Feel like a loser

Feel like a Loser

The report card of Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations launched today. No As and Bs, but two Cs in Chinese and English, and an E grade in Liberal Studies. It is terrible, I feel terrible, the present of my live terrible. It is out of my expectation, far out of it. And I am not going to blame anyone, but to review my past to think how come I come to this end of my secondary school years.

Lost Favorite
UNIQLO Black Skinny Cut Jeans
It is so sad when I arrived at Uniqlo store with the aim to re-buy an UNIQLO black skinny cut jeans which I had brought about three years ago and became an experimental item of my DIY skills. It is still extremely fit my legs’ shape and length, but because of my damn DIY experiment, it is now not perfect jeans with a big hole near my crunch, which is a kind of disgusting design to me, and it is not cool at all.
I realized so early that I have to buy a new one, but due to the public exam, I delayed and missed. As it was a limited edition of UNIQLO, it cannot be found in UNIQLO stores anymore. All Uniqlo now offers are those so called skinny cut jeans which loosely fit my legs and hip as a regular fit. It is so terrible that the waist range is form 30 inches to 33 inches, which cannot fit my waist anymore. I felt so depressed when the salesperson told me the one that I am looking for is the present one which is so flexible but without the texture of denim. How can they be so cruel, making this classic style a limited edition? How could I be so stupid that damage a pair of perfect jeans?

What a pair of Good shoes is?

As I had mentioned in “to Break the Myth of Perfect Shoes” that we have to be intended in search of a good pair, a near to perfect pair according to our individuals’ demands, it requires us to be brave to put on different pairs in order to feel the textures, the fittings, and the pressure when we walk and spiral in front of the mirror, seeing how the shoes lengthen our delicate feet and calf , and enhance our outer beauty by its mix of materials, shapes, and personalities. And I know that our standard varies with the purposes which drive us to buy a pair of shoes.

Salvatore Ferragamo fitting with Audrey Hepurn

And the designs of shoes considered it well, and it has long been composing the ultimate goals of all respectable shoes-makers.

Four years ago, I came across a book entitled “the Shoes Maker”, which is an auto-biography of a noticed and historic figure in the post war ages in fashion. And the shoes maker is Salvatore Ferragamo. In this book, he writes again and again what he insist in making a shoe. And that is what shoes wearers’ essential needs. According to the book, I loosely remember that “The feet are the only part supporting our body’s weight. It tolerates from great pressure. However, it is important to keep the structure of feet in health, and main the nature structure of the bones. Sadly there are number of bad shoes damaging our precious feet in order to seek so-called beauty by squeezing out toes into the tightly shoes’ front, attiring the ankles by hard leathers, making the bottom of feet with thicken skin by constant attrition between the shoe and the bottom of feet, and leading to great smell by wrong use of materials.”

His insight in the needs of problems of foot-wear made Salvatore Ferragamo into a master of creating nearly perfect shoes. As he described, the bottom part of the feet have to be kissed by the shoes, which closely bind the anchor of feet and the bottom part, resulting in no attrition. And, surely, there should be enough space for the toes, enabling feet moves comfortably and spread the pressure of body weight evenly on feet. In his eyes styles and colours are only embellishment of shoes after the functions, comfort and longevity of shoes considered. And his remarkable innovations and contributions in shoes-making are not discussed as I must have a lot to research and interpret, but his values on shoes are clear and essential to be mentioned in this chapter of perfect shoes.

Jimmy Choo himself,
adopted form whoisbobparris

Besides Mr. Salvatore Ferragamo, Jimmy Choo, a shoes-maker of Princess Diana, is another most talk-about shoes makers in the 20th century. His philosophy in making shoes is similar to Mr. Ferragamo’s one, but in orient interpretation, it is described as “Balanced”. He is skilful in designing elegant and delicate one-inch sleek pumps shoes. In the book entitled “Jimmy Choo” describes one of the battles between this legendary designer and the present shareholders and the founder of the brand, Jimmy Choo, Tamara Mellon. It is about the height of the shoes designs, in which Mr. Choo insisted that the balance of the shoes should not be ruined by turning it from one inch heel to four inches one, and as Tamara noticed the trend of the marker changed to favour those four inches heels, Tamara thought it is just a political fight within the authority of the company and therefore his opinion was considered as naïve and unwise.

