Small talk seems to be a vital part of working in the UK (not sure if my boss would agree?). One day, my female colleagues were chatting away as usual, discussing their favourite boys outfit. One of my colleagues said she liked the “roadman” style.

“Do you mean construction workers?” I asked, curious. I had seldom heard girls in Hong Kong adoring this style. What’s more, it was hard to associate my young and polite British colleague with construction workers’ style.

My colleague smiled and shook her head. She showed me a picture on Google [see feature photo] – boys in sporty attire (limited to black/ white/ grey colours), donning a padded jacket/ windbreaker and sports shoes.

“Oh! Isn’t this the outfit of nearly every boy in Manchester?” My colleagues laughed and said I was absolutely right. They further explained that the Roadman style was popular in the UK likely because of “Grime”.

Consulting Google again, I learnt that Grime is a genre of music originated in East London in the 2000s, inspired by British electronic pop and many different musical.

Scroll further down to listen to a song by Wiley – the ‘godfather’ of Grime.

Why do Roadmen dress the way they do? The simplest reason would be the sportswear’s functionality and flexibility, which appeals to street teens. This would also explain why Grime musicians adopt this style as they perform on the streets, gradually influencing other music artists and the younger generation, creating the popular Roadman phenomenon today. My colleague explained that Roadman style can also be called “Chav”, which means “teenagers with brash and loutish behaviours, usually of a lower social status” – this description made it even harder for me to understand the attraction of Roadman/ Chav outfit. Maybe this is the UK version of “chicks dig bad boys”? However, some of my female colleagues admitted they couldn’t stand Roadman style; they prefer sloanie or hipster style (I will look into them at a later stage~).

After giving a long and detailed speech, my colleague turned to me: “So, what do boys in Hong Kong usually wear?”

I was speechless. Never given the topic much thought, what came into mind for me were canned fashion brands like Uniqlo, GU, and Zara.

Back home, I turned to Google again. However, many of the search results didn’t reflect what Hong Kong people normally wear nowadays.

There had been celebrities/ fashion icons like Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung, who were once-in-a-century superstars. A more recent singer-actor, Edison Chen, co-founded the Hong Kong-based fashion label CLOT; but the brand has long turned to China and global markets. Needless to mention the historical Cheung Saam (long coat), Hanfu (Han Chinese outfits)^1, 2, Tanka (boatmen outfits), and Hakka style clothing, which are all out of date.

Hong Kong does have its local fashion brands, eg. from the 90s – Giordano, Bossini, U2, G2000, and from the 00s – izzue, Tough, double-park³. There has also been local designer brands sought-after internationally⁴. However, they are non-mainstream and foreign to me. Some say Hong Kong fashion is largely influenced by the US, Japan and Korea; which is probably true considering the brand names that come to my mind immediately.

Grappling around fruitlessly, I suddenly thought of something from Hong Kong comparable to the Manchester “Roadman” style – the “MK” style. MK is short for “Mong Kok”, a busy district in Hong Kong where street roamers and underground dwellers come together. It is quite hard to define the MK culture.

Both MK and Roadman are characterised by street-style, rough-looking features. According to the Hong Kong urban dictionary, MK outfit can refer to outfit worn by triads, or delinquents pretending to be triads⁵; Roadman, on the other hand, refers to outfits commonly worn by teens hanging around on streets, engaging in illegal acts.

The MK style is quite fluid; it evolves with time. Back then, MK can refer to those with hair dyed golden, tattooed and form-fitting black t-shirts. Throughout the years, MK hairstyles has evolved to include Kpop hairstyles – with bangs that fall over the eyes, and later all-back “Pidgeotto” style. Though not all MKs smoke, or have piercings and tattoos, their common traits include the use of distinctive social media alias, and forming “family” ties with all their friends.

Strangely, nostalgia has softened my skepticism towards the MK style. In Hong Kong, the sacred grounds where MKs gather have gradually been renamed or repurposed. Will the MK culture prevail?

I feel quite embarrassed to show photos of MK style to my colleagues. My friend instead suggested me to show pictures of Mirror – a Hong Kong boy band that rose quickly to fame in recent years. Out of ideas, I think I will have to follow the suggestion in the end…

P.S. Some would say that grime resembles American hip hop, but many fans claim grime is more upbeat and techno, with its unique style. For our personal safety, I would suggest not to say grime evolved from hip hop (*sheepish grin*).

