The New Clothes Emperor

• Derrick Chng, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2020

Not so long ago, in a land not so far away, there was an 'Emperor'. This 'Emperor' as he liked to call himself spent all his money on clothes and designer brands. Shoes, clothes, and accessories were all he needed in his life. He was always carrying at least another two outfits with him out.
The Emperor had more than sixty million followers on Instagram. He had gone viral because of his extravagantly expensive outfits and his overall sense of style. This was the life.
In the city of LA, life was pleasant with a happy urban buzz. A pair of men in extravagant suits with megaphones let it be known to the crowds of Hollywood that they were promoters for a new and quickly rising clothing brand and that they were interested in ambassadors. This brand apparently had the most magnificent fabrics in the whole of the world. The patterns and colours were unimaginably beautiful and only a select few could pull off the outfit. Word spread quickly around the city and soon reached the Emperor.
Announcing his plan via social media to work with the company, in a week, he had finally received the parcel with his clothes bundled inside of it. He started a live feed for all his ten million Instagram followers to see the opening and his reaction to this exciting brand.
The Emperor held the package carefully, greeted all of his loyal followers, and sat down to begin the unboxing.
He tensely cut open the package and viewers held their breath. His face visibly lit up the moment he saw what was inside. He carefully took the outfit up and ran his hands over it. The Emperor swooned over the patterns and branding on the clothing. The material, he claimed, was the best he had ever felt in his entire life. He departed to his embellished dressing room to try on the clothes
The Emperor stepped out of his extravagant dressing room. The world gasped. At that very moment, he went viral. Television broadcasts were interrupted to give the news that the fashion influencer had made history on a live stream with sixty million people watching. After his Instagram post with the outfit, he blew up, quickly gaining hundreds of million followers a day.
Fashion experts were stunned and impressed by the boldness of both the company and the Emperor. They all agreed that this was the beginning of a new age in fashion and that the Emperor had changed the game. He had created a new kind of fashion. This completely went against the rules and the whole world loved it. This would revolutionise fashion.
Invisible clothes.
Every clothing company imaginable started selling everything from invisible socks to invisible caps that day. The idea with this kind of fashion was that anything was possible. You could wear pants as a t-shirt and you would not be breaking any kind of fashion rule. It was organised madness
The Emperor owned the fashion world.