Window Shopping Hong Kong Style

My Dear Great Ones,

I have raved on and on about amazing Hong Kong in this blog.  This city/territory is truly an architectural, engineering, cultural, and natural wonder.  It is also a world class shopping/fashion center, up there with New York, London, and Paris.  In fact Hong Kong promotes itself as a shopping mecca and many fly in to shop.  Shopping. Ugh.  For me I would much rather get up at 6:00 am to bike 20 kilometers on a rainy, blustery day, followed by a swim in the ocean with senior citizens; watch the sunset from a mountain top; sweat profusely for two hours playing floor hockey;  ride the waves on a body board then go shopping.  Hate shopping.  It is so boring.  

Yet, despite my heavy handed cynicism , I have gained an awareness, due to a special someone, that fashion designer brands like Gucci, Coach, LV, Ralph Lauren are important to some people.  And they greatly influence price.  A lady's handbag that you can get at an open air market here for about 10 dollars Canadian suddenly jumps in price to about 3000 Canadian due to putting a label on it like Gucci, or Coach.  Ok the quality of the bag is a bit better, but really is it that much better?  I had to laugh the other day in Shenzhen.  Went to a market there with Celia and she was offered a nice handbag for a "good price."  Labels like Victoria Secret, Gucci, or Coach could also be put on the bag free of charge.  Yeah, that about says it all for me when it comes to "branding."Brands prey on our egos.  Sucker!

Yet, what I do find interesting here in Hong Kong is the psychological tricks that the clothing industry, in particular, use to lure customers into their stores.    The competition for customers is so intense here  that stores create interesting and I admit, at times very absurd, yet artistic,  even dazzling displays to lure people/money in.   Seriously, Hong Kong should consider providing tours to see the most elaborate displays.  Here is a small sample of what I mean:

Women's clothing.

Women's clothing and accessories.  Note the tree.  It is made of:

...Pencils!

Men and Women's clothing.  A car made of plastic horses with riders on it.  Weird I know.  But interesting for sure.

Clothing store with a camera made of film containers.  Hmmm.

A giant chair and table set in front of several "boutique," stores.  Cool.

Shoes emerging out of a lawn.  

Art shoes.  Mountain and desert.  Huh?

Two bags and two pair of shoes in a window display.  Louis Vuitton  ah huh 

A suitcase store.  Find suitcases.

Ah huh.

Lanterns extra.

What a dragonfly and a moth have to do with jewelry is a mystery to me.

Have a great week everyone!

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk