Bugis - Shopping Galore?

One of my fav shopping haunts is Bugis and it was a place where I used to work. Whenever I'm stressed with work, I would use my lunchtime for some shopping therapy to help to soothe the pain.

There are many quaint little shops selling quirky designs dotted around that area besides the usual shopping malls as well as Bugis Village. One of such shops that tucked in a corner of a mall is The Tong Tong Friendship Store It used to be known as Tan Tan which is the surname of the designer/ owner. The shop used to be my inner sanctum whenever I was stressed with my work coz it just right below my office.

The owner / designer reinvented traditional Chinese-inspired dresses and clothes especially Cheongsams or Qipaos. Cheongsam or Qipao is body-hugging (modified in Shanghai) one-piece Chinese dress for women. It shows the curves of women and the movie "In The Mood of Love" acted by Maggie Cheung had led a revival of dresses. Personally, I would love to wear such wonderful creations. However, tailor-made will be of a better fit than those ready-to-wear. Right now, due to limited resources, I've a ready-to-wear piece. However, it's difficult to get it in my size. Hence, I've to be careful of my diet in order to this.

However, I didnt buy appeals from there. I bought accessories instead and some of the accessories that I had were unique such as the double happiness character though some of the prices did burnt holes in my purse.

For the double happiness pin, I always wear it to a wedding and it becomes a conversational piece. For some reasons, I like to wear black coz of the slimming effect. With a touch of Chinese character, the whole outfit has changed. Besides pins, there were necklaces with chinese characters as well as my first pin from Tatty Devine (cameo of a couple) that I have bought from this shop.

Pictures from Mode.Attitude.Culture

Besides this shop, there is another shop that I used to patronise is Actually which carries many brands. I bought my first Freitag bag and it became part of my ever-growing bag collection. To me, Freitag has revolutionised the idea of recycling existing materials to make into eye catching bags. My bag is a tote version with the words 'FAX' written across the bag. At that point of purchase, there were not many people carrying this brand till very recently.

Picture from Mode.Attitude.Culture

Even now, I'm always on the look-out for quicky stuff on the net, shopping malls, etc. Being in a small island, it's not difficult to find another person who has similar tastes like yours. Will blog about it later.

Happy Shopping!

PS : I would like to share my shopping hunts as well as my fav things with you.