Taikoo Place Insiders: Teresa Ko of Freshfields

You are an icon in Hong Kong’s legal profession, and you’re also well known for your personal style and knowledge of high fashion. How do these two parts of your world fit together – or contradict each other?

I’m not sure I’m that knowledgeable about high fashion, but I do love wearing high quality, well-crafted pieces. To be honest, I haven’t had much time to understand or define my personal style. How I put my outfit together in the morning is often instinctive and depends on what I have to do or who I need to meet. I have my “pitch outfit,” my “signing ceremony number” and my travelling ensemble. 

Compared to when I was in my teens or when I first went to work, my wardrobe has become more functional, and less of an expressive display of my personality. But when I’m not in the trenches negotiating or making deals – and as I’ve reached a senior level in my career – I have been able to experiment and push the boundaries a bit so that my love of fashion comes through. Many years ago I was caught going back to the office to finish some late night work  wearing a fluffy ball gown that was converted (or upcycled as it is called these days) from the exquisite wedding dress made for me by my mother.

When it comes to fashion, I respect craftsmanship, a rigorous design process and attention to detail. I don’t think fashion and a high-powered corporate or legal career should contradict each other, but it is important not to have clothes wear you. The secret is to buy, and to style what is you. Even though it may take a lifetime to find out what that is!

Tell us how the idea for the Métier Minus – Post-loved Luxury Fashion Charity Pop-up came about?

Overproduction in the fashion industry is an extremely serious issue! The world now produces between 100 to 150 billion pieces a year and we hit the 100 billion pieces in the year 2000. The 150 billion number works out to be about 500 new pieces per person per year in the US alone – and this has been going on for 22 years now! 

Recycling through shredding or chemical means isn't the answer. For every five garments produced, statistics tell us that about three end up in a landfill or get incinerated each year. In the US, 2,150 pieces of clothing are thrown away every second! And things are no better here in Hong Kong. Each day we send 295 tons of textiles to the landfill. It’s pretty depressing stuff, and this led me to the idea of the Métier Minus project. 

I believe that we can make more use of existing clothes, especially high quality pieces which have been produced to last, with craft and love. So through generous donations from friends, I put together this collection of high quality clothes for our Métier Minus sale event.

Our Métier Minus collection didn’t have any fast fashion. We collected clothing with an eye towards pieces made to last, with care and quality – clothing that has a life that can be extended. I purposely chose the word “post-loved” instead of the usual “pre-loved” to describe the collection, because post-loved focuses on the present – the person who will love the piece next. (And who, hopefully, will then skip buying a new garment, so that one less piece of clothing is produced in the world – that’s what the “Minus” in Metier Minus is about!) 

Why did you choose Green Ladies to be the beneficiary and why host the event at Taikoo Place?

Green Ladies was founded in 2008 as a social enterprise under a charitable organisation called St. James’ Settlement (聖雅各福群會). It has two missions I support wholeheartedly – to promote reuse culture in Hong Kong, and to empower women in need. Green Ladies operates a very successful consignment model and collects fashion items from the public for resale. It also provides women with job opportunities and training in shop operation. So far, the group has been very successful and wants to go further – for instance, they’re working on courses in fashion styling to empower women across different age groups. They’re also creating courses on styling, behaviour and communication skills for vocational and diploma level students, to help them to build self-confidence for job hunting after graduation.

At Métier Minus, we sold 292 pieces in one evening and 2 days raising $410,015 for Green Ladies. The generous donations from our donors and the Métier Minus shoppers have made it possible for additional staff training and empowerment projects to happen.

Why host the event at Taikoo Place? Taikoo Place is strong on community-building. Freshfields moved here in 2017 and has not looked back since. The place has become very vibrant, fun and diverse in terms of the people working here and the businesses which have stayed or relocated here. It was very natural for us to want to launch our Métier Minus collection here.

What does “sustainable luxury” mean to you?

The focus on sustainability is not new. The word came from the first comprehensive treatise about forestry in 1713 (even older than Freshfields as we started in 1743) which advocates “never harvesting more than the forest can regenerate.” 

When it comes to clothes, what is a sustainable piece? About ten years ago, the benchmark for “sustainable” was 30 wears. But the definition has evolved, and some now are suggesting a minimum of 3,000 wears! My version of sustainability is this: a piece has to be wearable through its useful life and it should be made to last, not to be thrown away after a few wearings. Fast fashion is creating a very serious problem for our planet. Beyond the mindless depletion of resources, it’s fostered a throwaway mindset that has to be changed. 

The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. It’s not realistic to expect people not to buy. The challenge is how we can do so in a way that doesn’t harm our planet and environment.

Sustainable luxury to me is about quality and things made to last. If these beautiful items which make us feel great are not worn by their owners anymore, then they should be worn by others. We really need to rediscover and reimagine all the pieces in our own closet, unleash them and spread joy. This is what all my donors have done and I am truly grateful to them for their generosity in helping make Métier Minus happen.

What would be your top tip for dressing well in a professional environment?

Create the right impression for the right occasion. Decide how you want to be remembered and dress accordingly. Putting together an outfit is about expressing yourself, and creating an impression. A lot of it, for me, is a gut feeling. And a lot depends on how much time I have in the morning. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out at all! 

What is the oldest piece in your wardrobe that you still wear, and could you tell us a bit about it? 

I still have a beautiful Valentino jacket from almost 30 years ago. I can’t remember where I bought it, but it must have been at a sale since I couldn’t afford to pay full price for anything back then! It’s a brown and cream textured wool jacket with a tiger patterned lining. What is amazing is that the small tortoise-shaped buttons are still gold-coloured and shiny. It has big shoulder pads, which have come back into fashion. I can style it with jeans, a full skirt or long trousers. I can style and reimagine it for a modern context, and I love that. 

If you could only wear one colour, what would it be? (And the colour that you could happily erase from the spectrum is….)

I don’t think I can ever wear only one colour, I love so many. But if I had to choose one, it might be white because white will keep me calm. The colour that I would happily erase from the spectrum is possibly grey, but then I also have a few pieces in grey that I love. 

Complete the sentence: Shoes ought to be…

Shoes ought to be comfortable. But in my younger days, you might have caught me wearing 3 inch heels, running down Queen’s Road to fight for a taxi while talking on the BlackBerry at the same time. 

If I could meet one person from the fashion world for post-work drinks (living or dead) it would be…

For a man, it has to be Christian Dior. He once said “My dream? To make women happier and more beautiful.” How could you not want to meet someone like that? I love the way he spread optimism with the New Look after the first World War and invented the Dior Bar Jacket. I also liked the entrepreneurial flair he demonstrated by introducing licensing deals with boutiques in the UK. 

For a woman, it has to be Coco Chanel. I would love to hear how she rose to become the most important couturier in Paris, and how she fought her competition when her monopoly over the fashion industry began to fade. Her life was fascinating, and she made a lasting impact, really defining what true style is. 

The best place for people-watching in Taikoo Place is…

I love The Porter. The Refinery is also a good place to bump into people and whilst I have yet to visit Pici, if I can get a seat looking into Tong Chong Street, that would be a nice spot for people-watching. 

My favourite spots to shop or take a break in the Taikoo Place area are…

If Taikoo Shing is included it has to be Eslite. I love spending time in bookstores. Or really anywhere with good dim sum and a nice cup of tea.