Jimmy Choo himself is proud of what he makes. Takes Princess Diana acts as an example. She insisted to donate and bid all the old clothes excepted for Jimmy’s works- short pumps in nice style with enough space in the shoes’ fronts for toes and movement, which made Princess Diana comfortable to stand and walk in long hours during trips and ceremonies. And those shoes are all one to two inches couture pumps in elegant style and use of soft materials. It really protects and decorates one’s feet to enhance the inner beauty of one person rather than become a part of outer beauty.

Jimmy Choo couture
adopted from ShoeAddict.com

And there are other marvellous designs of shoes- the curved platform. When the platforms of shoes are not completely close to the ground and curved little upward, which fits the movement of joints between toes and feet, it provides us a force to walk forward easily when we move our body pressure forward. It also makes our walk easy and sexy, as our steps can easily be walked in rhythm with hips and waist moved with curve. And the shoes platform should be soft and flexible. And it allows the shapes of shoes changed with the movement of our feet to reduce attrition of the feet.

In most situations, our confidence is based on what we feel. If a shoe hurts, we feel pain, and how can we show confidence about ourselves without a look of uncomfortable and pain? Only when we feel our feet are kissed by the suede or lamp skin of the shoes, and when we walk firmly and unconsciously about the pressure we feel and without the fear to fall and crack our ankles, here are the right shoes. Finally, I sincerely hope every one of you would have found a right pair and be kept away from the pain of wearing shoes with bad qualities. I understand looks is of paramount important, but also the structure and health of feet! Without healthy feet, a pair of perfect shoes alone is nothing. Trust me.

to Break the Myth of Perfect Shoes

to Break the Myth of Perfect Shoes

Sam Edelman
delman black suede pump

It is so true that quite a lot of women are demanding when choosing their shoes, applying the same attitude in the way they chose their boyfriend, and that faults are easily be dictated in the insignificant. And then, they would be reasoning themselves with all unpleasant disadvantages they found to dislike them. This process actually means an experience of making a decision rather than to make a decision. However, when women put on their shoes in stores, it doesn’t mean they will buy them; and even though they spent thousands on them, they may not need them, but purchase it for the fun of shopping experience, with a common hope- in search of a pair of perfect shoes.

A pair of perfect shoes seems like a fairytale we read in childhood, which is beautiful to be imagined but painful to be believed, as, at the end, they would be disappointed by themselves who expect so high and disable to realize that it they are not carry out a decision, all they hope is simply an unachievable intention.

People are prone to doubt the myth of the Perfects, and some wisely neglect them as an. We never proof whether the perfects exist, but notice numerous examples which are near to ideal. They are all common to distinguish. With its genuine natures, the Perfects impress us at anytime anywhere.

Stuart Weitzman
Cirque Sandal

Like shoes of Christian Louboutin, Salvatore Ferragamo, Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik are born in the ages of twentieth to twenty-first century with the souls of these marvelous designers. Their works and principles on luxury are still making an effort on defining the nature of the Perfects Pair of Shoes. With Christian Louboutin and Manolo Blahnik telling us that a perfect pair has to be exotically beautiful, and able to shine with poison-like glamour, and Salvatore Ferragamo and Jimmy Choo exaggerated again that shoes have to be balanced, comfortable and individual.

These historic shoes-makers always asked us to experience, discover and believe the evidence we seen, touched and felt when we put on the shoes. Some may think that the features of endurable, stylish and easy-to-match contribute a good pair, or that comfortable to be worn all day long and economic make a pair a favorite. Like we all have diverse versions of love stories. With various demands, every one of us, the shoes-wearers, has different standards to define what perfect is. It all depends on us to be explored in shoe shops and to be discovered and experienced, and finally a pair of the perfect.

Resort 2012 Michael Kros's inspiration of his journey in Australia

Blending his holiday experience in Australia his resort collection, adding a touch of summer holiday, Michael Kros does infuse those nylon swimwear colours into his renowned minimal designs. We can see he applies nylon yellow and bright pink into the dress made by seemingly swimwear fabrics graphically. With clear color-blocking touches on these clothes, this collection simply reminds me how American Vogue styles the 2007 Fall Collection editorial which is called Color-Blocking. Bright colors in graphics designs, it is vivid and clear when we view it on a model alone.

