Fashion

Hong Kong-born, Vancouver-based Noelle Lee works with a natural tanning process to transform fish skin (mostly salmon) to leather. Photo: Noelle Lee

The sustainable fashion designers using fish skin leather, onion peel dyes

Hong Kong fashion designers describe how they use sustainable materials such as natural dyes made from foods like onion peel and pomegranates, and leather made from fish skin.

18 Mar 2024 - 12:45PM
A statue on display in the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence, Italy, home to Michelangelo’s David. Photo: Getty Images

Things to see in Florence: Uffizi Gallery, Michelangelo, Ferragamo’s shoes

Come for the fashion, stay for the art: a visit to Florence to attend the Pitti Uomo menswear shows is an opportunity to see the best of the Italian Renaissance city, including Michelangelo’s David.

17 Mar 2024 - 5:15PM
A look by British designer S.S. Daley.

Downton Abbey effect: British country clothing takes over fashion catwalks

It’s as if Britain’s well-heeled country set is stalking the fashion runways – blue-blooded brands such as Barbour are updating their quintessentially rural collections for modern urban lifestyles.

18 Mar 2024 - 12:56AM
Alison Loehnis, the Yoox Net-a-Porter boss, tells Kate Whitehead about falling in love with fashion, being trained to within an inch of her life at Ralph Lauren and how landing in London led to her dream job.

‘Fashion was freedom’: Yoox Net-a-Porter boss on London and her dream job

New Yorker Alison Loehnis, the Yoox Net-a-Porter boss, tells Kate Whitehead about falling in love with fashion, being trained to within an inch of her life at Ralph Lauren and landing her dream job in London.

18 Mar 2024 - 12:14PM
T-shirts with unusual messages can often be seen in Hong Kong. Photo: Instagram/hongkongtshirtpatrol

Then & Now | Avoid the Pooh: when funny T-shirts and slogans are no longer amusing

Hong Kong residents have been chuckling away at amusing T-shirt slogans since the 1980s, but only the foolish or careless are laughing now.

16 Mar 2024 - 3:16PM
Looks from the Saks Potts autumn/winter 2024 collection. The childhood friends behind the Copenhagen-based label talke about how it was born out of their failed quest for a colourful coat in the monochrome-obsessed capital of Denmark.

Profile | Saks Potts, arbiters of Scandi cool whose wardrobe has something for all

Saks Potts’ AW24 collection takes inspiration from Kate Moss’ grunge-meets-bohemian looks of the 2010s. The childhood friends behind the Copenhagen-based label talk about how it was born.

15 Mar 2024 - 6:15PM
Taylor Swift performs onstage during her Eras tour in 2023 in California. Graphic T-shirts like the one she is wearing here can often pack a political or social punch even when they are not intended to by their designers. Photo: Getty Images

Language Matters | Are we reading too much into Taylor Swift’s graphic tees? Maybe, maybe not

Graphic T-shirts – shirts with slogans or phrases – can often pack a political or social punch even when they do not mean to. The tees Taylor Swift wears on stage on tour are just the latest example of that.

14 Mar 2024 - 7:07PM
Indian actress Aditi Rao Hydari (centre) in a sari during a show at the FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week 2022 in Mumbai, India. The Indian sari dates back centuries. Photo: Gaurang

Mysore, Varanasi, Aurangabad: ‘sari clusters’ where India’s brides spend big

Made of woven fabric and worn draped over a woman’s body, the Indian sari dates back centuries. Brides’ families scour India for the best hand-produced garments.

24 Jan 2024 - 11:15AM
Hand-weaver Fei Fei (left) dresses American luxury fashion designer Angel Chang in one of her handmade outfits in Guizhou, China. Photo: Justin Jin

‘Like discovering gold’: US fashion designer teams with Chinese villagers

American luxury fashion designer Angel Chang is employing artisans from ethnic minorities in China’s mountain villages to recreate their intricate traditional clothing in a sustainable, high-end line.

6 Jan 2024 - 1:48PM
Talismans on display at L’École China in Shanghai.

‘Shanghai wouldn’t have been ready’ for gem school 10 years ago. It is now

China’s biggest city has reached a level of sophistication such that it is ready for L’Ecole China, a place for people to indulge their passion for jewellery, say Van Cleef & Arpels directors.

