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Last Friday was officially my first day in my home country. I can say that I'm pretty excited to be home, yet at the same time feel very anxious. Extremely anxious. Probably because I have to re-educate myself on what I should do on my daily basis when I'm here since being in Central London, the highstreet is practically just at my doorstep. You name it, from the uber-affordable brand like Primark, H&M, Topman and River Island to the big playa like Armani Exchange, Levi's and Zara... they're just a stone's throw from my college (a stone's throw, if you bring the stone from one tube stop to another and threw it there...lol!). Any free time i had, the clothes on their rails become my victim, their fitting rooms become my playhouse and the whole floor become my snooping place. But here... hmmm... we don't have highstreet like the European or Americans do. Most stores are housed in big malls, just like Westfield, Bluewater or Whitgift Centre in London. And when I said big mall, they are normally huge! Some even make Westfield look like a little one. Erks!
Anyway. On my first day, since it was Friday and compulsory to perform the Friday prayer, I was kinda excited to go to the local mosque. Why? Because unlike London, everyone here seems to be in their traditional 'costume'. What I'm excited about is to see the variety of sarongs that they wear, the tunics that they put on and the sandals they slip into. If yesteryears, i kinda hate seeing those kinda scenes coz I hate wearing them myself. But now, I'm pretty stoked coz those kinda clothings make it big in the high fashion arena. Such as seen on Francisco Lachowski in Issey Miyake and the other one that I used to mention at Dries van Noten, in the previous Spring/Summer 2010 catwalks.
I can say, what I see on those models is pretty similar on what I saw last Friday. Though the people here wear a 'proper' sarong, not the sarong pants version. Still, I love the variety of colors, the different kinds of fabric from the indigenous pelikat type to the much expensive woven version and in many kinds of pattern too such as the stripes, Madras checks and tartan-like designs. They're awesome. I think now I have a new appreciation on what the local wear on their daily or weekly basis. Too bad I don't bring my camera, otherwise I could show here how those people 'struts' their stuff while going for prayer. :)
I can say, it may be a whole new world to me again. But a better one compared to before I left the country years ago. For the local clothing to make it big in high fashion - what more can i ask for. It totally rocks! =)
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