Fendi, Gucci, Prada, Sis-Boom-Bada

I am not an avid shopper. That being said, I have no business even being in, little alone living in, Hong Kong. For one of the unknown facts about this city (at least to most Westerners), is that Hong Kong is the largest continuous shopping mall on the planet.

I have never seen so many shops in my life.

Picture the mall. I am talking about the behemoth, triple-level structures in most suburban areas across the United States; the ones that look like giant sports stadiums and hold an array of shops, eateries, and in some cases, carousels and roller coasters. Now imagine yourself walking through the mall to get to another mall, only this time the mall is in an open-air environment, surrounded by tall buildings with businesses and homes.

This, in a nutshell, is Hong Kong.

I have never in my life seen so many shops concentrated in one area. Not only that, but Hong Kong is home to more high fashion shops than even New York City or Paris or Rome or Milan or London. I’ve counted. In one day, it is possible to pass by three Hermes shops. Three. I’m fairly certain that I’ve only seen the ONE Hermes store in New York. Paris might have more, but I couldn’t stop eating chocolate croissants long enough to find out. (For those uninitiated to the world of fashion, Hermes makes famous silk scarves and letter ‘H’ belts and watches, among other things. Think of the fashion equivalent of Sesame Street when it is sponsored by a letter. In Hermes, today’s letter is always ‘H’.)

What’s more, I almost never see a woman walking down the street without a shopping bag. Or two. At any time of day, it is a parade of new bags. And I find myself wondering about these women. Do they work just so that they can buy expensive bags? What are they buying all the time? How many outfits and pairs of shoes can one person own? From the looks of it, a lot.

In the more ‘fashionable’ malls, you can even eat dinner at an expensive restaurant. I don’t mean that the restaurant is conveniently located in one of the shops either. In some places, the restaurant is literally smack in the middle of the walkway.

Office buildings all have shops in their lower floors. There isn’t a single place in the city that one can escape it. Even at the Peak, right there in back of the grand view of the harbor, there is a mini-mall.

If western values are infiltrating China, Hong Kong is definitely the entry point. The women in Hong Kong are by far the most fashionable women I have ever seen. And I used to work in the modeling industry, so I should know. But instead of looking cool and beautiful, all too often the effect of being head-to-toe in Prada or Chanel is that you simply look rich, not stylish. It’s like the 1950s in the US. Every woman looks like she is wearing a uniform, no matter how individual the outfit. They literally look like, and you’ll forgive me for this, China dolls. Perfect, polished, petite, fashionable dolls. Extra outfits sold separately.

And the men are almost as bad, only they are obsessed with cars and the latest electronic toys. Everyone here owns a Mercedes or a Lexus. If I were a luxury car salesmen, I would want to do business here. Occasionally, you can find a Mercedes shop in one of the malls. And, no, I’m not joking.