One of the alluring factors of Asia is the choices of many awesome shopping destinations. Hong Kong is one of these great shopping destinations and I have so many friends in the US who have flown to HK for vacation over the years. Ubiquitously everyone who comes back from their HK trips raves about their shopping experience there (and the food, of course).
This week I got invited to participate in a Hong Kong Super Shopper contest, in which I teamed up with two other participants to create a fashion look based on popular Hong Kong shopping destinations.
Our team’s assigned fashion theme is to be based on the vibrant district of Mong Kok and create the look within 24 hours. That’s not a lot of time and there’s also a budget restriction of $50, so we have to get seriously resourceful and creative in this challenge.
My team-mates are Jeanine and Amy, the entrepreneurial duo behind Oh! Poupée (an online store stocking chic clothing targeted towards a hip young market). We brainstormed together on what is representative of Mong Kok and sought inspiration from the following:
- Ladies’ Street (女人街) – This market specializes in women’s clothing, accessories, cosmetics, and the like.
- Flower Market Road (花墟道) – This is a street market with lots of flower shops and street hawkers showing colourful displays, the sweet scents and the exotic blossoms of many houseplants.
- Yuen Po Street Bird Garden (園圃街雀鳥花園) – Hundreds of songbirds in exquisitely crafted cages can be seen at this market, which is on the other side of Nathan Road on Yuen Po Street.
We had never met prior to participating in this contest but the three of us ended up sharing a common affinity towards a hands-on approach to our fashion creation — a runway-inspired dress, embellished with accessories made from fresh flowers. Jeanine revised an existing dress by modifying its neckline and rear hemline, through hand-stitching. Amy transformed an old pair of plain nude pumps into bedazzled heels, accented with flower petals. I, relying on my floral design experience, gave accessories a fresh take (heh!) by making a corsage to be worn on the upper arm and a fresh flower ‘handbag’.
We’re definitely all about hands-on! :) Some behind-the scenes photos:
So what have a pair of fashion entrepreneurs + an art director / floral designer come up with? Watch this space for the final fashion reveal! :)
What’s this contest all about?
Contestants from overseas, Mainland China and Hong Kong will compete to see who will be crowned the ‘Hong Kong Super Shopper’! Starting out with a preset amount of money, teams will shop all over town to create the best fashion makeovers for themselves. The winning team will be rewarded with a Visa spending credit worth HK$200,000 on top of taking home an unforgettable experience of shopping in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Super Shopper is part of the Hong Kong Summer Spectacular organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
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