Hong Kong fashion in a social and cultural context

Abstract

The rationale of this dissertation is to explore the potential of Hong Kong to be a world-class fashion center in the region. In his 1998 Policy Address, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Mr. Tung Chee Hwa, introduced a policy objective of developing Hong Kong into a 'world class design and fashion centre'. In his 2003 Policy Address, Mr. Tung re-emphasized that the creative industries, which include fashion design, are vital to forming a solid foundation of a knowledge-based economy. Though Hong Kong prospers as one of the world's largest clothing exporters, and the government has stated its aim of establishing the city as an international fashion centre, its fashion has often been questioned in terms of originality and identity. This thesis commences with a discussion of the theoretical framework of how fashion relates to the social/cultural context of an environment. Fashion is commonly acknowledged as a general phenomenon of human behavior that is closely related to the economic, cultural and social environment of a society. Through the study of fashion, the cultural identity, values, sense and societal concepts of status and lifestyles of the people within a society can be observed, and vice versa. Since fashion is conceptualized as a site of cultural analysis, a study is also included of the historical development of the international fashion capitals around the world, and why culture is one of the deciding factors for a city to have an international standing in the world of fashion. An investigation of Hong Kong fashion with an interdisciplinary study of society (from when Hong Kong became a British Colony in 1842 until it was handed back to China in 1997) is carried out as the centre of the research. This study is not only a narrative, chronological history of the evolution of the international fashion capitals and an investigation of Hong Kong fashion's development in relation to the social and cultural development of its society; the findings also suggest the direction in which Hong Kong fashion must move to promote a unique fashion identity - in line with the government's policy of 'developing Hong Kong into a world class design and fashion centre' in today's competitive international fashion arena.