While making a rare trip to Stanley market on a Sunday recently, something struck me like a giant plastic Buddha: everyone was dressed like a tourist! Worse, the clothes were almost as tacky as the stuff for sale on the shelves.
What makes people who are reasonably dressed at home suddenly decide rubber sandals and a vinyl bum-bag comprise acceptable attire on holiday? Whatever happened to travelling clothes? Time was when every well-heeled couple - particularly the English - set aside a special wardrobe for travel to the tropics. These clothes had nothing to do with the shell suits and dowdy sundresses of today.
If anything, they were just as elegant and tailored as their everyday wardrobes, only made from fabrics that were better suited to a tropical climate.
We can barely forgive the Americans. Remember, they invented polyester. But the English should know better. They know a fine wool is much cooler than silk or even cotton. It 'breathes' more easily and dries quickly, not to mention its natural resistance to wrinkles.
Linen is an all-time favourite for travel as well, but beware - no other fabric wrinkles as quickly or holds a stain like it . . . and too much linen in pastel shades will make you look like an extra from Miami Vice.
So think twice before packing those bags this summer: remember, you are a travelling ambassador of style for Hong Kong. I hate the idea of some foreign fashion editor writing about you.