Hong Kong millennials, fans of K-pop and soap operas, are big on Korean street fashion
City’s fascination with all things Korean is behind the interest in Korean fashion, which has a reputation for good styling, quality and fit, and is priced competitively
A flock of young women is gathered inside Stylenanda, one of the more popular fashion stores in Hong Kong selling clothes and accessories made and designed in South Korea. These young women, the majority in their late teens and early 20s, are the biggest buyers of Korean street fashion in Hong Kong.
The 2012 release of Psy’s Gangnam Style garnered international acclaim for South Korea, but the influence of the “Korean wave” (hallyu in Korean) goes beyond music and K-pop in Hong Kong. Devoted fans of Korean culture have moved from eating the food and listening to Korean songs to Korean fashion.
Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui are lined with small stores selling clothes made and designed in South Korea. “The major attraction for clothes made in Korea is K-pop,” says Cyrus Lee Yim, a salesman at Stylenanda. “That is what attracts Hong Kong people.”
Korean culture has never been more influential in Hong Kong than today, be it sold-out concerts by K-pop stars such as boy band Big Bang or TV dramas such as Descendants of the Sun. “The Korean culture is one of the main reasons customers in Hong Kong are choosing to buy clothes made in Korea,” says Leung Ka-hei, 26, a salesman at the Rare Element shop in G-Square, a shopping centre in Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.