The grass is greener on the Tokyo side.

When buying men's clothes in KL, there are three main factors that come into play: the mercilessly scorching weather, the limited selection of menswear labels and the negative perception about guys even attempting to dress up. I found a solution in Americana labels like Gap, Banana Republic, and the recently departed Gant that seem to adress all three concerns. These Americans sure know how to make their summer clothes comfortable in balmy weather while maintaining a modest but tasteful aesthetic .

I thought that the summer collection menswear that was brought to KL shores this year was pretty good- lots of nice shirts and shorts in breathable material and tasteful patterns (plaid, stripes, madras, gingham). That was until I saw this photo as I was flipping through a Japanese men's fashion magazine (Men's Non-no, if you must) and saw this ad in its first few pages:

[photo credit: BOI]

This is the Spring/Summer '09 ad campaign for Gap Japan. I was as green (as the second model from left's canvas sneakers) with envy at the realisation that so many of the items did not reach Malaysian shores. Model 1's shoes, t-shirt, mint green bag; Model 3's scarf, bag, t-shirt, belt, pants, shoes.. and the list goes on. Luckily, I calmed down after I looked at the ad hard and saw the words: Gap JAPAN. Japan, the country with a fashion sense/buying power so advanced that clothing labels have released separate clothing lines especially for the Japanese market, Converse Japan, Paul Smith Japan. Some items released in Japan will never see the light of day even in the native countries of that brand, I comforted myself.

I got hold of the said issue of Men's Non-no, and the picture above does not do justice to the full-blown ad in the glossy pages of the magazine. Several details are not visible in the picture above, such as the crumpled texture of Model #1's t-shirt, the stripes on model #3's pants and the knitted belt on model #3,4,6 and model #5's micro check shorts.

Sigh, the sad state of Malaysian menswear.

*Please click here (Boimpression blog) to see pics of the full ad campaign for Gap Japan SS09