Hong Kong’s leader needs to ditch the catwalk claptrap and fashion a real future for the city

Niall Fraser argues that the city’s chief executive should not demean herself, her position and women in general by turning herself into a walking mannequin

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The media trots out the same fashion-stakes drivel every time the wife or significant other of a world leader steps onto the world stage. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 9:33am, 28 Dec 2017Updated: 9:59am, 28 Dec 2017

Newsrooms are quiet at this time of the year as journalists scrabble to fill space with reflections on the year past and predictions for the one ahead. The former is an exact science and the latter a stab in the dark.

I sincerely hope it was the above imperative which spawned the following headline earlier in the week: “Carrie Lam’s fashion style comes with a purpose: to promote Hong Kong’s creative industries”.

In 14 words, the leader of a major world city going through one of the most turbulent periods in its history is reduced to a walking mannequin. But here’s the even scarier part – Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor appears to be complicit.

Carrie Lam seems to be content to be reduced to the status of a walking mannequin. Photo: Edward Wong

“I am the first female chief executive of Hong Kong,” she told RTHK on Monday. “My policy address also promises to promote the creative industry in Hong Kong. Fashion design is an important part of the creative industry that means the most to women.

“If I paid more attention to my appearance, people might think that the proficiency of design industry isn’t too bad in a city with such a chief executive.”