look sharp! @ Mode et Creation

You are not Caucasian; you are not an expatriate; you are not a tourist -- you are just a local, white-collar civil servant who wants to dress well at work.

Thus your lousy experience with a certain tailor at Holland Village Shopping Centre really, really irked you.

Later that afternoon, you decided to visit a tailor with a reputation for good customer service. Just to get that pent-up energy out of your system. Your google-ing (Flyertalk Forums thread, TripAdvisor thread) turned up Mode et Creation as another tailor shop worth visiting. (In addition to Oxford Tailor, that is.) Address: 545 Orchard Road, #04-02, Far East Shopping Centre, Singapore 238882.

Mr Anthony Tan is the tailor at Mode. He has been tailoring menswear since 1977. It was both a breeze and pleasure to transact with him. He was patient, ever so willing so show you more fabrics, not the sort of person to hard sell, attentive to your work needs.

After much browsing and discussion, you decided to tailor two dress shirts, one maize and one lilac in colour.

Style notes: French-front (concealed buttons, as always), semi-spread collar, but barrel (button) cuffs this time (more appropriate for your work environment).

What really made your day subsequently was this: you had placed your order on December 27. Anthony told you the shirts would be ready for collection on January 5. Very reasonable, given it was the end of 2007 and start of 2008 period. You told him there was no hurry, as you were not going to dress up that often while in exile.

Imagine your pleasant surprise when Anthony had the shirts made by January 3rd. He said he wanted you to have the new shirts ready to wear when you began exile.

You thanked Anthony profusely for being most thoughtful. You will return to Mode et Creation for sure.