Elle's post on custom-made clothing reminded me that I'd promised to write up my experiences with Hong Kong tailoring and never did; whoops. Hopefully you'll all forgive my tardiness.

Goals
Inevitably, someone is going to ask: "was bespoke tailoring worth it?", and to answer that question I need to start with the goals I'd set for the entire process.

Hong Kong is a truly fascinating city: many of the world's international financial centers have long and prestigious histories as centers of trade, culture, or politics; for example, London, New York, or Tokyo. Hong Kong, in contrast, has none of that. Prior to the 1940s, it was a small trading port of 600,000 people on the edge of the British and Chinese Empires; by the 1960s, war refugees + their baby boom QUINTUPLED the population and over 50% of the population was under 25. HK's status as an international financial center is built by this single generation of young people (now approaching retirement) -- and what jumpstarted the entire thing was textiles manufacturing.

Therefore, my goal with HK tailoring there wasn't to get the "perfect" suit or a "killer deal" but rather to poke around the aging/dying clothing industry and see what turned up.

Low-end
HK's low-end textile manufacturing was hollowed out by cheap labor from mainland China when they reopened to trade in the 1970s, and the businesses that remain are focused primarily towards alterations. With that in mind, I headed to one of the multi-story textile plazas in Central to get my purple dress altered. I picked an alterations shop highly-rated on some English-speaking websites, but many of the shops in this plaza (and other plazas) seemed interchangeable to me: 4-6 seamstresses packed into ~200 square feet storefronts, with tagged-and-bagged clothing literally hanging from every wall and ceiling. The "changing room" was a shower curtain around a (let's be generous) 2' x 2' alcove.

Because of proximity to mainland China, inexpensive clothing can be very inexpensive -- so basic alterations have to be cheap and fast to compete (if you're going for expensive alterations, you might consider purchasing bespoke). The alterations I was looking for were on the complex side of basic: based on some bad advice from a sales associate, I'd purchased my (lined) dress one size too small. The shoulders were ok, but the bust was very very tight; I asked them to let out the shoulder seams 1/4" on each side and to let everything out around my bust: bust darts, back seams, armholes. All told, we recovered 1 1/2" by dismantling the entire top half of the dress, moving armholes & zippers, and putting it back together again. It took 2 fittings and 3 weeks (a lot, for HK alterations) and cost about $25 USD. The service was brisk (some might call it "brusque", but I'm pretty forgiving), and the quality better than anything I could have hoped for. The dress is still tight, there's some puckering around the back waist where they got sloppy reassembling the dress, but it's much more wearable than it ever will be.

High-end
High-end, bespoke-style tailoring also suffered when cheap mainland labor became widely available, but the high-end houses survived a bit better by focusing on service, their history/lineage, and curating a loyal clientele. Based on Angie's experience, I picked a reputable tailor with a dedicated women's department. Unlike Angie, however, I didn't have a garment I wanted to copy; I had a horribly-fitting white button-down I'd bought off the rack years ago and wanted to see what a "properly fitting" button-down would feel like.

It's recommended to allocate time for 3 visits when you're starting a relationship with a bespoke tailor. In the first visit, you establish preferences and have your measurements taken; in the second visit, you try on the unfinished garment and make last-minute adjustments; in the third visit, you try on the finalized garment and hopefully take it home with you.

My experience with "Tony" (an alias) followed this pattern. I'd came in with a plan to do two shirts: a basic, flat white shirt and a second "fun" white shirt (I had some vague thought about going wild with contrast cuffs and placket). Tony talked me right out of this plan: "you're a local", he assured me, "let's take time to get to know each other first." He pulled out binder after binder of white cotton samples and encouraged me to try a patterned cotton: basically, to marry both visions during his "audition". With his incredibly patient help (I was on cloth overload by this point), I picked out a subtle herringbone in lightweight cotton. We then talked over how I wore my shirts: unbuttoned/buttoned/buttoned to the collar, alone/under a jacket, my deliberately messy cuffs, etc. Finally, he took a huge number of measurements, my deposit, and told me to return in 1 week. All told, I monopolized his time for over an hour during my first visit.

