Dear lord I am a moaner this week aren't I... first it's not having enough clothes to last the week, then it's expensive wifi at the new hotel and now it's err... differences in Japanese and UK products. I'll be nit picking at the opacity of curtains next. Beware...
Back to Japanese/UK product differentiation though. I dropped by Ace Hotel to check out the Opening Ceremony store. I went to the opening but didn't really get to browser properly. I very nearly bought a packet of Walkers Salt and Vinegar crisps (I can go through three Grab Bags at a time...) as a homesick gesture. I resisted because I'm consuming fried/fatty/ginormous portions of food everywhere else and instead, turned my attention to some imported Tabio socks.
Hold up, I was just in Tabio Covent Garden the other day and didn't spot these plaid, floral and lacey cuties. Oh dear... it's that old chestnut again. The different products for European and Japanese markets rule that persists because apparently we have wildly different tastes (maybe that is actually the case but why not give us the choice to make that decision for ourselves eh?). The rule that causes me to scratch my head whenever I have been in Japan when I see something from a known label that I've never knew existed - e.g. Comme des Garcons different stock out there. Tabio especially hurts because at the very least they're an affordable treat that I give myself every now and again. Just to prove a point, I forked out for these slightly overpriced socks (due to import), so that I might take them back to Tabio UK and stand there outside their offices like a mad woman bellowing "Whhhhy do you not have these here?"
Point proving aside, I of course will be wearing them with plenty of mid-calf skirts, loose shorts or have them peeking out from too-short trews. The plaid pattern happens to be very painterly, that is ever so slightly Prada A/W 10-11-esque too.
I dug around the Tabio Japanese site a bit more and found a few more examples that probably/maybe/most likely won't be making it into the UK store...
If it gets desperate, there is always the very long-winded way of using one of those Japanese e-store shipping services... but I prefer my yelling like a banshee outside the UK Tabio office instead... some people fight for climate change, I fight for cute socks... this is what seven years of severe girl's schooling prepped me for...
