Sunday, November 03, 2013

City declares Modernize Tailor Day!


At a packed hall at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver's Chinatown,  City of Vancouver councilor Kerry Jang surprised the audience with the announcement that November 3, 2013 was officially "Modernize Tailors Day."

It was made in honour the 100th anniversary of operation at the legendary sartorial establishment.

Following the declaration, Bill Wong, son Steve Wong, and other members of family read passages from Bill's soon-to-be-published book which recounts his year in China as a fourteen-year-old boy.

A great day for Bill and the whole Wong family.

The event also opened a small exhibition featuring the history of Modernize Tailors. Check out the show at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. It will run until November 30.


Thursday, October 31, 2013

Celebrating 100 years of Tailoring in Historic Chinatown


Join us for a special exhibition honouring


Modernize Tailors:
100 Years of Dressing the Modern Man

November 1 –November 30, 2013
OPENING RECEPTION - MEET BILL WONG!Sunday, November 3, 2013 from 1:30-3:30pm

  • Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
    578 Carrall St, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K2


  • Entrance on Carrall Street
    Hall of One Hundred Rivers
    For the first time, an exhibition of not only changes in fashion in the past century, but the constant presence of one of the oldest existing family businesses in Chinatown is made accessible for public viewing.
    Father, Wong Kung Lai, started Modernize back in 1913. Passing down his skill and knowledge to his 2 eldest sons, Bill and Jack, they then ran the business for the past 65 years.
    In the postwar boom era, The Wong Family’s Modernize Tailors were the largest tailor shop in Vancouver, serving the local community, as well as suiting up celebrities like Sean Connery, and Gordon Lightfoot.
    Sunday, November, 3rd join us for the Opening Reception from 1:30 to 3:30 P.M.
    Take this rare opportunity to meet and talk to the tailor. Bill, now 91, will be reading excerpts from his journal written when he was 14 about the daily life in a Chinese Village. The passages refer in part to the time Bill and Jack went with their father back to their ancestral village to live and go to school for a year in 1936.
    For more information
    Shayla Perreault
    operations@vancouverchinesegarden.com