From My Wardrobe: Karena Lam
Karena Lam on garments and the resounding influence of Rebecca Pan
It is 2004, the beginning of the 21st century, and an online musical production brings two unique and spirited women together—Karena Lam and Rebecca Pan. Their chemistry was instant and they remain close ever since.
These lyrics may be the best description of the duo’s personality:
Pan (Putonghua): Who am I? It doesn’t concern you.
Lam (Cantonese): Reach for the skies, roam the whole earth.
Pan (Putonghua): I never regret what I have done.
Lam (Cantonese): Count on yourself to achieve your dreams.
Pan (Putonghua): The same darkness prowls the heaven and the earth.
Follow your heart, do what you want.
Lam (Putonghua): Follow your heart, do what you want.
—Do What You Want. Music by Peter Kam; lyrics by Albert Leung (Linxi)
As a 16 year-old, Karena flew from her home in Canada to Taiwan for a summer holiday without her parents knowing – a ‘holiday’ that ended up lasting more than a year, allowing her to jump start her professional career with a debut record. She soon turned to Hong Kong to pursue an acting career, and over the years won numerous awards for her show-stopping performances.
As for Rebecca, she is a cultural pioneer who conquered nightclubs and stages at her prime, travelled the world as Hong Kong’s cultural ambassador, and produced and self-funded Hong Kong’s first Chinese-language musical. Despite receiving mixed reviews for the production, she exhorted young people to ‘live fully without regret’. Both born in the Year of the Horse, the two share a passion for artistic excellence. Both have subverted the stereotype of passive female artists by doing what they genuinely enjoy and believe.
Rebecca once told Karena that they were very much alike. Karena recalls, ‘Rebecca said she had sharp, fierce features, while I have a softer, sweeter look, so I have an easier path. But we are both people who hold strongly to our convictions and principles.’ Understandably, for a young woman who made a living in the entertainment industry and performed overseas often all by herself in the 1950s and 60s, ‘toughness’ became second nature for Rebecca.
To Karena, Rebecca always demanded perfection on stage, and therefore could be an authoritative and commanding presence. ‘In those early days, she was already the producer of her own performances, even choreographing timed gestures, like a sweep of her long fringed sleeves, for dramatic flair and power. But in private, she’s very warm and gentle. That’s what I love most about her.’ The 48-year age gap does not stop them from meeting frequently. Rebecca is not the type who only reminisces about bygone days; she also listens and opens herself to new ideas and honest exchanges. The relationship between them has progressed far beyond a mother-and-daughter bond, and has been irreplaceable to Karena for more than two decades.
Image courtesy: Lo Yin Shan
When the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, Rebecca pondered her own mortality, and hurried to reorganise her belongings and summoned Karena: ‘She asked me to take this and that, and I told her, I didn’t want anything. She treats me like her own daughter.’ In the end, Karena accepted a custom ring with jade inlay designed by Rebecca herself —a repository of all her emotions in the palm of her hand.
Displayed at CHAT’s exhibition With the Sun, She Quells the Night – A Tribute to Rebecca Pan are Rebecca’s own jewellery and a collection of garments, two of which are cherished costumes from her musical Pai Niang Niang ‘I wish to be buried in them,’ she stated matter-of-factly.
It is as though the costumes’ dazzling rainbow and audacious crimson embody her pioneering spirit and creativity, along with the characteristic sweep of her sleeves, and a perpetual smile that, like the sun, dispels any darkness.
Echoes of the song she sang for the opening of the exhibition:
Why was I born? Why am I living?
What do I get? What am I giving?
——Why Was I Born? From musical Sweet Adeline (1929)
Music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein
What is life but a long journey of seeking? You find what you are looking for, you transform, and in turn, exit the stage.
From My Wardrobe invites celebrity guests to share their thoughts on the clothes that mean the most to them.
Translator: Elise Yau
Editor: Grace Wong
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