And, after considering it longer, I soon discover that the model’s beautiful nude face look relatively pale and dreary, and realize that the brighter the clothes, the harder for the wearers to highlight their natural beauty with simple, clean makeup. However, form my point of view this collection only work on beautiful models, who are transformed with the help of makeup artist’s work and photographers’ effort featured in editorial or on red carpet. But there are some thought-provoking pieces. The fluorescent yellow evening gown is a good example. Fluorescent yellow mixed with black graphic, which can shape the wearer’s body in a more triangle-shaped one, making the upper torso more slim and shaped. Its high waist cutting with yellow train do helps this gown standing up in photograph. And other favorite features Kro’s old tricks, applying metallic materials into soft goddess dress, with model’s lovely waist exposed sexily. After all, swimwear like garment may just be a gimmick that catches no customers’ attention as they just want to buy some wearable clothes that make them look beautiful on foreign streets, but not something make them look like a freak who wear swim suit in a mall. But this zebra print, knee-length dress is a beautiful, the knee-length cutting fits short women to bring out their heights, the touch on shoulders making it looked delicately round and wide, and the wideness of chest is exagerated by the cutting on chest, two lines dividing toward the shoulders' points. It overall is clear, simple and elegant. But in this photo, mixing it with a pair of flats may be the style's greatest mistake.

Why I prefer to shop at enchanted Uniqlo- a shopping experience at UNIQLO gives me an insight to the success of the Japanese cultured vast fashion stores.

In a wonderful afternoon on yesterday, after hanging out with my friends to movies and at the ice-skating court at Festival Walk, a lower-high-end shopping mall, where features numerous fine stores to serve the middle class needs, form Chanel cosmetic stores, designers’ boutiques, to Levi’s store allocated. With five hundreds dollars left in my wallet, it is quite limited for me to seek any fun there. But, when I turn to a corner on the highest floor, and saw a red and white logo, I realized I finally had an alternative to end my beautiful day.

The store is illuminated in warm yellow light, decorated by red lining in the spacious areas, which I considered as the largest store in the mall. A Japanese sun-red square with white words-UNIQLO handed dominantly on the entrance captures my attention.

"Even though I was not inside the store, a fast glance from the entrance perspectives could tell me immediately what I would like to buy and what is affordable to me ."

Standing there outside the store, even though I did not consider getting in, I understood that it would have something I wanted. With a wall-wide and seemingly invisible entrance, it exposed the interior completely to me, with little intention to exclude customers outside, but to make the store as a public part of the floor, welcoming all shoppers to go inside and look around. Certainly, tidiness in this case is everything in order to make an impression. And it successfully did. Even though I was not inside the store, a fast glance from the entrance perspectives could tell me immediately what I would like to buy and what is affordable to me .With big price tag labeled at every single rack of the store with multifarious garments of all sizes tidily organized in terms of color, style, season, and even fabric type, I could choose when my eyes balls glance through all parts of the store according to my preferences without hesitating.

"The garments are cheap, honestly, but it looks chic at the meantime, and, most importantly, individual and modern. "

There are socks and t-shirts beautifully organized in rainbow colors, from bright red to dim blue, and jeans organized in various cutting, skinny jeans to straight cut and from high waist to low waist, with posters hanged from the ceiling on each type of garments featuring world-recognized Hollywood stars and fashion icons Orlando Bloom and Charlize Theron to present it in styles. The garments are cheap, honestly, but it looks chic at the meantime, and, most importantly, individual and modern. Besides the place with put on clothes, nothing is unessential. There are simply clothes, posters, sales persons and customers, but it usually keeps me half an hour to stay and shop. I decide to get inside.

