Homing Instincts

Back in Hong Kong for the past few months, designer Vivienne Tam talks to Jing Zhang about home, health, wellness and how fashion will fit into the new normal.

- Vivienne Tam

“I haven’t spent such an extended period of time in Hong Kong for years,” says Vivienne Tam. “Since I came back, every weekend I’ve been hiking in Tai Po, Sai Kung, all around the mountains, or hanging out in Sai Ying Pun and Kennedy Town.”

Tam, one of this city’s most prolific and famed fashion names, who founded her brand 25 years ago, has reconnected with her Hong Kong home in the past few months. Despite the pandemic, the protests and the crushing pressure of both on retail, she’s discovered more inner peace with a change in lifestyle, and during long walks along the waterfront.

“Hong Kong is so beautiful, especially at night around the harbour,” she says. “I’m not just talking about the skyline, but also the city’s small neighbourhoods, like all the graffiti in Western District, and at night when young people go roller skating and the older ones are dancing.”

Tam graduated from the Polytechnic University’s first-ever fashion design course, but it was her first trip to the US in the early 1980s that set her on a path to becoming one of the world’s most recognisable Asian names in fashion. Moving to the US and starting her brand in New York was a game-changer that would see her East-West hybrid style flourish as she became a pioneer of China-chic aesthetics.