Designer Nostalgia in Hong Kong

As a means of framing and filtering the past, nostalgia asserts a sense of stability in a context of imminent change. The nostalgic reconstruction of history at once seems to extinguish history's temporal distance, while providing for a pleasant experience through the repression of its negative aspects. In the late twentieth century, nostalgia became a common experience as history and tradition began to play a crucial role in consumer culture. The uncertainty faced by Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s, with the anxiety of the 1997 handover looming, made it an exemplary production site for a wide range of nostalgic cultural products. Through the analysis of two prominent exponents of Hong Kong nostalgic design---graphic designer Alan Chan and fashion house Shanghai Tang---this article examines nostalgia's appeal to both local and global audiences.