Hong Kong fashion and its social-cultural context

Hong Kong is unique in respect of her fashion history, which has developed in the past 150 years. The practice of colonialism produced ways of thinking, communicating and creating that permeated back into culture of Hong Kong with Mainland China as the origin. A new culture of Hong Kong has evolved from intermix of British colonialism with ethnic Chinese culture. Furthermore, Hong Kong clothing industry continually prospers as one of the world’s largest exporters, however it has failed to fully realize the significance and importance of Hong Kong which has it’s own original fashion identity. Its fashion is occasionally perceived as ‘copycat’ or ‘design without its own identity or originality’. Could it be the genuine phenomenon of Hong Hong’s fashion and how’s this related to the social cultural context of the society? The study explores around the fashion, culture, history and development of Hong Kong fashion industry, as well as the historical and sociological overview of the city. The emphasis is placed on how the various Hong Kong social cultural perspectives impact on, and interact with the local fashion industry, to shape its developmental structure from the very beginning to present.