Stealing Stephen

Coming soon to a Web site, a second-hand store or a sidewalk near you: 96 Louis Vuitton bags in mint condition!
That's the likely outcome of the spectacular two-minute raid on the French designer's main store in Taichung yesterday. The thieves got away with some of the latest in Louis Vuitton bags, include a Stephen with the typical monogram, leopard design and a chain, worth a cool 155,000 New Taiwan dollars, or about 5,000 US dollars. Several bags in the new light cream colored version of the Damier series also vanished, as did lesser known but still stylish bags like the Stillwood Vertical and the Zippy Organizer.
Police told the United Evening News they expect the objects to show up on the Internet or at second-hand stores in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan at 85 percent of their original value. They also suspect the robbers must have visited the store earlier on to check up on its contents. The Taichung store is one of Louis Vuitton's newest in Taiwan, and hosted the launch on the island of the Monogram Perfo series.
The heist immediately invited parallels with that now infamous breakin at Gucci's Chungshan North Road store in Taipei, which as far as I recall, was never solved. So much for the logo craze.

BR4 (Part 2)

The new Sogo BR4 at the Chunghsiao-Fuhsing MRT station in Taipei is roaring ahead like a Taiwanese high-speed rail train. That is to say, they keep announcing new dates for its opening, and they keep missing their deadlines.
By traveling to Bangkok last weekend, I thought I was missing the opening of the green giant across the street from the old white Sogo, but oh no, they postponed everything again, possibly until the middle of next month.
Not so important, I hear you say, since we still have the old Sogo, the Dunhua Sogo, the Breeze Center, Taipei 101, the Takashimaya, and a dozen or so Mitsukoshis. For me, that's ok as well, but there are fashion brands out there that have landed in an uneasy situation.
Belgian design house Martin Margiela was selling its clothes out of a store near Warner Village until last month, when it closed down to prepare for the move to Sogo BR4. The result is now that they don't have a store, and threaten to miss out on both the 'anniversary sales' craze and the winter season. If the situation continues, the Apple Daily says, they'll be opening up just as the year-end sales begin, having to mark down clothes that were never available at normal prices. Not an attractive situation for a business, so what Margiela did was invite VIPs and frequent customers over to their offices to choose clothes there.
Apple says a couple of other brands are in a similar bind. Versace was looking forward to opening its largest outlet in Taiwan inside the new Sogo, while Italy's leather goods brand Hogan - part of the Tod's fashion group - was going to have its only store for all of the country right inside the BR4.
The race is on now for which will operate first - the high-speed rail system or the new Sogo.

The Bangkok Bag

The most important product of my weekend trip to the Thai capital was making the acquaintance of 'the Bangkok bag.'
Let me explain. My wife was asked by a colleague to bring her a dark blue bag from Thailand. The brand she mentioned was Nantita, but when we started looking around in Bangkok, we soon found out that that company was apparently imitating a far more popular brand known as NaRaYa.
Its trademark 'Bangkok Bag' - known as such by its Taiwanese fans - has already achieved quite some popularity here in Taipei, and I know I've seen it around a lot, even though I didn't know it was imported from Thailand.
The NaRaYa bags are made of cloth, not leather, and have a big butterfly knot. They come in various colors, from dark blue over shiny sky blue to wine red, and even pink and grass green. Unfortunately, the model my wife's colleague wanted was no longer available. Another thing about the bags: they cost next to nothing. No 20,000 to 50,000 baht Gucci-style prices here, but only a bare 175 baht and up. Yes, that's 5 US dollars or about 150 New Taiwan dollars and up.
The two NaRaYa stores we found were located on the corner of Sukhumvit Road Soi 24 behind the Emporium (Phrom Phong Skytrain station), and inside the Central World shopping mall (between Siam and Chitlom stations).
By the way, the Central World mall shows a seemingly typical Bangkok phenomenon: the mall is officially opened to the public way before construction work is finished. The side close to Sukhumvit still looked like a construction site, so much so that they put up boards telling you that, yes, Central World is open. But even inside the half that is finished, lots of stores are still boarded up and waiting for their occupants. That'll be something for my next visit.
I did find two expensive - by Thai standards - shirts for myself at the Siam Center mall, at a place called 'Dapper.' The shirts cost more than 1,000 baht each, one has white and blue stripes with a flowery design down below, while the other one fades from harsh red at the top, over pink to near white at the bottom. Both shirts have short sleeves, which is the only kind of sleeve you want in Thailand.
Remember: if you buy sufficient items in Thailand, you can get a VAT (Value Added Tax) refund at the airport. There are several conditions though. You have to get a PP10 form from the shops where you bought the goods - and not all stores are in on the VAT scheme - my 'Dapper' shirt store wasn't - and you have to spend at least 2,000 baht at each store for a total of at least 5,000 baht.
And at the airport you have to remember to have the forms stamped after you check in your luggage but before you pass the customs check. Finally, after the customs check, you can get your refunds. In our case, the normal refund desk was closed and we had to rush over to an office at departure gate D1. The last surprise was that they take a 100 baht handling fee from your refund, so if your total VAT sum was only around 100 baht, just don't bother with the whole procedure. All in all, Bangkok is still a great shopping destination for both clothing, cultural artifacts, and design.

Thai Weekend or Sogo Weekend

The new giant green Sogo BR4 above the Chunghsiao-Fuhsing MRT station in Taipei is scheduled to open this coming weekend, as far as I know. I haven't been anywhere near it recently, so I can't tell whether it's ready to open, but since it's probably less complicated than a high-speed rail line ...
I'll have to miss the opening though, because my significant other scheduled a guerrilla-style one-and-a-half-day trip to Bangkok for me. Nothing directly related to fashion, we'll be visiting a floating market and taking in the sights, but the latest shopping malls will also be on the agenda.
Last Christmas, we visited the brandnew, luxurious Siam Paragon mall. There were luxury cars spread over the building, fancy fountains, lots of interesting Thai brands, but many of the international stores were still under construction. Not that I cared much, since for taxation reasons, major brand products are not expected to be much cheaper in Bangkok than in other Asian capitals. Since then though, yet another shopping center has opened next door, run by the Central chain, until now noted for its rather old-fashioned department stores - think Rebar or Far Eastern department stores near Hsimenting ten years ago.
Bangkok is still good value for money for its many local brands, which are getting more and more international exposure. Taiwan's most recent issue of CommonWealth magazine features a piece about Thai design which mentions Propaganda, a must-see for visitors to Thailand, even though it's not about clothing but about knick-knacks and trinkets. Then there is Bangkok's design center, which you'll find at the top of the Emporium shopping mall near Phrom Pong Skytrain station.
Anyway, I might not make it to the new Sogo before you do, but Bangkok is a fun alternative.