kotmj

Because I'm famous, and a big shot, I got invited today to an even t at the JLC boutique in Pavilion. Actually, that's not true. The guy above, who is wearing a kerbau suit from six years ago, invited me to tag along to the event. He's digging into a duck confit, as I was. So, that's his watch. He got the sales guy to bring out the most expensive watch in the boutique. It costs RM2mil. And just like that, the sales guy brought it out. He was like hypnotised into doing it. Since I handle RM2mil watches all the time, it was no big deal. Frankly, the sauteed organic chicken with mushroom which they served was more interesting. So here you have a kerbau suit jacket in the same picture as a RM2mil Jaeger Le-Coultre. I was on the seventh champagne of the evening.

Inevitably, as a tailoring establishment, one comes into contact with people in fashion design. I had once looked at the syllabus for a fashion design diploma course; I can't believe you'd have to go anywhere to learn the stuff. You learn it by watching youtube and reading a few articles online. Everything in that course has the character of an introduction. Nothing was about making you really good at a particular craft. You are told such and such exists. See? It exists. Then the course is concluded. When I was in university, the stuff was actually hard and voluminous and you had to become good at doing a particular thing. So good at doing it that you are commercially relevant. That is, when you get out of university, you can make a living doing it in industry. No such luck with fashion design. Recently, I was introduced to the head of programme of a fashion design course of a local private uni. You see, almost everyday, I meet people of some accomplishment. They would order stuff from me. We would talk about stuff. When I met her, I was expecting a different sort of person to be head of any programme. She made the impression of a Form 5 girl. Are you talking to me, or are you not talking to me? Are we even talking? It was strange talking to her. A few days ago, I googled her and read her linkedin profile. It was awful. There was no career to talk of. Just low level jobs which barely last a year. Then, she became head of programme of fashion design. I think the whole of fashion design is a miserable field.

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Independently of the jobstreet ad, I received an application for a four-month internship from a Malaysian girl studying fashion design at La Salle in SG. Thomas Wong --- the Singaporean tailor and co-owner of The Prestigious--- is one of her instructors.

A luthier applied for the job. Together with three other females. Yes, I had to Google what that meant.

I made some tepid attempts to reform people but saw the futility quite early. Most do not see any urgency for improvements. They don't because their circle of friends are all like them. For them, they cannot change because if they do, they break solidarity with their group. They become strange to their group. If you want a certain kind of person (speaking as an employer), you have to recruit from the groups of people who have the values you want to see. Speaking just for myself, I'm looking for people with strong commercial effectiveness. You find them in groups who value commercial effectiveness. They try everyday to be more commercially effective. They bring their children up to be commercially effective. 10,000 years of Chinese culture isn't a big part of their lives. The relevant culture for them is whatever gives the greatest commercial effectiveness. But because these groups are commercially effective, they are wealthy. They pick industries which are known to be commercially very gratifying. Tailoring isn't what they have in mind.

You or me? Just had Julian and his mother in the shop. Making him a black velvet jacket, a sand wool-linen jacket, a navy 2-piece suit, various trousers and some shirts. I'm also making him his performing costumes in Spandex. The guy is super intelligent.

Well, this is the job ad. A friend said it's "amusing". https://www.jobstreet.com.my/en/job/3938070/preview

I've gone through quite a few part timers now. All except one are UM students. They study things like Accounting, Finance, Civil Eng., Mechanical Eng., Building Surveying, etc. I notice a commonality. Also, what prompted this post was the call I just received from Jobstreet. What I want to say is this: They don't speak English. Really, they don't. They may think they do, but I don't think so. They don't speak Chinese either. Essentially, they are linguistic basket cases. They come from the type of community that prides itself mightily on its either 5000 or 8000 years ---let's be charitable and say 10,000 years---of Chinese culture and history. This community REJECTS the cultures of those who are not like them. They look down on the Malays and Indians. 10,000 years of Chinese culture! They see the other cultures as underevolved and inferior. This community is in a sort of a limbo in that it seems to be preparing itself for what is known as "balik tongsan". But none of them will actually balik tongsan since China will not accept them nor do they find China all that native. All they know is, they have 10,000 years of Chinese culture which is superior. They send their kids to Chinese medium schools. One of my part timers is even UEC. What UEC is, I found out, is essentially a rejection of a common Malaysian culture. They are saying: 10,000 years Chinese culture better. A common Malaysian culture? Not for me. I would speak to them in what I think is plain English and oftentimes, they would not understand me. When I tell them, get me a spanner, they have no clue what a spanner means. They know what scissors mean, but not shears or snippers. They have never heard of "oak" as in oak table, or "teak" as in teak table. I don't think I should mention birch or beech to them. Even pine might be too esoteric. Apart from the English vocabulary of primary school children, they also have great difficulty expressing themselves in English. They would tell me things in English, and I have no clue what they are trying to say. All I see is how effortful it is for them to have a conversation in English. You would think their Chinese must be very good. I thought so too, until I tried to get them to write in Chinese. The problem with the Chinese language is that it contains many, many characters. The cost of acquiring a working vocabulary in Chinese is far higher than in English. But these people do not read, nor do they have parents who read. Their Chinese vocabulary may be no higher than their English one. It is limited to very rudimentary everyday words like eat, sit, run, rice, kitchen, etc. They know nothing about the Chinese used in finance, or technical Chinese like that used in the sciences. I asked one of them to write "mount sleeve" in Chinese on a pattern. The coatmaker couldn't read the words. Which brings me to the call I just received from Jobstreet. I am advertising for a full time position there, and a customer service guy called. Chinese, maybe UEC. As we talked, I found myself very annoyed at him. He has difficulty speaking English, and he doesn't understand what I'm telling him. I can tell he would love to just drop this whole English thing and speak Mandarin. But he can't, because in Malaysia in business, English rules. If he balik tongsan, his Chinese is too poor to be effective. Essentially, whatever the geography, he's uneducated.

Julian Yee coming this Friday

That's right. It's something of a dream for her; if I make it too close fitting, or too short, or too feminine, the dream is lost.

The recently introduced retro-inspired Tudor BB 58 which debuts the new compact inhouse movement. It fits my wrist! It belongs to a customer. In person, it looks very vintagey and very nice. There is not much space at all between the box crystal and the dial; it looks as if the hands were accomodated in the curve of the crystal. This height compression gives the watch the authentic vintage feel. The graphics of the dial is very nice to look at. That was yesterday. Today, a customer walked in wearing an AP RO with the blue tapisserie dial. After taking his order (3-piece pure cashmere suit), I asked him if that's a Royal Oak. He then became very animated and told me how he missed out on the first opportunity to acquire one. The circumstances: After being on the waiting list for a long time, one fine day the dealer called him to inform that an RO is available for him to buy. He said he'll come get it tomorrow. The dealer didn't sound that impressed. Later that day, the dealer told him he sold it to someone else. Disappointed, he opted to remain on the waiting list. ONE AND A HALF YEARS later, the dealer called. An RO is available for him to buy. He dropped everything and drove straight to the dealer.

That DB is actually for a girl. Her husband has one made by me four years ago, and ever since she's wanted one for herself. She specifically wanted a man's cut without any feminising elements. She plans to wear it at work at client's places, to dress up a bit but not too severely, hence the royal blue.

Me wearing a customer's DB. Paladino wool-mohair

While on the way to meet the accountant... It certainly feels different from a regular shirt due to the interlining on the front (like a bib). It's however very, very distinctive this collar. A great deal of presence.