PARIS, Milan, New York, London: all observe two fashion seasons each year - and so at long last will Hong Kong.
''September 2-5 will be the dates for the first spring-summer Hong Kong Fashion Week,'' Owen Chi, assistant executive director of the Trade Development Council, revealed on Monday.
''We considered holding the fair in July, but after doing a survey, we decided on September,'' he said. ''When we see the results, we'll know if we made the right choice.
''Like our January fashion week, it will be held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, though smaller in scale.'' Why has it taken Hong Kong more than 20 years to fall into line with the rest of the fashion world? In a nutshell, economics.
''The simple fact is that autumn-winter garments command a higher price on the international market than those for spring-summer and understandably, local manufacturers want to make the most of their quotas,'' Mr Chi said. ''On the other hand, you can't do just one season if you want to promote fashion properly, especially if you've positioned yourself as Asia's fashion capital.
''I've always thought we needed a supplement to our January fashion week. In fact I did a survey as early as 1987 and though the reaction was mixed, we decided to hold a spring-summer pavilion at Fashion Week '88.
''The response wasn't too bad. About 30 to 40 companies took part and we even had a group from Australia showing beachwear.'' Encouraged by the experiment, the TDC decided to launch Hong Kong's first fully-fledged spring-summer fashion fair in July 1990.