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Message |
MFZ (Kiyoharu)
Junior Member
Username: Kiyoharu
Post Number: 126
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2003 - 12:32 pm: | |
I'm bumping up this topic because of the war in Iraq, it may not get the deserved coverage.
Also, I saw the news, right now, almost 40 people are dead because of it, and actually, around a thousand people have been infected worldwide. Most importantly, there's no cure found yet, so I think this is a serious problem that shouldn't be treated lightly. |
Ming Cheng (Onlinesys)
Member
Username: Onlinesys
Post Number: 259
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2003 - 12:54 am: | |
MFZ -- I personally do not think this will end very soon as the virus has been spreaded in the public. The only thing we could do is trying to stay away from the crowd and make sure to have the mask on! I reckon the source was from Mainland China a couple of months ago as you could imagine there were hundred of thousands of people coming back and forth from China.
The virus did affect my social life as the Rolling Stones Concerts were cancelled and we might cancel the vacation to Bangkok during the Easter holidays as well. |
MFZ (Kiyoharu)
Junior Member
Username: Kiyoharu
Post Number: 109
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2003 - 12:21 am: | |
Finally someone mentioned the SARS problem. Though after reading this probable opinion piece above, I was ready to call the situation a joke (Louis Vuitton masks?). Then again, dozens are already dead and hundreds have already been infected worldwide. Just yesterday, Singapore ordered the entire nation's school-going children to go home and stay home for two weeks in an effort to contain the virus from spreading.
Hopefully this one will end sooner than later. |
Ming Cheng (Onlinesys)
Member
Username: Onlinesys
Post Number: 257
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 11:52 pm: | |
There is a widespread of Atypical Pneumonia throughout the SouthEast Asia and some other parts of the world lately. We are a bit panic over here in HK as the CEO of the Hosiptal Authority was confirmed to be infected and so were 14 persons who were suspected to be infected when they were using the same elevator!
Mask became an fashionable and useful thing for everyone.
Atypical Masks for Atypical Pneumonia
March 24, 2003
A mystery virus may be sweeping around the tiny ex-British colony of Hong Kong, causing a dozen deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations but, as Chuck Hiccough reports, it's just another reason for the inhabitants of this label-mad city to go shopping... Hong Kong is in the grips of a mystery pneumonia bug, and the local populace has clearly become worried by the epidemic. Walking around the sidewalks and travelling on the subway in this frenetic city, one can now see a large proportion of the local populace wearing protective surgical masks to cover their faces. But some inhabitants of this city - which in the 1990s became internationally synonymous with conspicuous consumption, infamously outdoing even Manhattan and Beverly Hills in sheer showiness - have grasped the situation in their own hands and taken it as an excuse to go shopping. War may have just broken out in Iraq, and a contagious pneumonia is on the loose, but Hong Kong people can't seem to get enough of their beloved designer labels. On Saturday, Louis Vuitton in Hong Kong released a limited edition atypical pneumonia mask, specially for the Hong Kong market, in super-soft Connolly leather with a monogrammed sterling silver clasp. This luxurious and unfeasibly comfortable mask comes with a matching protective case to allow its users to store it away safely in their Kelly bags without contaminating their shatoosh shawls. At a retail price of HK$1,800 (approximately US$230), one would have expected these to be more of a publicity stunt than a serious retail proposition, but by Saturday lunchtime, all 88 limited edition masks had been sold. Across town in the sprawling Gucci boutique, the company spokesperson said that they would be shortly releasing a designer mask as an addition to their summer 2003 accessories range. She declined to mention details, except to say that it would of course be in black and would incorporate the Gucci buckle. A Hong Kong tai-tai (the local equivalent of ladies-who-lunch) in the store at that time said that she was eagerly awaiting its release and had put herself down on the waiting list, adding "Everyone knows that black is the new Burberry". Burberry, meanwhile, has not as yet brought out a mask and says that it has no immediate plans to do so, but fake Burberry masks can already be found across the border in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where Hong Kong people and visiting tourists go for day trips to stock up on fake goods. For just RMB10 (US$1.25), one can get a surgical mask with a Burberry check trim and some functional yet rather fetching beige elastic earloops. This correspondent bought a box of twenty, and was given a free "men's hold-all", which despite its uncanny resemblance to a toiletries bag appears to be hugely popular with the local menfolk. All this consumerism may appear to be frivolous, especially in times such as these, but it does emphasize the breathtaking speed at which the fashion industry reacts to the latest news and trends. Mainstream and luxury goods retailers are increasingly capitalizing on current affairs in order to come up with killer fads. And where else to do this than in a city full of
fashionistas: as a Hong Kong advertising executive put it, "When you have a cutting edge, never-seen-before virus, you've got to fight it with a cutting edge, never-seen-before mask. Designer masks for designer viruses". Back at Louis Vuitton, a tai-tai who had bought two of the limited edition masks - presumably one for herself and one for her husband - wandered back into the store yesterday to say how much she loved her new mask and how jealous the other members of her lunch group were. Before speaking she of course had to unclasp the Louis Vuitton Connolly leather mask that she was wearing... and then reached down to unclasp the second Louis Vuitton Connolly leather mask that her pet poodle Benzie was wearing. Atypical masks for atypical pneumonia in an atypically unique city.
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