
What could a lucky bag featuring one of the world’s most luxury brands possibly contain?
Seiji Nakazawa is one of our most versatile Japanese-language reporters. When he’s not channeling the spirit of Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen at interviews or trying to impress his hard-won girlfriend’s mother, he also has a posh side, like that time he dropped 10,000 yen (US$83) at Prada to see how far it would get him (not very far, as it turns out).
This time Seiji set his sights on another luxury brand, Armani, and in the spirit of the ongoing New Year’s 2019 fukubukuro “lucky bag” craze bought himself a bag valued at 32,400 yen ($298) from the Bakurocho branch of men’s clothing store Sakazen in Tokyo. Well, that’s certainly pricier than his colleague’s Starbucks lucky bag….
The fact that a lucky bag was constructed with Armani goods in the first place was a little unsettling to Seiji because of the gap between such a high-end clothing brand and the rather plebeian appeal of fukubukuro. Nevertheless, he was intrigued to see what awaited him inside. According to a flyer, there was supposed to be 50-60,000 yen worth of merchandise inside of the fairly nondescript-looking bag:
Upon opening it, he found the following three items:
▼ 1. A down jacket
▼ 2. A t-shirt
▼ 3. Boxer briefs
Seiji was excited to try on his new clothes, but abruptly realized that he didn’t own any other clothing that would coordinate well with Armani. His usual inexpensive, starving-musician-type outfits would only make the luxury brand look cheap. Undeterred, he decided that the best path to take would be to coordinate a look using only his three new finds.
Therefore, voila! Introducing Armani Seiji.
He immediately noticed a difference from the feel of the clothing on his bare skin — it was much softer to the touch than anything he usually wore. Also, maybe it was just his unconscious bias, but even the boxer briefs somehow felt incredibly elegant on his lower half. He could only chalk it up to the superior quality of Armani.
After a little bit, he realized that the pieces were having a magical effect on his mental state as well, making him feel incredibly posh and important. He never knew that clothes alone could affect his mood so much, but maybe this was why celebrities seemed to love the brand so much. It was as if he were hovering between a fine balance of boldness and sensitivity. Perhaps this was the true Armani effect.
Although it was his first time ever wearing Armani, Seiji could undoubtedly feel the Armani influence and felt like he could suddenly take on the world.
“What absolute refinement! The world is indeed beautiful,” he mused.
▼ Yes! Armani.
Before he knew it he had taken over 20 photos while modeling his new garb. Despite the high price tag of the lucky bag, he was absolutely thrilled with the contents and will probably go back for another one next year.
Images ©SoraNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]










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