1942 - 2023

British born Valery Garrett lived in Hong Kong from 1973 onwards. From her early interest in traditional dress worn in Hong Kong in the 1970s, she became an acknowledged authority on Chinese dress and accessories. Over 250 items from her collection were acquired and exhibited by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London for their permanent collection. A fashion designer turned full-time freelance writer, she specialised in Chinese culture and travel, especially Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

Valery was a very active Activities Committee and member of RASHK,(Life member from 1973, Activities Committee Chair 2002, until her severe illness in 2010).

Obituary by Richard J. Garrett

Valery, née Hayes, was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire on 6th January 1942. She attended King James’s Grammar School, Knaresborough and excelled in Domestic Science and Art. A career in either of these was possible but she was accepted at Leeds College of Art. After graduation she obtained a Post-Grad. Dip. from Middlesex Polytechnic. She won a Ladybird scholarship, and this set her on the road to fashion design.

When I met her, she was specialising in lingerie design. We got married in March 1970, and settled down to married life in Bromley, Kent.

In 1973 I was posted by my firm to Hong Kong, and we arrived just before our third wedding anniversary. Valery found a position designing for Dodwell & Co. In 1975 she was able to join their delegation to the Canton Trade Fair. This was a great event as at that time China was in the throes of the Cultural Revolution and generally westerners could not travel into China. She went up on the train leaving from the old KCR terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui. There was no cross border train then so it was a walk across the bridge at Lo Wu and a new train to Canton.

The experience had a great effect on her, and she fell in love with the city going on later to write a history of it - Heaven is High. It was a passion that endured, and she was continuing her research into Shameen and Honam to the end.

Back in Hong Kong Valery changed jobs and joined the Hong Kong Polytechnic to set up the Swire School of Design. Her star pupil was Vivienne Tam. Having a long vacation was something of a novelty and Valery decided to use the time to research the traditional clothing worn by the villagers in Hong Kong. She did this thoroughly going out and about, often with an interpreter, talking to the villagers and she made a start at collecting pieces of costume. This led to her first book Traditional Chinese Clothing. It also started a long-term relationship with the Museum of History.

Valery continued to work as a designer, but she also became a world expert in Chinese Costume of all sorts and published widely on that subject her magnum opus being Chinese Dress. Gradually she wound down her designing and concentrated on writing. Apart from her books, she had many articles published in a variety of magazines and journals including the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. Indeed, she became an active member of the RAS and served on the committee for many years as the Activity Convenor.

She had just started on a series of monthly articles, History Matters, for CityLife Magazine, the magazine of the Hong Kong Hotels Association when she became ill. In September 2010 Valery suffered a stroke and after a number of operations she was left in a coma. She died peacefully on 8th February 2023. She is survived by her husband Richard, we did not have any children, and her sisters Marjorie and Audrey, and our niece Katy.

She authored the following books:

1. Discover Hong Kong: The City’s History and Culture Redefined, pub Marshall Cavendish, Singapore, Sept 2008

2. Chinese Dress from the Qing Dynasty to the Present, pub Tuttle, Singapore and USA, Nov 2007

3. Heaven is High, the Emperor Far Away: Merchants and Mandarins in Old Canton, pub Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 2002

4. Chinese Dragon Robes, pub Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1998

5. A Collector’s Guide to Chinese Dress Accessories, pub Times Editions, Singapore, 1997

6. Buying Antiques, Arts and Crafts in Hong Kong, pub Times Editions, Singapore, 1996

7. Hong Kong: Life and Times, pub Times Editions, Singapore, 1996/Hong Kong: pub Editions Solar, Edition du Club France Loisirs, Paris, 1996

8. Chinese Clothing: An Illustrated Guide, pub Oxford University Press, 1994

9. Children of the Gods: Dress and Symbolism in China, pub Urban Council Hong Kong, 1990

10. Mandarin Squares: Mandarins and their Insignia, pub Oxford University Press, 1990

11. Traditional Chinese Clothing in Hong Kong and South China, 1840-1980, pub Oxford University Press,1987