On my return visit, the cloth had been cut and loosely sewn together into a shirt-like shape. Tony pulled it off a dressform and pointed out that the dressform had not one but TWO sets of shoulder pads in order to mimic the set of my IT shoulders. He walked me to their (full sized!!!) dressing room and had me try on the shirt. At the time, I was surprised how it was consistently 1/4" too large across all dimensions except my bust; looking back now, I wonder if the cutter deliberately cut everything too big in case of measurement error (which was fortunate, since the bust measurement was just right). Tony was particularly meticulous with the bust darts and vertical seams, since I'd told him earlier of my difficulties finding clothing that fit my bust. He pointed at the vertical seams he was re-pinning: "these rein in the extra cloth needed to fit over your chest. In a properly-fitting shirt, they should be placed directly under the widest part. In fact, in a properly-fitting shirt with bust darts and vertical seams, they should cross at your [noun that I didn't understand at the time, but which I've concluded means 'nipple']". At the time, I felt that the shirt was still too roomy/conservative and asked Tony to bring more cloth into the vertical seams, but he firmly replied no -- there was no more room to take in.

The shirt was complete on my third visit. On the way to the dressing room for my final fitting (pointing out the double shoulder pads once more), Tony asked, "Do you swim?". "No", I replied. "Maybe as a child?", he asked hopefully. "Nope, my shoulders are this way naturally." I laughed, and he fussed over the fit of the shirt a little longer. When we were both satisfied, he wrapped it up in tissue and let me out of the store. All told, the full process took 4 weeks, 3 fittings (about 2 hours), and about $120 USD.

The shirt is beautiful. Once, when I walked into our shared walk-in closet, I found my husband had pulled the shirt off its hanger specifically to admire the French seams. And obviously, it fits like it was made for me. On the negative side, I regret not being more decisive or firm with Tony. As mentioned previously, I was hoping for a more fitted, modern cut, whereas the company I chose skews more towards an affluent, conservative, business crowd -- and this is reflected in the cut of their shirts. I also followed Tony's suggestion of a single-buttoned cuff to avoid overwhelming my dainty wrists, and I regret that I allowed his suggestion to override my instinct that something was wrong: I never button my cuffs (they're always pushed up), and the smaller cuff's proportions don't look right on the turned/messy sleeve I prefer. I wear my new shirt with love, but to my surprise it never supplanted the awful off-the-rack shirt: the bulky cut means it doesn't layer as nicely, so I still keep around the off-the-rack shirt for spring/autumn layering.

Conclusion
Was bespoke tailoring worth it? For a white shirt, absolutely not. After a few months of shopping reconnaissance upon my return, I've concluded I can get a similarly well-fitting shirt for half the price -- and it'll have double-button cuffs in a tailored fit, too. The workmanship won't be as nice, but there's also the fact that I can afford to buy two if I wanted to.

Was bespoke tailoring worth it for my goals? Probably yes. I learned quite a bit about garment fit from talking with Tony, from my alterations ladies, and from some of the reading I've done as a result of these experiences. And I've got some great memories from Hong Kong, as well as a deeper appreciation for modern (and personal) history. Not a bad souvenir, all in all.

Lastly: if folks are heading to HK and would like specific recommendations for tailors (both bespoke and alterations), please PM me. In writing this up, I wanted to be able to share my impressions freely and in their proper context, which meant redacting the names of these businesses from a publically-searchable website. I would be happy to provide advice on your own HK adventures in a less-public medium.

Appendix
Photo 1: Sun Woo Trading Company (credit). Narrow the walkway a bit, replace the bric-a-brac with clothing, and that's how my alterations shop felt like.

Photo 2: W. W. Chan & Sons. What a high-end bespoke tailor's shop looks like. Totally different!

Photo 3-4: Off-the-rack button-down. Note the bust gap, the awful placement of the bust dart (highlighted with blue tailor's chalk), and the placement of the waist -- this shirt is for a woman with a torso ~2" shorter than mine.

Photo 5-6: Bespoke button-down. Buttons are spaced closer together to ensure there is a button at the height where I normally leave the collar open and one at the widest portion of my bust. Bust dart and vertical seam (highlighted with blue tailor's chalk) intersect at the widest portion of my bust.