A tale of two cities in uniforms: the story behind green school ties, tartan skirts and blue cheongsams
From Chinese cheongsams to English pleated skirts, we look at how uniforms transcend time in Hong Kong
School uniforms are often caches of bittersweet memories for most former pupils in Hong Kong, where strict dress codes are still largely adopted. That said, uniforms can often reveal a school’s heritage.
Malvern College Hong Kong, set to open this September in Providence Bay, next to the Science Park, has a uniform that dates back to its British roots in 1865, when the mother school was founded in Malvern, an English town in Worcestershire. The school has now established outlets in Qingdao, Chengdu, Egypt and this year, Hong Kong.
Dr Robin Lister, the founding headmaster of Malvern College Hong Kong, says the choice of colour and pattern in the uniform was well thought of, to convey the school’s “Britishness”.
“Well, the British Racing Green is a very ‘English’ colour that used to dominate the motor racing circuits of the 1950s, 60s and beyond,” he says.
He recalls boys used to wear straw boater-like hats, while prefects would dress up with tailcoats, top hats and canes on Sundays, before the outfits were retired in 1965.