Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [101]
LINVA TAILOR
Map Clothing & Accessories
2544 2456; Ground fl, 38 Cochrane St; 26
This is the place to come to have your very own cheongsam (tight-fitting Chinese dress) tailored. Bring your own silk or choose from Miss Tong’s selection. The proprietors are also happy to mail completed items, if you’re pushed for time.
LULU CHEUNG
Map Clothing & Accessories
2537 7515; Shop B63, Basement, Landmark Bldg, 1 Pedder St; MTR Central (exit G)
Local designer Lulu makes sophisticated, understated women’s casual wear and elegant evening gowns using natural fabrics – such as wool, cotton, silk and linen – in muted tones. Cheung often works with layers and textures using mesh or floral embroidery.
MIU MIU
Map Clothing & Accessories
2523 7833; Shop B24, Basement, Landmark Bldg, 1 Pedder St; MTR Central
Clean lines, the best fabrics and a lush colour palette define the high-end fashion from this Prada spin-off. Great (and pricey) shoes and handbags, too. A range of smaller accessories makes it a good place to hunt for presents.
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THE WARDROBE OF SUZIE WONG
There’s nothing quite like a cheongsam, the close-fitting sheath that is as Chinese as a bowl of won ton noodle soup. It lifts where it should and never pulls where it shouldn’t. And those thigh-high side slits – well, they’re enough to give any man apoplexy. It’s sensuous but never lewd; it reveals without showing too much.
Reach into any Hong Kong Chinese woman’s closet and you’re bound to find at least one cheongsam (qípáo in Mandarin), the closest thing Hong Kong has to national dress. It’s there for formal occasions like Chinese New Year gatherings, work (restaurant receptionists and nightclub hostesses wear them), school (cotton cheongsams are still the uniform at several colleges and secondary schools) or for the ‘big day’. Modern Hong Kong brides may take their vows in white, but when they’re slipping off for the honeymoon, they put on a red cheongsam.
It’s difficult to imagine that this bedazzling dress started life as a man’s garment. During the Qing dynasty, the Manchus ordered Han Chinese to emulate their way of dress – elite men wore a loose ‘long robe’ (chèung-pò) with a ‘riding jacket’ (máa-kwáa) while women wore trousers under a long garment. By the 1920s, modern women in Shanghai had taken to wearing the androgynous changpao, which released them from layers of confining clothing. From this outfit evolved the cheongsam.
The ‘bourgeois’ cheongsam dropped out of favour in China when the Communists came to power in 1949 and was banned outright during the Cultural Revolution, but the 1950s and ‘60s were the outfit’s heyday. This was the era of Suzie Wong (the cheongsam is sometimes called a ‘Suzie Wong dress’) and, although hemlines rose and dropped, collars stiffened and more darts were added to give it a tighter fit, the cheongsam has remained essentially the same: elegant, sexy and very Chinese.
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SHANGHAI TANG
Map Clothing & Accessories
2525 7333; Basement & Ground fl, Pedder Bldg, 12 Pedder St; MTR Central (exit D1)
Updated versions of traditional Chinese garments including cheongsams and collarless jackets with a modern cut and edge featuring lots of lime and orange. It also stocks accessories and Chinese-styled gift items with a modern twist. Custom tailoring is available.
VINTAGE HK
Map Clothing & Accessories
2545 9932; 57-59 Hollywood Rd, Central; 10am-6pm; MTR Central (exit D2)
Definitely worth a look for its small, well-selected range of vintage wear, for which you need not do much rummaging.
Harvey Nichols
Map Department Store
3695 3389; www.harveynichols.com; Landmark Bldg, 1 Pedder St; MTR Central (exit G)
Britain’s Harvey Nichols has brought its diverse, profuse and on-the-pulse range of couture and smart street fashions