What Hong Kong’s luxury scene was like in the late 90s from those who lived it, and how it has evolved over the last 25 years

Key players in Hong Kong’s fashion industry from brands like Chanel and Calvin Klein talk about the heady handover days and the city’s luxury fashion evolution

In the years after the handover, the prominence of the city as a fashion capital and luxury retail centre only grew as money flooded in from mainland China

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Bill Clinton with Chanel’s Claudia Shaw (left) and other guests at the opening of the Cipriani Italian restaurant in the Old Bank of China Building in Central, Hong Kong, in 2003. Photo: SCMP

Published: 7:15am, 29 Jun 2022Updated: 7:24am, 29 Jun 2022

One of the glitziest Hong Kong handover parties in 1997 was held at the Regent Hotel (rebranded as the InterContinental in 2001, and back to the Regent this year). There were oysters, Boston lobster, 2,400 bottles of Moet & Chandon – all elements expected of one of the most significant nights in Hong Kong’s history. But there was also the style component. Those who had bought tickets – HK$2,500 for one night of revelry, HK$4,000 for two – were asked to consider their fashion choices.

On night one, when Hong Kong was still technically under British rule, guests amped up the colonial factor and appeared in garden party dresses, pearls, gloves, hats and even Viceroy-level regalia. But on July 1, before cultural appropriation was the hot-button issue it is today, it was suggested guests be dressed in Chinese garb – and they did, in stylish cheongsams and qipaos and Tang jackets.

As political theatre played out on the world stage, fashion played its part because in Hong Kong, fashion is always a factor. The city is full of serious haute-couture collectors and pristinely put-together socialites who shop for fun, abhor the idea of repeating their ensembles, and are in a constant game of one-upmanship with the socialite next door.

In the years before and after 1997, I bore witness to the manner in which people in Hong Kong worshipped fashion – and not just any fashion, but high-end luxury brands, the marques that at once conferred status and prestige. At the time, I was the fashion editor at large for the South China Morning Post, and my job involved a never-ending cycle of fashion shows – many of them overseas – boutique openings, launches, and dinners with French fashion moguls visiting the small but mighty city that had become such a force in their portfolio.

Revellers attend a handover party dressed in clothing depicting British and Chinese national colours at the Regent hotel in Kowloon on July 1, 1997. Photo: AFP

In the years after the handover, the prominence of Hong Kong as a fashion capital and luxury retail centre would only grow as money flooded in from mainland China.