PR Log (Press Release) –
Feb 27, 2010 – At face value, the Chinese shopping website, Taobao, was the site of my dreams. Promising me everything I’ve ever wanted for a fraction of the shop price. You want D&G? You got it. H&M? Mei wenti! You can imagine the length of the revised list I drew up, clicking on everything that looked remotely like something I may wear within my lifetime and adding it to my long list. Hey, at the price of 90 yuan for a Topshop inspired piece, why not? Sure, some of the Chinese characters I still may not be totally swotted up on, but that just convinced me that it’s even more worth spending the entire afternoon browsing the website. Surely it’s not wasted hours surfing internet shopping sites, if it’s also giving me a chance to exercise my character reading?
I was so excited with the first delivery of the load, that for a mere moment, it actually did feel like Christmas time in Beijing. The piles of scrunchy plastic the clothes were wrapped in was enough to bring everyone in the office gathering around with beaming faces, much alike one of those old movies like Pride & Prejudice, when one of the very single sisters receives a letter from a loaded English fellow in a top hat. However, the faces and excitement quickly deflated when the rag that had promised to be my Angelina Jolie inspired leather Basque dress emerged out of its plastic wrapper. It was vastly short for something that claimed to be a dress and made from a very stinky plastic that if worn for a period of time would most definitely cause a vicious migraine. My Kate Moss inspired jump suit appeared to be elasticated in all the wrong places, causing what one might deem a major camel toe situation. Note to self. In future, DO NOT agree to model your latest internet purchases in front of office colleagues before checking alone. I must say that the highlight of the collection was the oversized ‘Chloe’ t-shirt, which appeared to be missing a set of arm holes.
Just unlucky? Me? Yes, perhaps. I’m sure lots of people have wonderfully fulfilling and desirable relationships with Taobao and other similar websites. Perhaps I was over eager, a little misguided or just plain foolish and didn’t check the small print, which for all I know could have read, ‘cameltoe enhancing body suit'.
Yes maybe I should have learned my lesson by this small misadventure, and in future vow to not purchase items until I have personally smelled them and checked for arm holes, but what can I say… There’s just something that’s so darn appealing about buying clothes while sitting at your desk with a cup of coffee…especially when you’re supposed to be working
If you’re one of those who just can’t help yourself, don’t just stop your cosy shopping at taobao.com, you should also take a look at www.eachnet.com, www.wxwu.com, www.paipai.com, baidu.com and http://china.alibaba.com , http://www.9channel.com , You can have hours and hours of risky purchasing… and, ahem, putting to use your Chinese reading skills, of course!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment