Wedding doll dress maker on keeping a unique Hong Kong tradition alive
- It’s been a thing with Hong Kong couples for decades – have a bridal gown and wedding suit tailored for him-and-her dolls to adorn their wedding car or venue
- Irene Law has sewn thousands of wedding doll outfits, and has seen tastes change to match trends in bridal attire. She’s also fielded some unusual requests
Wedding dolls play a unique role in Hong Kong wedding days and the tradition is special to the city’s many marrying couples. A pair of dolls (usually the soft toys known as plushies) are dressed in wedding clothes, usually an elaborate bridal gown and a suit, and used to decorate the newlyweds’ wedding car or venue.
The plushies are chosen from a wide variety of dolls of different sizes and shapes and dressed distinctively to reflect the couple’s story of romance.
Irene Law Oi-ling, 65, has been tailoring wedding attire for these wedding dolls for the past 12 years and has heard thousands of eccentric requests from enamoured couples in Hong Kong.
“I often remind my clients that it is easiest if they could bring a pair of dolls that at least resemble human form,” she says. “Still, a lot of the time they don’t.
“One time, a client brought me a pair of seal plushies that they wanted me to dress in traditional Chinese wedding gowns. On another occasion, it was a pair of turtle plushies that the clients wanted me to dress up in a Western wedding gown and suit. Their one condition was that the turtle shells on their backs must be visible.”
