Lift the back of an H&M shirt and
you may find a “Made in Cambodia” tag. Does it sound familiar now? This country
of contrasts is where conservative traditions meet modern ways, and the richest
of the country co-exist with the poorest. Eriya Miura has lived her whole life
in Cambodia, and as a recent graduate of Raffles University, she is proudly one
of the few Cambodian designers that has studied fashion in her own country.
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| Eriya Miura by Clay Frame |
As some Puma shoes or H&M clothes may indicate, Cambodia holds a great reputation for being textile
manufacturers. In fact, it is the country's largest
source of employment. Still, finding fashion students or even fashion bloggers to talk to wasn’t
easy. It took me a while, but I was finally able to talk to Eriya, occasionally
a model, but mostly a fashion designer. She recently graduated from one of the
two private schools that teach fashion in Cambodia. At Raffles University she
was the only student of the two-year Advanced Diploma on Fashion (I know, I was
quite surprised too). Basically she is one of the first generations of
Cambodian designers that actually studied in Cambodia, and the first one in her
family full of doctors and lawyers. Very excited, Eriya agreed to talk,
and she answered all of my questions very openly in the Skype messages, since
Internet at her house wasn’t great to talk.
First of all, would it be possible for
you to describe the Cambodian fashion scene? “Well, the fashion scene in
Cambodia is slowly rising...more youngsters are becoming interested in
fashion.” Apparently, Eriya has started to notice that Khmer people – as
Cambodian’s are often referred as – care more about what they wear and how they
look now than they did before. So, if fashion is emerging, why couldn’t I find
any stylish bloggers around there? Not very certain of why either, Eriya took a
guess. “Khmer people are really conservative, and sometimes they might feel
like they're not important enough to be looked up to, especially in
fashion.”
Eriya interned in Sentosasilk, a Cambodian
brand that employs disabled craftsmen and women that are experts in the art of silk
weaving. However, the type of buyers that the brand has are mostly from abroad.
“They get most of their orders from important people like ambassadors or even
the wives of very important people here and of countries in south-east Asia”.
So it turns out, that only a few Cambodian people are buying Khmer fashion. Not
even Eriya, who ashamedly confessed to me she didn’t have any Cambodian brands
in her closet but her own. “I think Cambodian people are still trying to get
used to buying clothes made by Cambodian designers. So they tend to buy clothes
from overseas with brands from Zara, H&M and Mango to higher-end brands
like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin and Chanel.”
Despite this, it appears that there is a
chance for students to work. “We can work in boutiques, or work with
merchandising and manufacturing companies. A lot of people from garment
manufacturing companies in Cambodia have come to my school to ask if any graduate
students are ready to work with them.” It sounds good, but there have been
recent strikes in the textile factories because of the low wages. There were
even investigations from Puma and H&M, because women in their factories had started to faint. “Yes,
that “fainting period”, she said. “It caused a stir here in Cambodia, no one
still knows the exact reason why girls in the factories keep fainting. Some say
it's because of the hygiene in the factories, some say it's because there's not
enough ventilation in there, some even accused the girls of pretending to faint
because they wanted attention.”
These controversial circumstances have
increased Cambodia’s worldwide recognition as a manufacturing country. But by
the looks of it, there are people trying to change this vision of the country.
Both F, a Cambodian fashion magazine and the Cambodian Fashion Council are
trying to push Khmer fashion forward. Also, for the first time, Cambodia Fashion Week was held last year in the capital Phnom Penh, and Eriya
participated with her mini collection ‘Aurum’ that was inspired by the
Victorian military uniforms and the Byzantine Empire.
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| Eriya's collection 'Aurum' Photography by Clay Frame |
On the other hand, their stunning
traditional Cambodian costumes made of silk caught my eye. What has been the
biggest inspiration that you’ve taken from Cambodian culture into the things
you design? “It's the fabrics. I've noticed how the traditional Cambodian
costume has very delicate and beautiful fabrics. To me the choice of fabric is
very important, your designs can be outstanding, but if you choose the wrong fabrics
for it, the clothes would lose its value.”
In between the beautiful traditional
garments and the fast-fashion factories, Cambodia’s fashion scene looks like it
is just starting to develop, and Eriya seems quite inspired to change the
perception of her country. “Firstly, I would like the rest of the world to see
that Cambodian people do have potential to make it in the fashion industry. I
want Cambodian people to realize that being a designer isn’t a low-life job. It’s a career that requires a lot of passion, and designers are very
well-respected people.” As she’s applying to Parsons now, Eriya is looking to
gain all the experience possible so she is able to share that in her own
country and help create a change. “I don't only want people to see me as a
fashion designer, but also as an artist, a helper and a teacher.”
All pictures courtesy of Eriya Miura
Fashion in Cambodia: Eriya Miura is licensed under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 3.0 Unported License.
Creado a partir de la obra en http://fashion-aroundtheworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/fashion-in-cambodia-eriya-miura_25.html.