30 Dec 2023 - 1:15PM
A look from HHFZ.

She wants to make the cheongsam something today’s women can wear every day

Studio HHFZ founder and designer Hu Ruixian explains how she and her team are making the traditional Chinese dress something that women can wear every day no matter what.

27 Dec 2023 - 2:26PM
Vivian Luk at a recent event in Hong Kong. Photo: Kim Lo

Barney Cheng told designer Vivian Luk to ‘do your own thing’ – so she did

Hong Kong fashion designer Vivian Luk worked for Vera Wang, but when she asked Barney Cheng for a job he said to go it alone. She did – and after years of bridal gowns, she is entering new territory.

4 Dec 2023 - 12:42PM
Elon Musk’s mother Maye Musk in Homolog. The couture label founded by Emily Cheong also counts French actress Isabelle Huppert as a fan.

Elon Musk’s mother and Isabelle Huppert are fans: couture label Homolog

Founded by Emily Cheong, couture label Homolog counts Maye Musk and French actress Isabelle Huppert as fans of its elegant, feminine fashion creations.

18 Nov 2023 - 1:15PM
A client undergoes facial acupuncture at Master Ruth traditional Chinese clinic in Central, Hong Kong. Its founder, Ruth Lee, explains its benefits and some of the other treatments her clinic provides.

How facial acupuncture and retinol reduce wrinkles: Master Ruth TCM secrets

Facial acupuncture is a natural alternative to Botox as well as helping reduce wrinkles and signs of ageing, while retinol and hyaluronic acid are keys to skin radiance and hydration, says Ruth Lee.

4 Nov 2023 - 11:15AM
A look from Tank Air’s spring/summer 2023 Essentials collection. The womenswear brand counts Bella Hadid and Olivia Rodrigo among its celebrity fans.

The story of Tank Air’s sultry separates, worn by Bella Hadid, Olivia Rodrigo

Launched by Hong Kong native Claire Robertson-Macleod in 2019, Tank Air has cultivated a fervent following among young women and counts Bella Hadid and Olivia Rodrigo among its fans.

28 Oct 2023 - 8:35AM
Nomel’s hero product is its Sincere Hybrid Boosting Oil, which is a light and absorbent face oil formulation that consists of 70 per cent oil and 30 per cent serum water. Photo: Nomel

‘Skin brings out the confidence’: Nomel’s founder on its vegan products

Nomel is a Taiwanese vegan skincare brand founded by model, influencer and actor Tony Yang’s wife, Melinda Wang. She talks about making skincare the foundation of your confidence.

25 Oct 2023 - 11:15AM
Sons + Daughters is a children’s eyewear brand launched in Hong Kong in 2012 by Shiva Shabani and Calvin Yu. Photo Credit: Alexander Ting

Profile | ‘Everyone is a son or a daughter’: the story of a Hong Kong eyewear brand

Eyewear brand Sons + Daughters’ founders talk about Rihanna’s love for their products, why they decided to focus on children’s glasses and how they started the label.

10 Oct 2023 - 2:28PM
Women wear cheongsam while performing during an event at the Sai Ying Pun Community Complex in Hong Kong on April 10, 2023. Photo: May Tse

Then & Now | Who killed the cheongsam? A look at its history and demise

Once wildly popular across the Chinese world, cheongsam have largely vanished into the pages of history – no thanks to Suzie Wong, and elite Hong Kong girls’ schools.

25 Sep 2023 - 7:45AM
Close-up on a pair of feet protected by welly boots as their owner steps enthusiastically through a muddy puddle. Getty Images

Home from Home | Why did I bother bringing my Hong Kong luxury brand clothes back to the UK?

I got hooked on designer clothes in Hong Kong but in the UK countryside it’s all about practicality. Was all the effort and expense that had gone into those luxury-brand purchases worth it?

24 Sep 2023 - 2:15PM
Models Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington and Elle Macpherson at a Fashion Cafe party in New York in 1995. Photo: Richard Corkery/NY Daily News via Getty Images

The 1990s are back in fashion, and here’s why we should all be grateful

The ’90s was one of the best decades in fashion of the past century. Now some of the best looks from that era are making a comeback, from bias-cut skirts to oversized shirts.

23 Sep 2023 - 6:15PM