Kung Hei Fat Choy

Just got back from a trip home to Holland during Chinese New Year. It was icy cold and not ideal for shopping since indoor mall shopping isn't very common in Europe. Below is a pic of the most upscale department store in Holland with several branches around the country. I used to love that store, before I moved to New York, London and finally Hong Kong.

It's called De Bijenkorf (The Beehive) and it used to seem quite glamorous to me as a young girl. Right across from it there used to be a pastry shop and tearoom and after some shopping my mum and I would have tea and pastries and I would always have a bananensoes, a banana cream pastry. Recently some rusty modern architecture disaster was built onto the store, so it's lost its grand (albeit dated) appearance.

And inside it was bleak street....

How did that happen? Maybe nothing happened and it's simply the wealth of lovely stores in my subsequent homes that have made De Bijenkorf less exciting. The magazines in Holland on the other hand are fabulous. I picked up great copies of Flow magazine and Linda.

I managed to make it to Antwerp for my favorite high street store of all time, COS, which is a chain of stores owned by H&M, but nothing like H&M. The designs are a cross between Helmut Lang and Jil Sander, all very simple but there is always an unexpected detail. The quality is quite good and the prices are like Zara. See www.cosstores.com.

Their kids clothes are adorable as well as shown by my lovely model above.  Blue sandals from Pom d'Api - no trip to Europe is complete without Pom d'Api kids shoes - I would buy them even if I didn't have any kids!!!!!

And finally some shoes of my own...  Loved these vieux rose Balenciaga wedges. The heel is made of white plastic. Can't wait to wear them.