Deconstructing Hong Kong fashion system : globalisation and cultural identity of fashion in Hong Kong

Abstract

The thesis analyses Hong Kong fashion in the context of globalisation, in order to define the role and identity of fashion in Hong Kong. It hypothesised fashion in Hong Kong to be a dual product of globalisation and cultural phenomena; the development of local fashion design is therefore seen to be linked with the territory's progressively international, and consumer-driven society. An understanding of this dual position would, it is projected, facilitate implementation of strategies to market fashion as a consumer product. Colonisation did not hinder Hong Kong's progress towards industrialisation and hence to modernisation. The territory has passed through various globalisation processes and become a global city. It is widely perceived to be cosmopolitan, a regional trendsetter, and an avid follower of ideas from the West. Although Hong Kong enjoyed the success of being a major fashion manufacturer from the 1970s to the 1980s and became a first-rate centre for international fashion retailing in the early nineties, fashion design in Hong Kong is associated with notions of copying and limited creativity. The study of Hong Kong fashion and its cultural development through various globalising processes is essential to define Hong Kong's dual role as a fashion producer and fashion consumer centre, and is central to the thesis. The number of published references on the subject of fashion in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Fashion History: 1995, Turner & Ngan: 1995, Tang & Wong: 1997) is limited, whereas Chinese costume and dress (Dress in Hong Kong: 1995, Zhou: 1987), and in particular the evolution of the same (Roberts: 1997, Wilson: 1986) are more widely recorded. Numerous studies have been conducted on the subject of the Hong Kong clothing industry (Ng: 1985, Wong: 1984, Steele: 1990, Kurt Salmon Associates: 1996, Made by Hong Kong: 1997) however, the cultural aspect of Hong Kong fashion is as yet unexplored. Interviews contributed a significant amount of research information as a result of insufficient writing on the subject of Hong Kong fashion. The thesis commences with a discussion of the theoretical framework necessitated by a multidisciplinary approach. The contextual aspects of Hong Kong fashion system are measured by cultural, social, global and various fashion theories central to the development of Hong Kong and her fashion. The following sections of the thesis address the phenomenon of fashion in Hong Kong leading to its dual hypothesised position. The last section of the thesis examines and overviews the discourse of its dual position by reconstituting an identity for fashion in Hong Kong. The study also highlights the question of how to sustain such a dual position during the process of globalisation.