Valery Garrett has spent a couple of decades writing about the history of Guangdong ... and about clothing. A British fashion designer, she taught at the Hong Kong Polytechnic, listing among her students Vivienne Tam.
Garrett's interest in Chinese fashion began in the 1970s when she started collecting mandarin squares, the name given to badges worn by mandarins during the Qing dynasty. 'I used to haunt all the dealers in Hollywood Road and gradually filled a wall with them,' she says.
That pursuit developed into a career for the designer, who became an authority on Chinese clothing, publishing many books on Chinese dress and textiles. The newly released Chinese Dress: From the Qing Dynasty to the Present, is Garrett's latest.
When she began teaching at the Polytechnic, Garrett used to visit the New Territories during the summer break because of her interest in traditional Chinese dress. 'So I took my camera and notebook and went to some of the market towns like Fanling and Sheung Shui and just watched the villagers,' she recalls. 'Some had come over the border and wore very traditional dress. There were also the villagers from the farming and fishing communities. I could see the kind of hats they wore, the patterned bands and the aprons.'
In autumn 1978, she persuaded the Polytechnic to give her some spare time and hired a Hakka translator. Together, they targeted villages, especially those in closed areas where permits were needed, because she felt they were the least influenced by western fashions.
That year Garrett began to buy items of traditional clothing, including baby slings, children's wear, adults' hats, bands, shoes and aprons, among many other items.