Less
than 24 hours after SIGNAL broke news of Nigerian First Lady Aisha
Buhari’s ostentatious Hermes Birkin 35cm Porosus Crocodile Gold Hardware
Bag worth $105, 000 (N40, 950,000), the BBC, in contrast, has filed a report of Ho Ching, the wife of Singapore’s PM, carrying an $11 blue, dinosaur-printed pouch on a state visit to the White House.
Priced at just $11 (£8), the pouch was
designed by a Singaporean student at Pathlight, the country’s first
autism-focused school.
PM Lee Hsien Loong and Ms Ho have been in Washington since Monday.
According to the BBC, initially, Ms Ho’s
choice of accessories was met with some criticism online. But, once it
was discovered to have been designed by 19-year-old Seetoh Sheng Jie of
Pathlight, sales of the pouch jumped.
The school typically sells 200 pouches
in four months, but sold 200 within a day after images of Ms Ho were
shared widely, the school told the BBC. This is happening just as news
of Nigeria’s Aisha Buhari carrying a Hermes handbag may have
successfully created more clientele for Hermes, a non-Nigerian luxury
brand.
SIGNAL’s report on Aisha Buhari’s Hermes bag has since gone viral in
the Nigerian media with most Nigerians expressing outrage at the cost
of the bag, while others say there’s no big deal about Mrs. Buhari
totting a $105,000 handbag.
In a sharp contrast, Ho Ching was seen
carrying her $11 pouch at the arrival ceremony at the White House South
Lawn, where President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama
officially welcomed Mr Lee and Ms Ho to the US.
The pouch, which is sold on a platform run by the school to promote the talents of people with autism, has since sold out.
Pathlight’s principal, Linda Kho, said
the school was unaware that Mrs Lee would be taking the pouch, which she
bought at a recent fundraising event, to Washington.
“We were pleasantly surprised and
honoured that she chose to bring this bag on her official visit. It gave
such a great mileage for the artist on our Artist Development Programme
(ADP),” she told the BBC.
“[She] is known to be very down to earth
and practical and the fact that she carries a less than $20 Singapore
dollars pouch to such a world stage event shows she is really confident
and authentic.”
Ms Ho originally faced much criticism
online for her choice in outfit, with netizens quick to point out the
difference in dressing between Mrs Obama and Ms Ho.
“[She] really could have chose
something, well, more cheery,” Dr Siew Tuck Wah, an aesthetics doctor
said on Facebook. “We need to get a stylist for her please.”
The Pathlight website describes Mr
Seetoh as being “extremely pedantic about dinosaurs”, with the
illustrations drawn from his personal knowledge.
Mr Seetoh was “happy” to find out about the incident, according to his father Mr Jason Seetoh.
“His parents are understandably very
proud and honoured,” Ms Shae Hung Yee, Senior Manager, Student &
Corporate Affairs at Pathlight school said.
Ms Ho is an adviser to the Autism Resource Centre (ARC) in Singapore, which helped set up the Pathlight school.
0 comments:
Post a Comment