In Hong Kong, why does everyone dress the same? You’ve lost your cool cred

These days, everyone – from teens to the middle-aged – in Hong Kong looks fashionable, but in pretty much the same ways, and it is boring

The last flash of individuality came in the summer of 2019 – black shirts, yellow helmets and gas masks, anyone? – but like many trends, it did not last

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Kate Whitehead

Kate Whitehead is a journalist and author of two Hong Kong crime books, After Suzie and Hong Kong Murders.

Published: 8:45am, 5 Mar 2023Updated: 1:34pm, 6 Mar 2023

Perhaps it was the jet lag, but walking through IFC Mall, in Central on Hong Kong Island, on Saturday afternoon I looked around in horror – everyone looked the same.

I’m not talking zombie apocalypse clones, but as though they’d all been styled and dressed by the same hand. From the teens to the middle-aged and even the toddlers, their clothes were fashionable, well cut and conformed to the same muted palette.

After a month in Britain, where, even in the depths of winter, the high street is a catwalk for a smorgasbord of looks, returning to Hong Kong came as a shock. Where is the variety? Where is the individuality?

Growing up in Hong Kong, the city was certainly no fashion capital, but these days the millennials and Gen Z are stylish – it’s just that they seem to be fashionable in pretty much the same ways. It’s a conservative cool, operating within a narrow band of options as though afraid of rocking the boat.

People on Oxford Street in London, January 2023. Even in the depths of winter, the British high street is a catwalk for a smorgasbord of looks. Photo: Getty Images

Can it be that Hongkongers just try too hard? No, that honour goes to our friends across the border in China, who, in their earnestness to be on trend, buy a complete look from a high-end brand and make sure the labels are on show. OK, that might have shifted post-pandemic, but it’s still a mainland Chinese mindset.

SCMP Series

Spring 2023 Fashion Issue

[ 4 of 11 ]