E: Examiner

S: Student

E: Alright, so we've been talking about the type of clothes you'd like to wear. And I'd like to discuss with you one or two more general questions related to this. So let's consider first of all designer clothes. Are designer clothes popular in your country? 

S: Yes, it is. As Hong Kong is known for shopping … part of the reason why Hong Kong is called a shopping Paradise is how much designer clothing is sold in Hong Kong. It goes all the way from people from low-income family, thanks to credit cards, to people with expensive, exquisite taste. So even girl … a teen … for people who always … who obviously have the money to afford it, then it's great they could do it obviously … walk out in stylish, fashionable, up-to-date gear. But even for people from low-income families such as teenage girl, they'll save up for months of money just to have this tiny, tiny designer bag. So from that you can see the influences of the popularity of designer clothing and bags. 

E: So why do people want to wear designer clothing? 

S: I think, Hong … Chinese people … Asia culture is known to values the idea of faces. So they like to save faces. So having … being able to own a designer item means you have the wealth for it. So it kinds of save faces and it gives you the approval from the society of … that's, you know, being able to afford expensive items is the considerations or the standard of how it's considered as you've made it, you have get to a certain point to acknowledge your ability and your wealth and your job as well. 

E: Alright, let's turn now to the type of clothes that people wear to work. Do you think people at work make judgments about their colleagues based on the kind of clothes they wear? 

S: I think it quite depends on the working atmosphere. Because nowadays a lot of … a company's known to be more open with their … with their clothing, they would have certain day where you should do suits and ties, sometimes smart casual, sometimes you can go in with really comfortable clothing as well. But I think obviously, whenever, whenever someone sees you the first time, they see your face, the second thing would be your clothing. So it really affects someone's first impression. And if you go for professional job in unprofessional gear, then obviously people would not respect you or validates your … how … about how professional you would be with the job. So I think quite depends on the workplace of what kind of … if it's a place that you need to be in professional clothing, then you need it for people to validate you. If not, then you would be comfortable with anything and people would be fine. 

E: Do you think in some workplaces … people are told what they should wear by their employer … do you think that's reasonable? 

S: Yes, I think that's part of the job. So if you're gonna need to do the job or dressing the part, as people put it as part of the job, they kind of paid you to do that. Like being a teacher … putting in dress shirt and trousers, not only show that you respect the workplace, it also shows you, how professional you are with how serious you're taking your job. And for example, being a lawyer … same as well. You need to be in a suit because people is paying for your opinion. You need to dress the part to make sure you know what you do. It … in kind of way it tells people you know what you're doing. You, you're able to put yourself together to be able to give validate professional advice that people pays for. Otherwise, if you work in a … in a Cha chaan teng or like a so-called local restaurant, then you could be in jeans, sneakers, people doesn't matter, because people really cares about is where you're able to provide basic services. And your clothing would not affect how people consider whether you'll be able to do your job properly. 

E: In Hong Kong, do you think that the way people dress for work has changed in recent years? 

S: I would agree so … as Hong Kong has always known to be an international city, so it got a lot of Western influences. And as Western influences nowaday would propose the idea of being comfortable with your workplace … kind of treating your workplace as your home … so it goes all the way from comfortable clothing to even allowing you bring pets or your children to, to, to work. And all of these shows that people are getting less strict with rules. And one of those rules in the past used to be strict professional clothing for a certain job. 

E: Thank you very much. That's the end of the test.