Sogo Weekend

Last weekend was the Sogo weekend: the first weekend of sales at the 14-something temple to shopping that dominates Taipei's Chunghsiao East Road, Section 4.
As usual, the crowds were elbowing each other outside long before opening hours. As usual, they usually went for the expensive cosmetics on the first floor. As usual, some shoppers spent over a million New Taiwan dollars. And as usual, each day features different exclusives at special prices. When you read this, you're already too late for the Celine boogie bag at about 15,000 New Taiwan dollars (500 US dollars) instead of 21,000. They only ten bags available.
The latest I heard about, in today's evening newspaper, is about a Fendi bag up for grabs.
But instead of the throngs at the Sogo, I went to the Breeze. My wife has a taste for color and the Breeze Center features Paul Smith and Miu Miu, two brands which are generous with orange, pink, purple and all my wife's favorites. Her taste for winter is olive green, by the way. Quite by chance, we happened to pass by the new Gucci store when they were preparing for their "early spring" show, with celebrities and cameras in attendance. Didn't see the show, but the media reported black-and-white was the main theme of the collection.