Of shoes, manshirts, suspenders, and the quirks of Japanese magazines

I suppose I have more than 50 pairs of shoes. If not for the restriction of my shoe rack, I think I will have more. Thankfully, the irritating shoe rack saved my wallet.

Of the 50 pairs, I keep wearing one pair to death. If you have never witness my footwear purchases, you will not be faulted for thinking I only have a pair of heels. Alas! All good things come to an end. After 6 years of slavery; of trips to Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Gold Coast; of numerous shopping trips; of countless runs for buses; it is finally time to bid farewell to my faithful black heels.

You are so comfortable on my feet!

You carry your battle scars well!

Why did you get fatally wounded?

It was repaired about a year ago. I was surprised that it didn't fall to bits at the hammering of the cobbler. On my trips to various states in Australia, it was the one footwear I never failed to bring along. It braved many-a-walks in the rain, and could stand up to the toughest shopping route. Bravo, my dear! When you showed me your last and final scar, I decided that it would be an insult to your courage if I put you in the hands of Mr. Cobbler again. Rest in peace, my friend, rest in peace.

Flipping magazines is one of my favourite leisure activities. I subcribed to Cosmopolitan and Cleo in Australia. Over here, I buy Female on a regular basis. My bad habit is to be unable to crap (of the anal kind) if I do not have some kind of reading material. Brochure, instructions, information on the backs of toiletries. Anything! Hmm. Ok. I was introduced to Vivi by a leftover copy at my place in Brisbane. The copy I read was for the Autumn/Winter season. Gorgeous clothes, I tell you!

Recently, I bought the April (Spring?) issue from Kinokuniya. Sadly, Vivi became very cutish, very young. At $14.50 a pop, it's twice the price of most local publication. Neverthless, if you dig fashion, especially Japanese fashion, or if you just plain like to bitch about the unfairness of life, why this model has EVERYTHING, or if you like to marvel at the effort Japanese put into dressing up, or if you want to know how to style you hair in a way that is GUARANTEED to make people in Orchard stare at you (you know how little it takes for that to happen), or if you simply, like me, need something for the toilet trip, try Vivi.

A manshirt was paired with a sweater or cardigan. Throw on some heels and glam it with a glitzy clutch and you got yourself an outstanding outfit!

She makes it look so simple, doesn't she?

Of course, it would work better if you have legs like hers. Make that face like hers. Hmm. Oh. And figure like hers. Put this on someone else, I suspect it will look like a (failed) raid of the boyfriend's wardrobe.

Suspenders is something that was really IN before I left Australia. I did not see many people who could carry off the look however.

Is it a tick or a cross for her?

I saw this look once or twice in Singapore. Once, in a very, very wrong way. The lady in question wore her suspenders outside her boobs, very tightly. The lines were all wrong.

WRONG!

This reminds me of something else I saw. I saw this woman with a cropped, tight vest that was secured beneath her ample bosom. It looked like a outerwearing bra without the cups. WRONG!

Japanese magazines are very interesting. Because they like to use the same models. Not within just the same issue; but in many, many, many issues! I have no idea why. Is this related to the long-term employment characteristic of Japanese firms? Certainly something that is not common in other countries. What's more interesting is that they prefer to use Eurasians. Perhaps that's not new. Local magazines also tend to favour models of mixed ethnicity. I wonder why.

Did I mention that I read Japanese magazine to bitch about the models as well? Here's Lena.

Notice how she has almost symmetrical moles at the corners of her lips?

You can hate her too.