Hong Kong people are known to be trendy people. However, I have found that Asian fashion is quite different from American fashion. If I could sum up the style here in a single word, I would pick “funky” to describe the way people dress. Unfortunately, it is impossible to describe in a single word.

Girls often dress like they walked out of a movie from the 1980s. They wear boxy shirts that fall away from their body and hide any curves that they may have underneath. Otherwise they wear loose shirts with frilly material hanging from the neckline and sleeves.

These shirts are often accompanied by long denim skirts that subtly flow outwards to form an A-line, and stop halfway between the knees and ankles. The skirts stop at the perfect place to show off the bright colored leg warmers that are so popular here. The leg warmers stretch down to the ankle where the excess fabric falls in soft layers on their shoes. The shape of the shoes worn here often resembles a cowboy boot because they are all pointy.

The girls style their hair in ways to match the trendiness of their clothes. The most common way is to grow it long, and put thin layers in the already fine hair, part the hair down the middle and dry it so that it falls down straight as a piece of paper. Other ways include putting soft waves into it, much like the 80s curls, and leave it long.

The color of the hair is also incredibly important to the girls here. Many dye their hair brown, or add big neon red streaks. A few even have blond streaks interrupting their otherwise completely black hair.

Boys here dress just as fashionable as girls. They are often seen in a shirt that fits tighter to their body than Americans are accustomed to seeing.

It is similar to a muscle shirt, only here the shirts seem to exacerbate the usually lanky features of the person instead of show off muscles.

On top of their shirt is usually a loose button-up jacket that looks like it came from a thrift or vintage shop. The vintage look of their jackets is usually accented by their pants.

Most of the males that have shirts like these also wear faded and flared jeans. These jeans are usually cut off at the bottom giving them a rough look. Instead of letting the cutoffs drag on the ground, the jeans are neatly trimmed to the same length as all other jeans.

The guys who wear these clothes will also usually own at least one hooded sweatshirt, as well. The most common brand of hooded sweatshirts is Vans or DCShoes. This gives the impression that this group would get along very well with the skaters in America.

The males here also have a very similar hair style to each other. They grow their hair to be a little longer than the Beatles, and part it down the middle. Their bangs are grown out longer and parted with the rest of their hair.

Instead of using gel, like most American males do, they just let their hair hang down past the temples and occasionally give their heads a half shake to keep their bangs from falling into their eyes.

The trendy styles of Hong Kong are definitely too wild for the tastes of many Americans. The clothes seem out of date at times. Yet, it is these clothes that define the people. Their clothes often rival the brightness of the neon lights, and their style is truly as unique as the city they live in.

Ariel Ringlein is a junior in management from Guthrie Center. She is in Hong Kong for the semester as part of the ISU study abroad program.