UNIQLOed

When UNIQLO first reached Singapore's shores in April, its outlet in Tampines 1 was swarmed by large crowds, with hordes of people actually queuing to enter the store. Wah, so popular meh? At that time, Eric Banana could not understand what the big hoo-ha was about. After all, when AstroBanana were in Hong Kong last year, they did visit a UNIQLO outlet and while he felt their apparel were reasonably nice, he wasn't like, wow, overwhelmed. Hence, AstroBanana were not struck by the UNIQLO fever.

Four long months passed before AstroBanana stepped into the UNIQLO outlet at Tampines 1 last week. It was a quick visit as it was getting late and they were worn out from shopping at IKEA Tampines so they did not buy anything. As they swung by ION Orchard this afternoon, they decided to visit the newly-opened UNIQLO outlet. Surprisingly, it was not as crowded as they thought it would be.

AstroBanana like what they saw today. Finally, a brand with a proper line of apparel to fill the fashion GAP (pun intended) in Singapore while staying reasonably priced and affordable. Astro Girl managed to get a couple of tank tops and a pair of denim shorts. Eric Banana thinks they are all nice (mainly because he helped to choose them - he loves shopping! - but of course, the politically correct answer is, "Astro Girl looks nice in everything.") As for the living symbol of consumerism himself, he picked up a classic biker jacket from UNIQLO's new Neo-Leather collection of luxury synthetic leather jackets, which is part of its Fall/Winter 2009 series and made its worldwide debut in Singapore - yup, even ahead of Japan (by about two weeks). Yay, Eric Banana finally owns a leather jacket! Okay, so it's faux/synthetic leather but it's pretty lightweight compared to a full leather jacket. It's also much more affordable. It's supposed to suit Singapore's tropical climate but actually Eric Banana seriously doubts it - jackets and Singapore are like mutually exclusive. One needs to have a severely impaired hypothalamus to wear a jacket in perpetually hot Singapore.

Now, to complete the ultimate biker look, all Eric Banana needs is a flaming skull and a chain whip...