STREET WISE
Madonna shocks with modest hit
Visitors to Hong Kong can easily see huge billboards of superstar Madonna sporting her new clothing line with Swedish-based H&M under the M by Madonna label.
The clothing line was supposedly designed by the singer herself, who has been a style icon for two decades. Billboards showing Madonna are everywhere: at stations of the Central Mass Transit Rail System or in upscale downtown streets. M by Madonna is only the latest celebrity fashion attempt after Kylie Minogue, Gwen Stefani and Justin Timberlake have all hyped their clothing lines to fans wanting to look like their favourite stars. H&M built up the ultra-hyped anticipation for the M collection by saying Madonna had worked hands-on in the designing process. But judging from the M collection itself, we doubt whether Madonna was really as hands-on as claimed, because the designs are quite, well, sedate. It does not reflect the wildly rebellious character of this pop icon. Mention Madonna, and you conjure up images of the sexy star flaunting ultra-feminine outfits with lots of lace, short skirts and big hair. All right, that image might date years back to her "Like a Virgin" days, but even on her recent album, Madonna reinvented her image as a disco dancer with colourful elastic gym-suits and glowing accessories. But these images are nowhere to be seen on the billboards that we've seen. H&M's M by Madonna collection seems to cater to every proper lady: white blouse and black silk dress in minimalist style. But her fans don't seem to care. The collection has reportedly sold out.
Debt delight
We must write about this, because it made Wichit Chaitrong, one of the most serious writers in our newsroom, laugh at the irony of the depreciation of the baht. He called us this morning and enthusiastically posed a riddle: "Do you know who laughs and cries at the drop of the baht?" Easy answer: officials of the Bank of Thailand should be walking on clouds these days, as the baht dropped past 35 to the US dollar, after hitting a new nine-year high last week. The difficult part is who's crying now. Our Wichit blurted out, "It's the Public Debt Management Office at the Finance Ministry." The office has been quietly selling baht to repay the government's debt. Last week alone, it bought US$300 million (Bt10.49 billion). But now, the baht has started to weaken again, causing a severe headache for the Public Debt Management Office. Cue the laughter, please.
jeerawat@nationgroup.com
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