This was not the first time for me to shop at UNIQLO. The first product I purchased at it was in 2009. After I had finished my news paper on Sunday, which features an article about the heat of UNIQLO DENIM jeans, claiming that the jean collection was made by fine denim with marvelous washing and bleaching techniques, and that it was unbelievably cheap and chic, I dashed to the nearby stores and purchased a skinny black one at once with about $299 spent. I have worn it for about four years. The more time I wore it, the more fit it gets. And after that, I started going in the store in search of economic and chic goods as a routine. Today, Uniqlo premium under-wears and shirts are my wardrobe regulars. Premium inner wears are wear as an outer T-shirt, as I love its fitting for Asian men’ torsos, and its plainness which can bring out my accessories and pants’ characters and even my personality. And it is efficient to impress others by its suppleness and lead others to focus on myself rather than my clothes. In boutiques that provide western designers’ casual clothing like Ralph Lauren Polo, Levis, etc, size-s are always in shortage in Hong Kong even thought it is still bigger than the right portion of Asians’ S-size bodies. But it doesn’t happen at Uniqlo. Asian guys always find right-sizes clothes at it. It is really considerate to my needs. And, as a result, UNIQLO is the store I spend most of my shopping time, when I only consume five to ten minutes at other stores even when I am looking for something I don’t know, as UNIQLO gives me a belief that I will find my needs at UNIQLO.

When I was getting in, I soon re-thought about what my wardrobe was lacked-a shirt, so I moved to the men department and stopped at the shirt part, followed the style labels and fabric labels, went on from casual wear to more-formal wear, I soon decided on a garment, which is a white shirt with long collar which gives strength to my short neck, skinny fitting, chic and timeless. And it is made by 85% cotton and 15% polyester, dry-easy, suitable to be worn on both working days and holiday. It can be mixed with pants and leather oxford shoes, or a pair of beige jeans and sandals with a brown Gucci belt to have a summer look. When a old style white shirt in G-2000, a Hong Kong Investment based men wear chain stores, cost between $200 and $450, , and those in lower high-end stores with same style cost more than $600, in Uniqlo, it cost $199. These mean the price is reasonable and that it haves quality. I did not come there expecting any extravagant garment sold at an economic price, but a piece with reasonable price and superb quality, duration, and individuality.

"When the information of products abounds at the store, form the well-organized setting of the stores to the detailed labels of clothing and price tags, customers are immediately informed at the moment they entered."

And I now remember, form the time I entered and went to the counter, no sales person interrupt me, I could totally served myself, and rarely seek help. Creepy, isn't it? And this experience is attributed to the enterprise’s strategy on customers - help yourself. When the information of products abounds at the store, form the well-organized setting of the stores to the detailed labels of clothing and price tags, customers are immediately informed at the moment they entered; however, customers choose and purchase automatically whatever they need, and that there are no need to gather a team of sales in readily to serve the customers. And it brings to the advantages that it helps the enterprise to save the cost of human resource and avoid transferring the cost to the price. Brava. Leading to an effect that there are no salespersons put pressure on customers by giving unnecessary consultations, making the experience of shopping at UNIQLO free and at ease.

"UNQILO tries to target people form all walks of lifes to maximize its sales, however, members of all groups are able to enjoy the products of UNIQLO."

Men are always compliant for the boredom and tiredness when shopping with their loved ones or their members of family. But this does not apply to the experience of shopping at UNIQLO. Contributing half of the spacious store as a part of men wears provides honorable male customers a chance to enjoy the happiness of shopping themselves. Although female expenditure on clothing still takes a large proportion of sales of the retails industry, UNIQLO obviously intends to expand its sales to a wider range of customers, and prevent itself form limited by the female customers oriented retails industry. Form men casual outwears, various jeans in multi-color ranges, sport wears, to inner clothing like those chic black tanks and sexy shorts, accessories to some lately designed formal suits, male members are now free to explore their new looks at a store with a relatively reasonable price and more choices. And it is not without its reasons. According to a book written by Mika K, entitled “the confidential reason for why UNIQLO gains global popularity- the economics of the wealthiest man in Japan”, UNQILO tries to target people form all walks of lifes to maximize its sales, however, members of all groups are able to enjoy the products of UNIQLO. This somehow explains why the men clothing lines are equally important to the women one at UNIQLO stores.

Finally, staying about half an hour, I purchased a $199 white striped shirt and two black tight tanks for $158 to enrich my wardrobe as a nice end of my beautiful day.