc. There’s also new entries into the fashion foray – I see some new shops such as Messy on L3 and Design Tees by Graniph (not sure if I got the spelling right) on L2. But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed – the crowd. The place is thronging with teenagers and families with their maids in tow. It took an incredible amount of effort to get out of there. BHG (formerly Seiyu) departmental store was better though there isn’t much to see there unless you’re looking for some cheap bargains.
Not surprisingly, I didn’t find anything that I had in mind on Saturday except for some ideas for pairing from the most unlikely of places – G2000 at a corner of BHG. This mannequin was donning a short sleeve white shirt layered with a blue V-necked pullover and a pair of off-white dress pants. Definitely suited for smart casual wear though I wasn’t really looking into that. Unsatisfied and in desperate need of some new clothes for CNY, I headed out again today with my Mum to Raffles City Shopping Centre. First stop – Topman. As usual, I didn’t find anything much to my liking over there. Then, I hovered across to River Island which turned out to be a treasure trove. I gauged I probably spent around 2 hours in the shop browsing over their clothes racks and trying on some of them. 2 hours later, I stepped out of the shop, a happy and poorer man, with my purchases in my hands – a white cardigan, 2 T-shirts and a Polo tee.
Then it was on to Levi’s as it was having a 20% off storewide sales. I bought a T-shirt, a pair of new jeans coupled with a belt. Anyway, the tee was added last minute to make the purchase to $200 in order to receive a $50 voucher. I’m rather satisfied with the purchase although the belt is a tad expensive. But I think it’s a good investment because I can pair the belt with my collection of jeans. My wallet sure feel a lot lighter after I walked out of the shop. Hey, a $400 shopping spree once in a while doesn’t hurt (if you’re earning your dough). Besides, I only shop for clothes a couple of times a year, so that’s perfectly fine to me.
Anyway, at the same time, my Mum also got a piece of blouse and pair of pants from Robinsons for herself this new year which is great considering the fact that she hardly shop for clothes (probably once or twice a year). In my opinion, I personally feel that RC is a more conducive place for shopping than BJ because it caters to a more mature audience as compared to the latter which is more of a teen haven. But don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying BJ is a bad place to shop at, in fact, it’s a shopping paradise. It’s just the sort of looks you want to carry off. If you’re looking more into street wear, that’s the right place to start. However, to achieve a stronger identity and look older, RC isn’t a bad place to begin with, especially after its revamp last December.
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