閒聊似乎是英國工作很重要的一部分（不知道我老闆認不認同？）。有天女同事們又在吱吱喳喳，談論著喜歡男孩子穿怎樣的穿搭。其中一個女同事說她喜歡「Roadman」。

「吓？地盤工人的意思嗎？」我好奇一問，在香港很少聽到女生喜歡這個類型，我亦很難將粗獷的地盤佬跟這個同事聯想起來 — 她是個年輕斯文、英國本地的白人OL。

她笑著搖頭擺手，google了圖片示意（圖一）- 眼前是身穿運動裝（上下身同款，還要只限於黑白灰色調），搭一件夾棉/防風外套和球鞋的男生。

「喔！這不就是每個Manchester男生都在穿的衣服嗎？」同事們大笑着連聲稱是。同事解釋說，Roadman打扮在英國很常見，原因大概是受到Grime 影響。

Google後發現，Grime是00年代發源自倫敦東部、由英國電子音樂演變而來，並集合了多種音樂元素的曲風。Grime字面解釋是「污垢」，顧名思義，Grime歌曲很多時圍繞貧困地區艱苦、惡劣的生活環境。而Roadman除了可以解作「修路工人」，亦可以解為「在街頭流連、從事非法勾當的年輕人」。 聰明的讀者應該想到了，他們正正是Grime歌曲中常見的主角。又稱Grime教父的音樂人Wiley，亦曾經分享年輕時在倫敦販毒的經歷。

[想聽一下Grime教父Wiley的歌曲，可向上滑。]

那Roadman爲何要這樣裝扮？最簡單直接的原因，或許是運動裝具功能性，方便街頭的年輕人活動。這也許解釋了爲甚麽起初來自街頭的Grime音樂人，會以這個造型亮相。隨著Grime音樂興起，其他音樂人和新一代年輕人也紛紛仿效起來，以致今天Roadman裝扮盛行的現象。同事説Roadman裝扮也可稱作「Chav」，字典解作「低下階層、沒教養的年輕人」 – 這個描述反而讓我更難理解Roadman/Chav裝扮的吸引之處了，可能是英國版的「男人不壞，女人不愛」? 不過也有女同事受不了Roadman裝，說比較喜歡sloanie 、hipster 打扮（小編有機會再研究~）。

下刪3000字後，同事問：「那香港的男生多數穿怎樣的衣服？」

語塞。因爲從來沒有認真思考過這個問題，腦海浮現的只有Uniqlo、GU、Zara等速食時裝的標準穿搭。

回家面壁思過時又google了一下，但不少搜尋結果都好像與今天的香港衣著脫節了。以明星效應爲例，現時似乎已經難以再找到梅艷芳、張國榮這樣被爭相仿效的巨星；較近期被視爲fashion icon的明星如陳冠希，名下的品牌早已轉戰中國及其他海外市場（如CLOT便推出了簡體字的「华人」系列）。至於咸豐年前的長衫馬褂、漢服、水上人服、大衿衫^1, 2，就更不用提了。

香港也有本地品牌，如90年代創立的Giordano、Bossini、U2、G2000，以及00年代冒起的izzue、Tough、double-park³等；亦有不少享譽國際、深受藝人喜愛的本地設計師品牌⁴—— 但這些服裝是不是香港人的主流，於我而言依然是一個問號。亦有說法指香港衣著深受歐、美、日、韓影響，似乎也不為過，難怪腦海第一時間浮現的就是來自這些地方的品牌。

腦袋出煙之際，我突然想到香港一個能與英國Roadman匹敵的衣著文化 ──「MK」。凡是香港人也知道，MK是旺角(Mong Kok)的縮寫，一個繁華密集的旺區，亦是龍蛇混集之地。雖然俗語有云：「每個人都MK過」，但是我還是不太知道怎樣去解釋MK文化。

可以肯定的是MK與Roadman一樣，都是很街頭、很「地踎」的。例如，根據香港網絡大典，MK打扮指一些黑社會人物（aka「飛仔」？）的打扮，亦指一些不是黑社會人士，卻胡亂模仿「飛仔」，打扮得不倫不類的人⁵；而Roadman，雖然沒有MK那麽重的貶義，則是指街頭流連、從事非法活動的年輕人打扮。

不過，MK打扮感覺上比較多變，可説是「與日俱新」的。好像所謂的「飛仔」打扮，指的可能是當年的金髮、紋身和緊身黑色t-shirt，但現在似乎已經比較少見。以髮型爲例，MK仔從當年的金髮，演變成碎長遮眼「飛輪海」頭，再變成all back「比比鳥」頭。老實説，年屆三十的小編已經與時代脫節，實在不知道時下的MK仔還有沒有穿耳紋身吸煙，唯希望他們仍能保留MK獨有的柒味，仍會在social media使用MK網名 （例如醉愛MK、永世罪仄 ），以及和許多許多沒有血緣關係的兄弟姐妹結義金蘭。

奇怪的是，人要念舊的時候，連如此令人汗顔的MK文化，也叫人懷緬。但當MK聖地Chic 之堡也易名爲 W Plaza，瓊華也轉型了，不知道MK仔會否買少見少？

扯遠了，MK仔的衣著我也不好意思拿給同事看。朋友說我可以展示Mirror的相片，毫無頭緒的我也只能乖乖照做。

P.S. 有些人覺得 grime 像是美國的嘻哈音樂（Hip hop），但不少樂迷認爲grime節奏比較明快、也較偏向電音，是一種獨特的曲風。所以建議大家不要亂説Grime是Hip hop的變種，免招一身毒打（笑）。