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.
Lee, 25, says Stylenanda customers buy K-fashion items to mimic the styles of their favourite Korean celebrities. “They believe they are closer to their idols if they wear clothes like them,” he says.
These shops attract young women, such as office workers, because their clothes are cheaper than high-end brands but still deliver quality and style. Indeed, Lee says some of the K-fashion on sale in Hong Kong is very cheap. “Despite being cheap, they can make the wearer look stylish, and the quality is good, too,” he says.
However, many of the clothes cost more than similar designs that are made in China. Cheng Lai-ying, 24, a saleswoman at a Korean clothes store in Granville Circuit, Tsim Sha Tsui, says they charge more for Korean clothes than those made in China because they cost more. “They are more expensive for us to buy,” she says.
Before South Korea became the fashion capital for young women in Hong Kong, clothes made in Japan held a similar appeal. “In the past, Japanese culture was popular so people bought Japanese clothes,” says Joanne Li, 26, a saleswoman at the D.femmes store in G-Square. “Now Korean culture is more popular, so clothes made in Korea are also more popular.”
